Roasted Eggplant Appetizer

Enjoy this slow roasted eggplant and tomato appetizer as a prelude to your meal or accompaniment to a wine tasting, with bread or crackers.
Servings: about 2 1/2 cups

 Cook Time: 1 hour

 Pair With: Try a rich, fruit-forward Syrah.

 Source: Recipe and photo courtesy Tama Takahashi, Touring & Tasting Food Editor

INGREDIENTS

3 cups eggplant (about one large globe or a half dozen Japanese eggplant)

2 cups ripe tomatoes (about one giant heirloom or 7 Roma tomatoes)

4 cloves garlic, sliced

1 tablespoon basil

spray olive oil

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup minced cilantro

juice of 1/4 lemon

1/4 cup piñon nuts

1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper

salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Boil a pot of water and pop the tomatoes in for a minute or just until the skin bursts, remove, cool, seed and slice them. Peel and cut the eggplants into bite sized pieces and lightly salt them. Spray a baking pan with olive oil and place the garlic slices on it. Spread the tomato slices and eggplant on top of the garlic and spray the tops well with olive oil. Sprinkle the basil on top. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the tomato is soft.

Stir the vegetables together and bake another 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the eggplant is soft and the juice from the tomato absorbed, remove from the oven to your serving dish. Stir in the olive oil, cilantro, lemon, pistachio nuts and pepper. Wait to add salt to taste, as it may not be necessary.

 

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Recipe Courtesy Of
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Carina Cellars

Since its inception ten years ago, Carina Cellars continues to exemplify Ralph Waldo Emerson’s belief, “Life is a journey, not a destination.”