I love this time of year when co-workers, family and friends share their summer harvest. It’s like my own personal grocery store except I don’t know what I’m receiving each week.
This week my wife brought home some Rosa Bianca eggplant from a co-worker. I went to my garden to see what I could add to this amazing vegetable and pulled a few shallots, grape tomatoes and basil. Bam! Eggplant Pomodoro.
I love eggplant recipes as you can see from my eggplant parmesan and eggplant panini so I decided to try my hand at this classic Italian dish. Pomodoro is Italian for tomato and this dish is full of them.
It’s important to sweat and drain the eggplant. Eggplant contains a lot of moisture. Salting the eggplant and allowing it to sit with weight in a colander triggers osmosis which draws the moisture and bitter flavor out. It takes a little time. 30-45 minutes but it makes a huge difference in the final dish.
[sc:lijit]
Ingredients
- 1 medium eggplant, (about 1 pound or 5 cups), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 shallots, quartered
- 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
- 1/3 cup chopped pitted greek kalamata olives
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (1 lemon)
- 4 teaspoons capers, drained
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 8 ounces angel hair pasta (sub quinoa pasta for gluten free)
- 1/4 cup chiffonade basil
Instructions
- Place eggplant in a colander and season generously with salt. Fill a 1-gallon plastic bag with water, seal tightly and place over eggplant to weigh down. Let stand for 40 minutes
- Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add eggplant and cook, stirring occasionally, until just softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and shallots and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- Add wine, lemon juice, tomatoes, olives, and capers. Cook, stirring, until the tomatoes begin to break down, 5 to 7 minutes more.
- Remove from heat, add butter and stir till it's melted.
- Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot
- Cook pasta in boiling water until just tender, about 6 minutes or according to package directions.
- Drain and divide the pasta among 4 bowls. Spoon the sauce over the pasta and sprinkle basil on top.
Jad, this looks delish…and your photos are amazing.
I’m looking forward to trying this, but I have a question. Whenever I drain my eggplant, it darkens a bit in color. Is there something I can do to prevent this, or is that just the way eggplant works?
Enjoying your beautiful site,
Jennifer
Thanks for the compliment!
The browning is just want happens when the eggplant is exposed to air. Same as apples. I can’t think of anyway to avoid that but wasn’t an issue for me in this dish since the eggplant is sautéed, thus turning brown anyway, during cooking.
Ok, I won’t worry about it then. Thank you for this recipe. Looking forward to trying it.
Gorgeous photos of eggplant pasta! I love eggplant and use it all the time: from lasagna to the so-called eggplant caviar. Pinning this too!
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