Oven Roasted Eggplant "Chips" with Onions and Peppers

I picked all the last tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and peppers last night to keep them from the frost. I actually don't know if it did freeze last night, but it seems certain tonight, so I was ahead of the game. I ended up with lots of green tomatoes, and some mini-veggies: zucchini the size of my thumb, eggplants that fit entirely in my hand, etc. I was looking over my blog posts from a year ago, and at this time I was eating my last kabocha squash of the season (they were out at the co-ops by this time), which suggests to me that the whole gardening season really was 4-6 weeks behind this year. I only just pulled in all the winter squash so that they can finish "curing" in the house. The winter squash are still sort of a garden experiment, so I am hoping the curing helps them sweeten up some more.

My fave fall veggie of the last week or two is eggplant. I actually bought extra at the Midtown farmer's market last weekend (last market of the year) with the hopes of making my cousin's Georgian Eggplant Rolls (but with roasted red pepper instead of garlic). But I don't know if I'll make it because I keep eating the eggplants roasted in the oven, almost like a big chip or plank, chewy and crunchy and creamy at the same time. They are so good this way, especially with some roasted onion/peppers. Roasted tomato is also good (just toss in some thickly sliced tomato or tomato halves in the oven too).

This recipe is very loose. You can't go wrong really - just be careful not to totally char the eggplant. I gave amounts here, but really just use what you have and what you are hungry for! *I still am without camera, but here is a photo of what the eggplant should look like (these are slightly less charred pieces, so you want to go just a little longer to get them crunchy) when finished.

Roasted Eggplant "Chips"
2 med. Eggplant
1/2 c + Olive oil
Salt
1-2 peppers (red/orange is nice)
1 large onion

Turn oven to 400 degrees. Slice eggplant 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick. I do this lengthwise because I like the aesthetics of it. Pour many, many glugs of olive oil into a rimmed baking sheet or cake pan. I easily use close to 1/2 cup of olive oil just for the eggplant because it soaks it up. Let it! I used to feel sort of stingy about using olive oil or fats (pre-paleo living) and now that I am not, it is quite liberating to just pour a bunch of olive oil in the pan and let that eggplant luxuriate in it! Make sure to flip the eggplant slices so that both sides are covered in olive oil. Lay the eggplant in a single layer and sprinkle with some sea salt. Stick in the oven - bottom rack.

While the eggplant starts roasting, cut the onion and pepper into large wedges. The onion will separate of course, and that is just fine. Put both onions and peppers in a cake pan (they will not need to lay in a single layer, so they can cram in a bit) and pour some olive oil over the top again. You don't need as much here - a few glugs, and than give things a stir to coat and toss on a little salt. Stick these in the oven on the top rack.

After about 10-12 minutes, go flip the eggplant slices. They should be starting to brown/caramelize on the bottom. It's hard to get uniform pieces, so the thinner ones will be more browned than the thicker ones. They are all good. Stir the onions/peppers too. They should also be starting to char and brown just a bit. *If things are not getting a little char on them, you can also do a little broiler action here and stick each pan under the broiler for a few minutes. But it's not necessary.

After another 6-10 minutes, things should be approaching done. You want the thinner eggplant slices to be chip-like, and the thicker ones to be nice and golden with a firmer edge. The peppers and onions should be at a similar state of soft/charred.

I love eating the eggplant planks with my fingers (almost like bruschetta or a cracker) with a little onion and pepper on top. Yum! (They would probably also be good with smoked fish or pesto too...mmm!)