By Carmel Karni — See the recipe
I adore eggplants and this is my absolute favorite way to eat them. While this mezze salad traditionally features fried eggplant, I find that oven-roasting them is just as delicious, plus, it’s slightly healthier and requires less effort. A win-win.
A few tips: first, eggplants taste best when they are fully cooked. They should be soft and luscious. If they are not, keep roasting them until they are! Second, When choosing an eggplant, make sure that it is shiny and firm. Globe eggplants are best for this salad. And lastly, like any other dish with such few ingredients, they matter. Fresh summer veggies taste best.
Roasted Eggplant & Tomato Stew
Ingredients
- 2 medium-large eggplants, cubed (no need to peel)
- 1-2 hot peppers, chopped (with or without seeds)
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 6 roma tomatoes (canned is fine, but use fresh ones in summer if you can), cut into medium pieces. You can peel them if you like.
- Olive oil
- Salt
Preheat your oven to 450 F. Put the eggplant cubes on a sheet pan in one layer (if you have too many, use two sheets) drizzle with olive oil liberally and sprinkle with salt. Bake until the eggplant is soft and silky, about 20-25 minutes, turning them once.
Meanwhile, heat about three tablespoons of olive oil in a pan, add the hot peppers and saute until soft and starting to char in places, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, saute for 30 seconds and then add the tomatoes and a pinch of salt. Cook on high heat until the tomatoes break down into a sauce, about 15 minutes.
When the eggplants are done add them to the tomatoes, mix well, cook for another minute or so and then turn off the heat. Cover and let everything rest together for about 20 minutes. Taste for salt. You can eat the dish right away but a night in the fridge really melds all the flavors together.
