Grilled Shrimp with Smoked Eggplant and Tomato Cream

Wash and thoroughly dry shrimp.  Using the point of a sharp knife, remove heads and black line running on backsides of shrimps. 

Delicately remove shells, being very careful to leave tails attached to bodies.  Dry well, and keep chilled in refrigerator until ready to use.

Peel and finely slice yellow onion and garlic.  Cover bottom of small sauce pan with extra-virgin olive oil, and heat.  Once heated well, add sliced onion and garlic and allow to sauté until lightly golden. 

Wash and peel the potato, and cut into cubes.  Add potato to onion and garlic mixture.   Allow to sauté gently for a few moments, and add tomato pulp (rustic or smooth-style, as per your preference).  Lower heat as much as possible, cover pot, and allow to cook undisturbed for at least 30 minutes, or until the potato is softened to the touch and cooked through.

Once everything is cooked, blend ingredients directly in sauce pan with an immersion blender.  You should look for a creamy, frothy mixture.

Wash and dry eggplants well.  Turn 2 burners on your oven to medium heat, and place eggplants on top of each burner. 

Allow eggplants to cook until skins begin to burn and blister, and you begin to detect an aroma of smoked food in the air.  Turn eggplants frequently on burners to allow even cooking, being very careful not to pierce the skin of the vegetables. 

Remove from burners only when eggplants are softened to the touch and are cooked through, approximately after 10-15 minutes cooking time.  Allow eggplants to cool, and remove outer peels.  Chop coarsely.

In heavy-bottomed sauté pan, coat bottom with olive oil.  When heated, add sliced onion, garlic, and fresh thyme.  Allow to cook for a few moments, then add the chopped eggplant.  Adjust to taste with salt, and allow to cook for a few minutes until all released liquids have cooked off.

Place cooked eggplants onto cutting board, and using large sharp knife, cut eggplant into pieces as small as you can cut.  Allow to cool completely.

Heat nonstick grilling pan or griddle, and add small amount of olive oil.  When heated through, add shrimp to pan.  Once fish has turned golden brown on one side, lightly salt.  Turn fish and repeat same procedure on second side.

On individual serving plates, spoon generous serving of tomato cream into center.  Top with another spoon of smoked eggplant, and rest one shrimp on top.  Garnish with drizzle of olive oil and serve immediately.