One More Eggplant Recipe: Classic Eggplant Casserole from New Orleans

If you like eggplant, then you most certainly will like this eggplant casserole. It takes just a few ingredients to make the “melt in your mouth” eggplant dish. Okay, I admit that I’m somewhat stuck on eggplant recipes. But, eggplant — with its distinctive taste and texture — is mighty tasty. From fried eggplant stacks, to shrimp-stuffed eggplant, caponata, baba ganoush and Cajun ground beef with eggplant and rice — I could go on and on. I found the “Eggplant Casserole” recipe while browsing through the cookbook, “Cooking Up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found” (from Hurricane Katrina). For some reason, this recipe reminds me of the city of New Orleans. I’m making a variation of the recipe to serve as a side dish along with a fish entree.

“Cooking Up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found” (from Hurricane Katrina)

This book is a compilation of recipes edited by the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper food staff in the years immediately following Hurricane Katrina. This hurricane flooded and devastated 80 percent of the city of New Orleans and many people lost everything. Newspaper readers came to the rescue and found the missing recipes that folks lost during the hurricane. For a city whose culture revolves around food, this effort was a huge relief to many people. It was certainly part of the healing process of the city.

In addition to recipes requested by readers, the New Orleans Times-Picayune editors included favorite recipes from iconic New Orleans restaurants. The book makes for a nostalgic read. It is also an excellent reference book.

New Neighborhood Restaurants

In the 20 years since the hurricane, the city is largely rebuilt, thanks to the resilience of the people. Houses and businesses are repaired and repainted in bright colors; new gardens abound (most of the shrubbery was washed away by the hurricane) and streets have been repaved (well, sort of repaved). A unique aspect of this city is its rich culinary tradition. In addition to traditional restaurants, a pleura of new restaurants have opened — especially since the pandemic. Many of these restaurants are tiny ones, tucked in neighborhoods surrounded by homes.

Last week, we searched out a new bakery in the Central District of the city. We travelled down a bumpy side street and found the bakery set back from the street in a shotgun house. (Shotgun house = you can shoot a shotgun through the front door and it will travel through the rooms the length of the long house. Usually the house is one room wide!) The bakery and café, Lagniappe Bakehouse, features exquisite French pastries and other treats with a West African influence. Owner and chef, Kaitlin Guerin, was named a James Beard Foundation finalist in the Emerging Chef category in 2025. The croissants, danishes and sandwiches come in a variety of creative shapes and fillings. Of course, we got one of everything. And we were’t disappointed.

I love a day trip to the city of New Orleans. Quite frequently, we include a stop at a new –or favorite –restaurant. This one is now a “favorite” café. This restaurant represents the revitalized city at its best.

“Classic Eggplant Casserole” Recipe

Back to my simple recipe which I have adapted from the “Cooking Up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found” cookbook. The reader requesting the recipe remembers eating it at the now defunct A&G cafeteria (a popular local New Orleans cafeteria chain dating from the 1950s). He remembers that the casserole was moist, but not runny. It was simple, with eggplant, onion and crackers or bread crumbs. The editors found it published in a 1981 column! (See Reference, for cookbook.)

My recipe includes diced eggplant and onion which is boiled with wine. The eggplant is then mashed and mixed with the remainder of the ingredients; and seasoned with salt and pepper. I baked the casserole just long enough to let the mixture set.

For this recipe, I used two large Globe eggplant. Peel the eggplant and dice them.

As per the recipe’s instructions, I boiled the diced eggplant and chopped onion in wine (I also added water) until the eggplant cubes were tender, about 20 minutes. Then I used a potato masher to mash most of the cubes.

I stirred in the other ingredients (beaten eggs, butter, Italian bread crumbs, salt and pepper) and poured this into an oiled casserole (8″ x 8″) dish.

Then I baked this in a 350 degree oven just long enough to let the casserole bubble and set. Don’t over bake; you don’t want the casserole to dry out! For color, I garnished with tomato and basil.

That’s it! The casserole is very tasty. And, easy to make.

While not exclusive to the South, eggplant dishes certainly are a part of southern cuisine. Fried eggplant medallions and seafood stuffed eggplant come to mind. This “Eggplant Casserole” was served at the very popular New Orleans cafeteria, A&G Cafeteria, which operated from 1950 to 1998. I’m that sure any native New Orleanian will have fond memories of the cafeteria. Now, we have a new era of restaurants in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina — and the pandemic. Let’s embrace the new cafés on the block.

The flavor of the eggplant shines in this recipe. It goes well with other Southern dishes such as baked or fried fish, shrimp. Enjoy!

Reference:

“Eggplant Casserole”, p. 224 in Cooking up a Storm, Recipes Lost and Found, Marcelle Bienvenu and Judy Walker, editors, Published Chronicle Books: San Francisco, copyright 2008 by The Times-Picayune