Roasted Eggplant, Fava Bean, Tomato and Mint
This is a wonderful combination of summer garden bounty that goes incredibly well with any kind of lamb (as shown here). By itself, with rice, it makes a wonderful vegetarian meal. The secret to making it approachable to eggplant-phobic folk like myself (who've been scared away from the beautiful fruit by too many overcooked and bland preparations containing slimy little chunks or slices of the stuff at pot-luck suppers ) is to roast the eggplant before adding it to the rest of the ingredients. Roasting eggplant brings out a tremendous amount of flavor and reduces a proportionate amount of liquid, resulting in firm morsels of flavorful eggplant with nary a hint of slime. Fresh fava beans add a bright flavor along with a little bit of body (substitute fresh peas if you can't get fava beans — don't use canned, jarred or dried fava beans as those are wholly different beasts as ingredients). Rounding out the dish is tangy tomato (if you don't have fresh picked tomatoes, don't hesitate to use canned whole tomatoes, especially the Muir Glen brand if you can get it) and some chopped fresh mint to make it a little bit mysterious (seriously, the mint's pretty subtle and does a great job bringing out the flavors of the other ingredients).
Roasted Eggplant, Fava Bean, Tomato and Mint
Serves four adults as a main course, six to eight as a side dish
Ingredients
2 large eggplant (about 1-1/2 to 2 pounds) peeled and cut into 1" cubes
1 pound fresh fava beans, shelled (about one cup of beans)
1 large onion, halved and sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, chopped (about two tablespoons)
6 roma tomatoes (any fresh meaty tomato will do, or a 28 ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes)
1/4 cup dry red wine (I'm lovin’ shiraz with this)
1/4 cup (three tablespoons) olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Toss the eggplant with 1/2 teaspoon salt and let sit in colander over a bowl for 1 to 2 hours.
- Bring 2 quarts of water with 1 tablespoon of salt to a boil. Add the shelled fava beans to the boiling water and boil the beans for three minutes. Plunge the beans into ice water to stop the cooking. Free the beans from their tough skins by cutting a small slit in one end with a sharp paring knife and squeezing the other end between your fingers to pop the bean out. If you have kids, slit the skins and let them squirt the bright green beans into the bowl. Set aside.
- Heat the oven to 450. Cover a rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper and lightly brush the parchment with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Arrange the eggplant cubes in a single layer on the pan and sprinkle another tablespoon of oil over them. Roast the eggplant until it is well browned and shrunken by a third (about 25 minutes). Be careful not to burn the eggplant, or it will make the whole dish suck by adding a bitter burnt flavor (err on the side of lighter brown, unless you're into burnt stuff). Set aside.
- You want the onions and garlic soft, with a little bit of caramelization. One way to do that is to cook them over medium heat for quite a while (up to 40 minutes), stirring frequently. I have a short cut, that adds the caramelization right off the bat (and gives the garlic a sweet roasted flavor), but it's really easy to mess things up and end up with burnt bitter garlic and flaccid onion. So, if you want to live on the edge, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil over high heat until smoking. Toss in the garlic, toss once, and then immediately toss in the sliced onion and toss them together off the heat. The garlic will now have a toasted brown color and the onion will have a light caramelization going. Turn the heat down to medium high and continue to saute the onion and garlic until the onion is softened — about 12 minutes.
- Turn the heat back to high. Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil. Add the Red wine and bring to a boil. Let the sauce reduce by a third (about five minutes over high heat). Add the roasted eggplant and fava beans, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes. Add the chopped mint and salt and pepper to taste and continue simmering, covered for five minutes for the pungency of the mint to mellow.
© Copyright 2002, Richard L. Chase
Posted on Aug 04, 2002 @ 08:56 PM
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