Grilled Eggplant Salad

With the weather warming up its becoming easy to find fresh herbs everywhere. This eggplant salad is a great side dish for a BBQ. A simple combination of grilled eggplant, fresh herbs, a touch of honey and citrus.

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant
1/3 cup salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
Juice of half a lemon
8 fresh basil leaves chopped

Start by cutting the egg plant into large rounds. Place the eggplant on a baking sheet and coat both sides of each round with salt. Let the eggplant sit with salt for an hour. This will remove some of the water and bitter taste. After the hour rinse the salt off the eggplant in the sink very well. Now, coat the rounds with the olive oil and place them on the grill. Grill each side about 3 minutes. You want the eggplant to be soft and have nice grill marks. Remove the eggplant from the grill and allow them to cool for a few minutes. Next, cut the rounds into cubes and place them into a large bowl. Finally, add the remaining ingredients including salt, honey, lemon and basil. I suggest heating the honey in the microwave for a few seconds to help soften it up if needed. Mix everything together and serve hot or cold. Enjoy!

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