I made this the other night and my daughter loved it. Hope you enjoy it, too!
Slow Roasted Eggplant with Pearl Couscous (recipe courtesy of Chevrons and Eclairs [1])
Ingredients:
3 Eggplants
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1/2 Tbsp dried oregano
1/2 cup white wine
2 large tomatoes, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups pearl couscous, cook
1/2 cup olive oil (I used much less)
5 sun-dried tomatoes, dry (I used a spicy sun dried tomato paste, about 1 TBSP)
1 garlic clove
2 cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 425°
Slice the eggplants lengthwise, scooping out half of the flesh from each half. Place the scooped out eggplant flesh in a separate bowl and sprinkle with salt. Place the scooped out halves in a prepared baking dish using most of the olive oil to coat the entire eggplants. Bake for 20-30 min.
Meanwhile, in a saucepan over medium heat, heat 2 TBSP of the olive oil. Add the eggplant “flesh” (or meat – that’s what I like to call it) garlic, onion, chili flakes and oregano. Sauté until translucent. About 5-10 min. Deglaze the pan with white wine and reduce by half. Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove the eggplants from the oven and divide the tomato sauce evenly between all the eggplant halves, placing inside the “boat” and cover with aluminum foil. Bring down the temperature of the oven to 325° and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until tender. (I would actually keep the temp of the oven at 350 or the eggplant will take forever to become tender)
For the pearl couscous, blend the sun-dried tomatoes (or paste), garlic, cloves, cinnamon, salt and pepper with the olive oil. Pour over the pearl couscous and toss with the parsley. Place the couscous over the roasted eggplant. Enjoy.