Eggplant Casserole | Charles Cavallo's World Famous Cupboard Cookbook

Unlike many traditional Southern recipes, The Cupboard does not use meat, bacon drippings or other animal fat to prepare delicious vegetables. Established in 1943, the restaurant is a perennial winner of culinary awards.

Cupboard's Eggplant Casserole

The Cupboard's Eggplant Casserole ingredients (8)

Makes 10 servings

Margarine (divided use)
4 eggplants, peeled and quartered

1 medium onion, diced
2 single stalks of celery, diced
4 cups crushed saltine crackers (divided use)
1/2-lb. shredded American cheese
Ground black pepper, to taste
Salt, to taste

The Cupboard's Eggplant Casserole Directions

Get ready
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Use part of margarine to grease casserole dish.


Cook eggplant 
Boil eggplant, onion, and celery together for twenty (20) minutes. Drain.

Drain boiled vegetables

Prepare casserole filling; add topping
In large bowl, thoroughly mix the vegetables with 2 cups of the crackers and the American cheese. Then, season with pepper and salt.

Spread mixture into the prepared casserole dish.

Unbaked Cupboard's Eggplant Casserole before adding topping

Use remaining 2 cups of crushed crackers to top the entire casserole. Melt remaining margarine, and spoon enough to cover top of casserole.


Brown, rest, and serve
Brown casserole in the preheated 350ºF. oven. 

Transfer casserole to wire rack for a few minutes to set before serving warm.

The Cupboard's Eggplant Casserole Notes

• Preparing this recipe, I used three medium eggplants (3.31-lbs) with the other Filling ingredients as listed. This fit nicely into 2.5-qt baking dish and I used only the balance of the second sleeve of crackers for the Topping. 07/11/2016

• Unlike the restaurant's likely choice, I use store brand wheat crackers. From a (16-oz / 1-lb / 453g) box, two cups crumbled and crushed crackers is about one sleeve plus seven crackers.

• Purchase blocks of American cheese in the deli section of your supermarket. Blocks of Yellow or White American cheese are available; I tried white. 07/02/2016

• The eggplant quarters tend to float. To facilitate even cooking, and using a dinner fork, I pierce the back (largest area) of each piece four times. Also, stir regularly. I boil in 12-qt pot (8-qt too small and I don't have 10-qt) and then, use the pot for mixing the casserole filling.

• To match the texture of the restaurant's casserole, next time, mash the large pieces of cooked eggplant before mixing with the crackers and cheese.

• Purchased for Thanksgiving 2000 (Menu here).

Amazon

• Recipe from Charles Cavallo and John M. Bailey.  Charles Cavallo's World Famous Cupboard Cookbook (Starr Toof Printing Co., 2001), 43.

Vegetable Plate with (clockwise) 
Cooked cabbage, Eggplant Casserole, crowder peas and Fried Green Tomatoes

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Page Last Modified 12 July 2016