Eggplant-Pepper Tomato Sauce Recipe
Email
Packed with the flavors of summer, this sauce slow-cooks eggplant, bell peppers, and tomatoes together until the veggies break down and the flavors meld. Finish it with fresh basil and parsley for freshness. Try it over pasta, poached eggs, with garlic bread, or baked over polenta for a quick, satisfying gratin.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 pound eggplant (about 1 medium eggplant)
- Kosher salt
- 2 medium red, yellow, or orange bell peppers
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 4 medium garlic cloves
- 8 tablespoons olive oil
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
- 2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth or water
- 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh oregano leaves
- 1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves
- 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
INSTRUCTIONS
- Trim and cut the eggplant into medium dice. Place the eggplant in a colander in the sink. Generously salt the eggplant and toss to coat. Weight it down with a bowl (the bowl should be pressing on the diced eggplant without crushing it) and let drain for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cut the remaining vegetables: Core and seed the bell peppers, then cut into medium dice. Place in a large bowl. Cut the onion into medium dice and add to the large bowl. Finely chop the garlic cloves and add to the large bowl; set the bowl aside.
- When the eggplant is ready, lightly blot with paper towels to remove excess moisture. Heat 6 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large straight-sided skillet or frying pan over medium heat until shimmering. Add the eggplant in an even layer and let sit, undisturbed, until it begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the eggplant begins to brown, about 8 minutes more. Remove the eggplant to a medium bowl and set aside.
- Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan and heat until shimmering. Add the reserved bell peppers, onion, and garlic, and generously season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Add the reserved eggplant, tomatoes, vegetable broth or water, and oregano, and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is slightly thickened and the vegetables are very soft, about 30 minutes.
- Stir in the basil and parsley. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
Cooks Illistrated has a method where you salt very thick sliced eggplant and dehydrate it by putting it in the microwave for 10 minutes. The salt just brushes right off after the eggplant cools. This prevents the eggplant from sucking up oil. My husband grills our eggplant in the simmer from our garden and I frreze it for winter use. It is so nice to have it all done, you just defrost and put it together for whatever dish you want. Growing your own is fun but buying in season and freezing saves lots of money.
I think you forgot the "rinse the salt off the eggplant" step. That way lies tragedy. I'm not sure that you need to go through the salting step anyway. As long as the oil is at the proper temperature, the eggplant will brown just fine without weeping. That bit of Maillard Reaction will add to the final dish, too. When I have a decent jar of red sauce, I'll dice an eggplant (did you mean to peel the eggplant before dicing and cooking?), heat 1/8" (in the pan) of evoo, then brown the dice until golden. If you want to brown some onions and celery, either remove the eggplant until you're done, or cook the onions in a separate pan. Return the eggplant to the original pan so as not to waste the caramelized goodness. Then add the red sauce, keep the sauce fairly loose with water or wine, then let it cook down. Delicious. Great on angel hair or as a side dish.
i made this, and it was fantastic. and pretty easy. i will definitely make it again to share with family and friends.
First time I ever tried an eggplant dish (using garden veggies) and this turned out great! I did cut the amounts in half (just two of us), used a bit more onion and some parmesan, but basically your recipe worked fine.
Thanks!
I made this a couple weeks ago, and froze it in quart size freezer bags. I used it this weekend in a fritatta - and it was delicious. I'm going to take advantage of the fall farmer's markets, and freeze a few batches.
love this recipe. i got it from chezpim.typepad.com http://chezpim.typepad.com/blogs/2006...
which is essentially the same, sans peppers.
delicious.
It's good, I make something similar though after salting the eggplant I add it directly to the pan either with onions or without and then add diced tomatoes and carmalize it all in oil, It tastes amazing with pasta!
I tried this - it was really good over pasta. And the next day I scooped it, cold, onto leftover no-knead bread that I toasted, for a quick lunch. It was even better the next day.
Why can't i print these recpies?
I didn't actually read the recipe - just the title. Having a large farmer's market eggplant, I used it to make my own version. I browned 2 oz. of fine-dice pancetta, added thin-sliced onion, bell pepper, diced mushroom, basil, garlic, parmesan, S/P, sugar, and a 28oz can of crushed tomatoes. I'd mandolined the eggplant into quarter-inch slices, then hand-sliced into narrow strips. I did not salt/drain the eggplant. In the future I'd just put it into the cuisinart till roughly-chopped. I was very impressed with the hearty, umami quality of this nearly-meatless version and will definitely make it again.
This dish seems very Hearty, Cant wait to try it with Polenta.
:)
This dish seems very Hearty, Cant wait to try it with Polenta.
:)
This dish seems very Hearty, Cant wait to try it with Polenta.
:)
This dish seems very Hearty, Cant wait to try it with Polenta.
:)
Isabella: We tested this recipe 5 times and these were our results: each time our eggplant weighed 13 to 15 1/2 ounces and, once they were cut into medium dice, we yielded 5 3/4 to 6+ cups.
I was thinking it might be a good idea to cook the eggplant under the broiler, like when you make baba ghanoush, scoop it out then add it to the recipe, for that smoky flavor.
One medium eggplant = 6 cups?
Not in my world!