Eggplant Spread

Eggplants….. Every time I buy them, someone always would ask me ” What are you doing with those?”

I have several favorite ways to cook eggplants, and I have a particularly favorite recipe. 

You can call it a dip, a spread, or a side dish, but I promise you will love it! It has an amazing smokey-sweet flavor that goes perfectly with anything from simple

bread to pretentious meat. Plus it is really easy to make and that’s a bonus:)

Let’s start

You will need:

• 2 medium eggplants
• 2 medium tomatoes
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 medium sweet onion
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 3 garlic cloves
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp chopped dill or parsley
• Salt, pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 425F

• Wash eggplants, dry them with a paper towel, pierce with fork several times, place on baking dish and roast for 45-50 minutes. When ready, eggplant should be soft to touch with burned like skin and collapses when you press on it.
• Take eggplants out of the oven and let cool off slightly.
• Meanwhile, heat the oil in the skillet on medium heat, add chopped onions and cook for 5 minutes until onions translucent and soft. 
• Add chopped tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are soft and almost no juice remains. 
• Add tomato paste and chopped bell peppers and cook, till bell peppers are soft.
• Cut the eggplants in half and with the spoon remove all the pulp from the skin, discard the skin. Add pulp to the skillet and mix well with all the ingredients.
• Add crushed garlic, salt pepper, herbs. Mix well. Serve with pita bred ( or any bread) or as a side dish.
• Note: sometimes I like to roast bell pepper together with eggplants. I gives a little bit different flavor to the spread.

Enjoy!