With varieties like Jersey King and Black Beauty, eggplants have an air of sophistication, but they're just as versatile as your favourite vegetables. One serving gives you a healthy dose of folate, potassium and fibre, so they're a worthy addition to many meals.

If eggplant isn't a vegetable you use regularly, first, you have to know which eggplant variety suits your needs best. Next, it's important to pick the right eggplant and prepare it properly.

With all that information you'll be ready to indulge in the following fabulous eggplant recipes, just like a professional.

Smoked Eggplant Dip
Adding a little fragrant woodsmoke when grilling the eggplant makes it unnecessary to embellish this dip with extra herbs or spices. Serve it with grilled pita wedges or lavash (Armenian flatbread).

Asian Eggplant in Black Bean Sauce
Serve this boldly flavoured stir-fry with rice or rice-flour noodles.

Grilled Eggplant and Garlic Salad
If desired, you can replace the coriander with the same amount of parsley or simply sprinkle a handful of chopped fresh mint over the salad.

Eggplant Frittata with Baked Cherry Tomatoes and Olives
Baking cherry tomatoes brings out their natural sweetness and concentrates their flavour. Here, combined with olives, they make a bright and savoury topping for this frittata. You can cook the tomato-and-olive topping before starting the frittata, then serve it warm or at room temperature.

Mushroom and Eggplant Fresh Springrolls
This is a variation of one of the hundreds of types of fresh spring rolls made throughout Southeast Asia. Water chestnuts (available fresh at Chinese grocers or canned at supermarkets) add texture, sweetness and a little starch, which helps to bind the filling.

Hanukkah Eggplant Latkes
Similar to a traditional Jewish Romanian recipe, this version of Hanukkah's ubiquitous fried side dish has been spiced up to suit eclectic palates.

Eggplant and Zucchini Fricassee
Don't worry about adding the extra salt necessary to extract the bitter juices from the eggplant. It's removed before you start cooking and won't have a great effect on the sodium content of this make-ahead side dish. This mélange of vegetables is sensational served in a pita bread slathered with Red-pepper Hummus, so you may want to save a little of each for your lunch box.

Eggplant Sauce for Pasta
To let the wonderful flavour of firm, fresh-picked eggplants shine, use them in a simple sauce like this one, which is good with any pasta that isn't too thin, such as penne or rigatoni.

Lamb and Eggplant Meatloaf
This moulded meat loaf, with Greek flavours, makes an elegant presentation with its outer coating of layered eggplant slices. Cut it in wedges like a cake and serve with a blanched green vegetable drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice.

Baked Grilled Eggplant with Cheese
Sicilian eggplants are large, round and a bit lighter purple than regular Italian eggplants. The skin is more tender, and the flesh sweet and not too seedy. Whatever eggplants you use, the simple fresh tomato sauce, basil and mild fresh mozzarella complement the grilled slices, like a match made in heaven.