Sunday, November 4, 2007

Eggplant in Savory Sauce

This dish is best prepared the night before serving, to allow the eggplant to absorb the wonderful flavor of the sauce. To serve as a finger food with cocktails, roll up eggplant slices, and secure with toothpick.


* 6 small, or 3 medium eggplants
* Extra virgin olive oil
* 6-8 fresh oregano leaves, minced
* 2 cloves garlic. peeled
* 4 or 5 anchovy fillets, drained
* 1/4 tsp hot red chili pepper flakes
* 4 or 5 sprigs fresh parsley
* 3 Tbl balsamic vinegar
* Fresh basil leaves for garnish


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Cut eggplant into 1/4 thick rounds. Brush with olive oil, and sprinkle with oregano. Bake, turning once, until soft, 10-20 minutes.
3. Place garlic, anchovies, hot red pepper, and parsley in a food processor or blender. Add 3 Tbl olive oil and the vinegar - puree.
4. Arrange eggplant slices on serving plate and pour sauce over them. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 2 hours. (overnight is even better)
5. Let dish come to room temperature before serving. Garnish with basil leaves.

2 comments:

Mary said...

Sounds yummy, I can now imagine the eggplants cultivated in my area (slopes of mt.kenya) but just for export. Im going to put together all recipes that can work there and help people eat them locally as well.
Great blog and look forward daily reads.
Mary

'Chef' said...

Good to hear from you, Mary! I do hope that you can get the locals interested in eggplant recipes, since eggplants are grown there. Eggplant is one of my favorite foods, and it is substantial enough to even be substituted for meat. If you find any unusual eggplant recipes from Kenya, I hope you'll post them on your blog, http://cook-italian-way.blogspot.com/ so i can try them, too!

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