I’m taking advantage of the fact that Shane’s out of town to make a couple of things he definitely would not ever eat. While I have to give him credit for trying new things and getting over several food hates in the last couple of years, certain members of the nightshade family remain outside the realm of his palate. Sweet and hot peppers are great. Potatoes are almost almost delicious. Tomatillos make excellent salsa. It’s just tomatoes and eggplant that are problematic.
Which is, I have to say, a damned shame. It’s not that I love eggplant – in fact, I’ve never used it much – but I’d like to make more dishes with it, especially this time of year. But tomatoes – I do so very much love tomatoes. I love them in thick slices with a bit of salt on toast. I love them bite-sized and consumed by the handful. I love them with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and fresh mozzarella. I love them roasted with herbes de Provence. I love the way the plants smell, and I love the crazy variety of heirlooms available at the market and in our garden.
Shane will happily eat most cooked tomatoes, but the raw product is out out out. It’s a texture issue, and one that he’s been unable to overcome, despite repeated attempts. I get it – I’m the same way about salmon – but it still makes me sad. Oh well, more tomatoes for me, right?
And more tomatoes for gazpacho:
I used this recipe, which resulted in a large bowl of vibrant – but disappointing – red soup. The problem? texture. The flavors were good, but the bread to wet stuff ratio was off, resulting in some serious texture issues. Ironic, right? I enjoyed it, but will be trying one of the recipes from this article next time. Also disappointing was the fact that I didn’t have a camera handy, and so the only photo I have of the beautiful prep bowl is from my cameraphone.
More successful, however, was the eggplant “caviar” – basically a puree dip of roasted eggplant, olive oil, garlic, and fresh herbs. I over-garlicked, as I am wont to do, and it was excellent. I ate it on toast, then dipped chips in the leftovers. I have another medium-sized eggplant in the fridge and am oh so tempted to make more, though I’m not sure Shane would be able to kiss or sleep next to me, what with the garlic and all. If you like eggplant, I definitely recommend this one.
Recipes:
Chilled Gazpacho Andaluz in the Style of Pedro Almodóvar from The Kitchn
Eggplant Caviar from David Lebovitz
latterdaybohemian 
I have a similar issue with tomatoes, although it works the opposite way: I love them raw but they squick me out cooked. When I was younger I didn’t like them at all, so at least I’ve progressed!
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I didn’t like raw ones AT ALL until very very recently… though I’m less likely to eat it if it didn’t come from someone’s garden or the farmer’s market.
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I seem to have gotten over my tomato texture issue this summer, which is good because I currently have a ton of CSA tomatoes in the kitchen. According to my mom I *loved* raw tomatoes as a little kid – my grandparents grew them in their backyard and I was smitten. But then for a big chunk of time I found the texture too squirmy and squishy and only liked them cooked or else with a lot of other stuff to hide them (like: chicken salad with lettuce and tomato on a bagel was fine). Now, apparently, I’m happy to eat them raw again – I’ve had CSA tomatoes in four meals in a row, from last night’s dinner through to tonight’s! Mmm tomatoes.
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