When Times Leader page designer Lyndsay Bartos brought me a homegrown tomato last week, I wanted to use it in a new recipe.
And since I had some eggplant from a recent Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market in the refrigerator — as well as additional tomatoes in our backyard garden — I soon found myself making a Mediterranean Casserole.
The recipe came from a food blog called The Spanish Radish, and features tomatoes, eggplant, chickpeas and garlic along with other herbs and spices — all of which sounded great to me.
Tasting it, I loved the flavors. And I figured it would be nice to serve it over a starch, notably quinoa. But I only had half a cup of quinoa at home — enough to cook up and divide among Mark, my mom and me. I was too rushed that day to make a trip to a store. So I quickly cooked some lentils to offer the newsroom taste testers a starch on the side.
Once it arrived in the newsroom, the lentils on the side created a bit of a stir, with columnist Bill O’Boyle wondering what the heck they were and deciding he didn’t like them at all, while page designer Ashley Bringmann said she appreciated them for their plant-based protein.
As for the main part of the dish, Lyndsay said she “really liked the flavor” and appreciated the cumin and the red pepper slices; Ashley declared it “tasted very good,” Bill said “it wasn’t bad” and news editor Liz Baumeister thought she’d like to “add some stock and more garlic” and turn it into a soup.
Hmm. Have I just found someone who likes garlic even more than Mark and I do? The dish already had 6 cloves in it.
Back at home Mark had enjoyed the blend of flavors and, when I dropped some off at my mom’s house she was quite enthusiastic about the dish, asking for a second helping right away.
I’d followed the recipe fairly closely, except that I chopped up enough fresh tomatoes to fill 4 cups and used that instead of a 28-ounce can. I also skipped the tablespoon of sugar, and my paprika was smoked rather than sweet.
The casserole tastes extra hearty served with lentils; I think it tastes better with quinoa. Other possibilities would be to serve it with rice, couscous, another kind of pasta or maybe crusty bread. Here is the recipe from The Spanish Radish.
Mediterranean Eggplant Casserole
2 large eggplants, sliced about 1/2 inch thick
1 (28-ounce) can of chopped tomatoes
15 ounces chickpeas, canned, prepared.
1 red bell pepper, cut into thick strips.
1 large onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 fluid ounces tomato sauce
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of ground cumin
1 tablespoon of sweet paprika
3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley (optional)
1 tablespoon of fresh basil (chopped fine)
1 teaspoon of good quality sea salt
Black cracked pepper for seasoning
Instructions: Roast some eggplant slices at 430°F with some salt and olive oil for 15 minutes. Cover and allow to sweat for 10 minutes. This softens up the eggplant and allows it to caramelize when introduced to the sweet tomato-based sauce.
While your eggplants are roasting, start to prepare the sauce by first frying the onion and garlic, then add the tomato and spices, and simmer for 15 minutes. Season to taste just before you add the chickpeas.
Mix well and simmer for another 10 minutes allowing the chickpeas to soften and absorb some of the sweet sauce flavors.
Transfer some sauce to the bottom of a casserole dish, layer some eggplant, and repeat the steps until all ingredients are gone.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F Allow your casserole to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Dining and Cooking