My DH really likes eggplant. I like it too, but perhaps not as much as he does. And I don’t seem to have very many recipes for using eggplant. So many of them require several steps, some moderate time in the oven, or just too much work. So I needed something quick-like, that didn’t take too much time or effort. I turned to Joanne Weir, one of my favorite cookbook authors, and sure ‘nuf, she had a simple “Stewed Tomatoes and Eggplant.” It comes from her book about tomatoes, You Say Tomato, but the fact of it is that there’s more eggplant here than tomatoes. But actually, you could probably use whatever proportion you wanted anyway.
The cubed eggplant is sprinkled liberally with salt and allowed to sit awhile. I didn’t notice any fluid under the colander, so perhaps using coarse salt wasn’t ideal, although that’s what the recipe indicated. Once it sits for half an hour, you rinse off the eggplant cubes, blot dry with paper towels, toss with olive oil, then spread them out on a baking sheet (I used my Silpat liner). They baked at 400 for about 20 minutes, until they’d started to droop, but were glistening. Meanwhile I’d stewed up some tomatoes with a LOT of garlic and pepper, then tossed the two together. I’d rinsed off all the salt, so my dish actually needed salt. Some basil sprigs were added and it was done. The recipe said it could be served warm or at room temp. Next time I’d like to add some Feta cheese, or maybe some ricotta salata, if I have some. The dish was good. Quite good. Not soaring off the food charts, but good.
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Stewed Eggplant & Tomatoes
Recipe: Adapted slightly from Joanne Weir’s book, You Say Tomato
Servings: 6
2 pounds eggplant — cut into 1″ cubes, including skin
Coarse salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 whole garlic cloves — mashed, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 medium tomatoes — peeled, seeded, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves — sliced
1/4 cup Feta cheese — crumbled, or ricotta salata [my suggested addition]
1. Place the eggplant cubes in a colander and sprinkle liberally with coarse salt. Allow to sit for 30 minutes to drain.
2. Preheat oven to 400.
3. Rinse the eggplant cubes under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels. Toss the eggplant with the 3 T. of olive oil and place in a single layer on a baking sheet (use Silpat liner if possible).
4. Bake for about 20 minutes until eggplant begins to darken slightly and pieces have wilted (slumped). Remove from oven and set aside.
5. In a medium skillet at medium heat, drizzle in the 1 T. olive oil and add garlic. Stir quickly so garlic does NOT burn (important). Have the tomatoes ready – add to the skillet and reduce heat. Cook for 10 minutes (or more) over low heat, covered.
6. Toss tomatoes and eggplant together, then garnish with basil. Add cheese if desired. Season with pepper and salt as needed.
Per Serving: 148 Calories; 11g Fat (61.6% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 12g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 6mg Cholesterol; 81mg Sodium.
A year ago: Almond Pound Cake with Limoncello
Two years ago: Roasted Apricot Almond Cake
Note added later: I made these again – for dinner one night. I still had two slices of ham leftover from the Mother’s Day brunch, and was able to put this together in no time flat. The ham worked much better in ramekins rather than the muffin tin. I also used 2 eggs each. I cut up the cheese in slightly smaller pieces and put them around the outside edges as best I could. I also used two tomatoes, both cut in half and stood them up with the cut sides against the ham (looked nicer), on opposing sides. Then I dropped in the pesto and the raw eggs. The eggs baked in slightly less time, but I removed them BEFORE they got too done. This was a winner the second time around.
Radicchio, Belgian Endive & Dried Cranberry Salad with Pecans 
made the mousse. The mousse was easy. Talk about delicious. Talk about a combination from heaven.
Our son, who does enjoy sweets, said, “I think this is the best cake I’ve ever eaten.” Them’s are the kind of words every mom/cook/chef wants to hear. I urge you, without delay, to get yourself some limoncello, some lemons and limes, some Greek yogurt, whipping cream, and bake this CAKE! You simply MUST make the yogurt lime mousse too – it puts this cake into the superlative category. The cake is light (it’s a sponge cake) and very lemony, but with the limoncello glaze and the mousse, it’s just perfect!
The dough is a very basic scone dough – this one done by hand rather than in a food processor. I chopped up the butter into cubes and mashed them into the dough as instructed. It’s a rich dough – made with heavy cream and a little bit of butter, then you mix in the add-ins and pat it out on a floured surface. I used some new square biscuit cutters I purchased recently, baked them in nothing flat and froze them overnight so they’d be super-fresh in the morning. These were delicious, particularly so if you like bacon. If you don’t, don’t add it in. The cheese and chives or onions would be sufficient. These would go well with a brunch AND would be downright wonderful with a big bowl of soup or chili. Each scone is very large (and the calories indicate such) so if you’d like smaller, that should be no problem. Just bake a minute or two less time.
The bean layer is spread into a flat dish (like a decorative pie plate at right) and allowed to chill awhile. Meanwhile you can make the chile salsa (including a bit of broiling and baking time for the tomatoes, onions and garlic). The food processor makes simple work, though, of the sauce once the ingredients are all ready to go. The salsa recipe makes more than you’ll need, but it can be used for other things (another recipe from the class that I’ll share soon). I actually used two poblano chiles when I made it, but I like that chile flavor.
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