Another cooking-vegetarian-in-Italy recipe! I think melanzana is a rather elegant-sounding name for eggplant. This is another vegetarian-friendly dinner. The sauce is eggplant, black olives and tomato sauce.
Prep time: 15 minutes & 1/2 hour sitting time; Cook time: 20 times; Serves: 4
What you need:
- 2 melanzane (eggplants) cut into 1/2″ slices and then diced into 9 pieces per slice
- 1 medium large onion, finely diced
- 6 cloves of garlic, finely minced
- 1 720 ml jar passata pomodoro (or a 796 ml can crushed tomatoes)
- 1/2 cup black olives, depitted and chopped
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp basil
- parmigiano reggiano, chili flakes, salt, pepper to taste
What you do:
- Dice eggplant and put in a colander. Sprinkle salt over the eggplant and let sit for 30 minutes, then pat dry with paper towel (this removes some of the moisture from the eggplant and prevents it from becoming soggy when cooked)
- In a deep saucepan, over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil and add eggplant, turning to cook, until soft, remove from pan
- Add onions and garlic and sauté, scraping bottom of pan as the onions and garlic soften
- Add basil and stir, cooking for a minute
- Add eggplant back to pan and stir
- Add tomato puree and stir
- Bring to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes
- Add olives and cook for another 2-3 minutes
- Serve over cooked spaghetti
- Add grated parmigiano reggiano, chili flakes, salt and pepper to taste
