Aubergine crispy balls

Rolled in flour and shallow fried in oil, these spheres emerge with a crisp golden exterior and a soft interior. These succulent two-bite mouthfuls can be made with slices of griddled eggplant, a very quick matter when the eggplant is already cooked. Serve them alone or with a fresh or cooked tomato sauce. These might become your dinner, but they could also serve as a bite to have with drinks, or as an appetizer for four.

Ingredients

• 5 Griddled Eggplant Rounds
• ½ cup dried bread crumbs, or more if needed
• ½ cup grated cheese (such as young Asiago, pecorino, or Parmesan)
• ¼ cup ground walnuts, or more if needed
• 1 teaspoon minced rosemary, or 1 tablespoon slivered basil
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• Flour, for coating
• Oil, for frying (such as olive, a mixture of olive and sunflower seed, or light sesame oil)
• Chopped parsley

Procedure

1. Chop the eggplant finely. If the pieces are too large, the mixture won’t adhere easily. You should have 1½ cups. Put the eggplant in a bowl and add the bread crumbs, cheese, walnuts, rosemary, ½ teaspoon salt, and plenty of pepper. Mix everything together with your hands. If it seems too soft to hold its shape, add more walnuts or bread crumbs. Fry a little nugget to check the seasonings, then add more of anything—salt, pepper, rosemary—if needed.
2. Shape the mixture into 8 balls (they will be the size of a golfball) and set them on a plate. (If you’re planning to cook them later, cover and refrigerate, but take them out at least 20 minutes in advance to come to room temperature.) Then, one at a time, roll the balls in flour to coat lightly.
3. Pour the oil to a depth of ¼ inch into a skillet and heat over medium-high heat until a drop of water flicked into the pan sizzles on contact. Add the eggplant balls, shuffle the pan to turn them around in the oil, and cook, turning as needed, until browned and crisp on all sides, about 6 minutes