Ok folks, the moment you have been waiting for.

My first recipe post!

It’s summer time in Texas and everyone is selling eggplant! This week at the farmers markets and farm stands, I picked up some from B5 Farms and Boggy Creek Farms. I’ve been making a ton of grilled eggplant, eggplant tacos, eggplant in my stir fry…

I needed something a little different.

Back story is I LOVE tomato sauce. It was probably the first thing I made that I was really proud of. To the point that when I clean up I stick my face into the sauce pan and lick it clean. Nothing goes to waste when I make my red sauce.

Recently I’ve been looking for ways to improvise with it. I’ve done variations with roasted tomatoes, tomatillos, and adding different spices into the sauce.

I finally found something that may be better than the original… Eggplant sauce!

So in the picture below I know theres a bunch of other stuff but this recipe is solely for the sauce. If you want tips on the corn, mushrooms, and zucchini pasta, write to me or call me up. (Hint: It’s just salt, pepper, olive oil, and a grill – I don’t even cook zucchini noodles.)

EGGPLANT & TOMATO PASTA SAUCE

Serves 4-6

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 50 minutes

Total time: 60 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 giant eggplant
• 15 cherry tomatos
• 4-8 cloves of garlic (depending on how much you LOVE garlic – I used 8)
• 1 cup of red wine (Italian reds are great, I used an inexpensive Chianti)
• 1 red or yellow onion
• 1 TBSP each of dried parsley, oregano, and basil (Replace dried herbs with fresh if you have them!)
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Side not: my eggplant to tomato ratio was probably 3:1

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400° F.
2. Cut your eggplant in half lengthwise, peal your garlic cloves and cut them in half.

3. Cover the insides off the eggplant in olive oil and lay face down on a roasting pan.

4. In a different roasting pan throw your cherry tomatoes and garlic cloves in and coat with olive oil and a little salt & pepper.
5. Roast them for 20-30 or until the insides of the eggplant are mushy and tomato/garlic until they pop and start to blacken.
6. While they are cooking slice up your onion into small pieces and caramelize them in a sauce pan. (To speed the process, use a lid to first sweat the onions and then remove the lid with med-lower heat to start caramelizing.) Stir often with a wooden spoon. This will take about 10 min. When finished put aside.
7. When the eggplant is finished let cool. Place the tomato, and garlic in a blender/food processor. When the eggplant is cool enough to handle, scrape out the insides into the blender (don’t use the skin) with the tomato and garlic.
8. Add 1 cup of wine to the blender and blend until smooth.
9. Add the eggplant and tomato sauce into your sauce pan with the onions and put it on low heat and bring it to a simmer.

10. If the sauce is still a little thick, add another 1/2 cup of wine.

11. Then add your herbs, salt and pepper and let it simmer for 20 min and then serve over your favorite pasta, zoodles, or any other dish your enjoy sauce with 🙂

Good luck! And let me know if you have any questions along the way!