Description
A bright, colorful side dish from the French countryside
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 eggplant
- 1/2 onion, diced
- olive oil
- 1/2 red bell pepper
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 dried tomatoes, diced
- 1 zucchini, diced (peel on)
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon each fresh thyme and parsley
- salt, pepper, cayenne
Instructions
- Dice the eggplant (I left the peel on) into 1/2 inch (1 cm) chunks
- Place in a colander and sprinkle with salt
- In a large frying pan, saute the onion in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until translucent
- Add the red bell pepper and cook until the union begins to brown, add a little more oil at any point as needed
- Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes
- Add the tomatoes
- Press down on the eggplant to remove any water and add to the dish, along with the zucchini, continue stirring and cook for 5 more minutes
- Stir in the tomato paste and water, season with salt, pepper, and a dash of cayenne
- You want the texture to be like a thick stew or gravy. If it seems to watery, skip the lid in the next step
- Cover and simmer for 40 minutes to 1 hour, until all the vegetables are tender
Notes
I used dried tomatoes because that’s what I had on hand. You certainly could substitute a fresh tomato, diced. In which case, I would probably reduce the amount of water added to 1/2 cup.
If you don’t have fresh herbs, you can substitute 1 teaspoon of dried herbs.