Fairy Tale Eggplants are not your ordinary eggplants. In addition to being incredibly-over-the-top unspeakable-adorable, they cook up quickly and beautifully, and they are sweeter and creamier than their larger siblings. They're a true treat with a pretty short season, so when I found them at the market this morning I snatched them up.
Fairy Tale Eggplant rock. Here's something to cook with them. Ingredients are pretty approximate. This is quite forgiving.
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb pasta-- I used whole wheat spaghetti, but anything would do
- several fairy tale eggplants. I had 8, but depending on how itty bitty they are anywhere from 5-10 could likely work just fine.
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
- two generous glugs of olive oil
- 1 sprig fresh basil, minced (stem too!) or 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 14 oz can pureed tomatoes
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 oz parmesan cheese
- additional freshly grated cheese for the top
Procedure
- Cut eggplant into quarters, for smaller ones, or 8ths, for larger ones. Throw a glug of oil into a large pan and let it heat, then add the eggplant. Try to do as close to a single layer as possible. If you have too much eggplant, do this in two batches. (I did!) Meanwhile, put up water to boil and cook the pasta once it does.
- Let the eggplant caramelize over medium-high heat, turning as needed and adding a touch more oil if it sticks. When they're nice and soft (this shouldn't take more than 4 or 5 minutes), add the garlic, oregano, a little salt, and the tomatoes.
- Turn heat to medium low, or all the way to low if it won't stop sputtering at you.
- Let the mix come together gently, adding the fresh basil after a minute or two.
- Remove from heat and stir in the parmesan, adjusting salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve with additional cheese. Yum yum!
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