Baked Veggies in Eggplant Sauce

The garden harvest continues.  I picked a few handfuls of bush beans even, and I thought those had pretty much stopped so haven't even been watering them. The continued warm weather may be extending the season a bit - even my winter squash sent out some new little squashes. I didn't take a picture, but they are so cute! I've been storing various things when I have time - here are some of my efforts:

Roasted tomatoes packed in olive oil

Pesto, pickles, and roasted tomatoes!

Last week I tried one more recipe from Nigel Slater's Tender - a cookbook that I give two thumbs up based on the handful of recipes I've tried, and because of the really useful information about more casual cooking with various veggies. For example, I had never thought to pair mint with eggplant - it didn't seem to go. But he recommends mint as eggplant's best herb pairing, and it is delicious. I've thrown it on roasted eggplant, or with a roasted veggie blend of eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes.

Not surprisingly, this recipe also makes use of mint. The recipe originally calls for yogurt, but I swapped in coconut milk with a good amount of lemon juice and it was great. I am very confident I did not make this dish as he would have - I cooked the veggies long (and cut them smaller) and they were very soft, and my sauce to "drizzle" over the top was stirred in and the whole thing became more of a stew-like affair. Regardless of my liberties, it was a really incredible flavor - not like any other I've had before, and very creamy tasting and so nice with all the fresh garden vegetables.

Baked Veggies with Eggplant Sauce from Tender
serves 4

Garden Veggies (cut smaller than recipe calls)

Sauce:
2 large eggplants
olive oil
scant 1/2 cup coconut milk 
3 T lemon juice
handful chopped mint leaves
salt and pepper

Veggies:
4 large tomatoes (or several smaller ones)
3 zucchini, quartered length wise
2 bell peppers, cored and thickly sliced
onion, peeled and cut in wedges
olive oil
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp hot sauce
handful pine nuts
handful raisins

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cut eggplant in half lengthwise and score the flesh with several deep etches (helps the oil penetrate). Sprinkle with salt and set aside for 30 minutes.
2. Wipe off salt, place in baking dish, and pour a few glugs of olive oil over the top and bake until soft (cut side down). You should be able to crush the flesh with a fork. Mine baked about 45 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, put tomatoes, peppers, onions and zucchini in roasting pan. Toss with oil and salt and roast 45 min-1 hour. (Shoot for getting the veggies in about 15-20 minutes after the eggplant started to time things best.)
4. When eggplant is soft and cooled just enough to handle, scrape eggplant flesh from skin and mash with coconut milk-lemon and enough olive oil to make a paste that is thin enough to drizzle. *I had a hard time with this - my eggplant had cooled a lot, so maybe that is why. I just didn't want to add more olive oil than I had already, so mine was a bit thicker. Season with salt, pepper, and mint. If you are using coconut milk and it tastes weird, you need more lemon and more salt. It should not taste at all coconut-y.
5. Toward the end of cooking for the veggies, gently stir in cumin, hot sauce (I used sriracha), pine nuts, and raisins. Finish roasting.
6. Serve veggies drizzled with eggplant sauce (or in my case, just mix it all up in a bowl!! so good)

My version was not the most picturesque - but don't let that stop you! I used golden raisins, and there are so few, but they sneak a nice bit of sweet in there.