Eggplant Spread with Tomato and Garlic Confit

So we are back. DH and I are still groggy with jet lag but had a fascinating trip to Japan. Super Western, much less antiquity than we expected but very interesting and I scored some gorgeous handmade sake cups (fairly reasonable, too) and a bit of other loot. But it’s good to be home.

K. I peeked into the fridge and since we let our newlywed grandson Lavi and his bride Maor use the apartment while we were away, had no idea what we’d find. We had some awesome Moroccan fish Maor made and left for us and we still cannot figure out why they bought a huge bag of ice since we have an ice maker (cocktails? smoothies? slushies? I will find out!) but they left the house very tidy and clean. Once we snorfed down the fish I realized the party’s over and I need to get cookin’ again. Okay, not a hardship. There was a nice little eggplant gazing at me from the fridge some beautiful fresh garlic left and some plum cherry tomatoes and I had a loaf of sliced olive bread and I thought – eggplant spread to put on it, a match made in heaven.

This spread is almost embarrassingly easy to put together but you need time to roast the eggplant and confit in the oven so ya gotta have patience, eggplant takes awhile to properly soften and it’s important since undercooked eggplant has a bitter flavor, not to be desired.

Gather your ingredients and preheat your oven to 350 F/175-180 /C.

Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise.

Salt both halves generously – regular or coarse salt just make sure you cover the eggplant with it – not a thick layer put a moderate amount. Let eggplant sit about 20 minutes to draw out the bitterness. You will see liquid start to bead up on the surface of the eggplant, that’s correct. After 20 minutes briefly rinse off and pat dry. Place the halves in a baking tray and coat with oil on all sides, either olive oil (for a more pronounced flavor) or neutral veg oil, but olive oil is both traditional and adds great depth of flavor, so do go for it.

Then take the (washed and patted dry) cherry tomatoes and place in a small tin – a muffin tin is great – with the peeled garlic cloves and add the oil and a sprinkle of salt.

Place the tin in the larger tin which holds the eggplant.

Pop the tin into the preheated oven and roast, checking after about 45 minutes and check with a wooden skewer or toothpick. It should be super soft so if not keep roasting. My oven takes about an hour to have the eggplant deflate a bit and be 100 % cooked. Remove from oven and let eggplant cool about 10-15 minutes.

While it does, take whatever bowl you will serve or store the spread in and pour the tomato/garlic confit into it, mashing till it forms a sauce, if it’s a bit loose, that’s fine.

By now you can scoop out the eggplant flesh from the skin, leaving behind the brown liquid in the pan and can either chop it or use two forks to pull it apart. (you can also use a hand blender if you want it finer). Mix together with the tomato/garlic sauce and taste for salt. Serve to your happy campers on bread, with cracker or pita wedges. Simple and delicious.