A classic eggplant dish so good, the imam fainted.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs eggplant
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 red onions, peeled and sliced thinly
- 2 cups peeled, seeded and diced tomatoes (canned is fine)
- 12 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian or flat leaf parsley (Do not skimp and go for dried, or you will regret it. Fresh parsley is one of the great pleasures of our existence, and it is rarely more than a dollar a bunch.)
- salt (a lot of salt)
- 1 cup water
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Cut off the ends of your eggplant.
- Peel stripes off the eggplant–make it look "striped."
- Chop into 2-3 inch chunks.
- Place chunks in colander, and salt heavily.
- Wait 20 minutes.
- Rinse eggplant chunks, and shake off the excess water.
- In a large pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil and saute the eggplant chunks until they are soft on all sides. The skin may turn a little brown.
- Transfer chunks to baking dish (remember to oil or pam the dish beforehand) so that they are all touching the bottom of the dish and are all side by side.
- Place eggplant chunks in oven.
- In the same pan you sauteed the eggplant, saute the onions on medium heat until they are tender, about 6-9 minutes. Add the tomatoes and garlic and saute about another 2-3 minutes. Take off the heat and stir in the parsley.
- Usually, the eggplant is ready by the time I am done with the tomatoes, but not always. (The eggplant is usually best when eggplant is lightly browned.) Check to be sure that the chunks are evenly tender, and pour tomato mixture into baking dish.
- Let cool and serve your friends and family the wonderful, flavorful dish.