tomatoes

I am so tired of store bought, rotisserie chicken and a roasted veggie - our default, go-to, weekday meal. Needless to say, my husband and I have been on the hunt for new healthy recipes, that are relatively quick and easy. This Eggplant Tomato Pie hits all of those marks! Right now in the grocery store, with the beautiful summer vegetables and fresh herbs, the eggplant and tomatoes were by far the stars of store. The eggplant tomato pie concept is extremely simple and highly customizable, as I riffed from this recipe. Tomatoes sandwich an eggplant mixture and act as a crust, the whole thing is topped with a little bit of cheese and a fresh herb, and baked. In our experience, eggplant has proven to be a little bland, so don't be shy with the seasoning. We left the recipe vague because vegetable flavor varies in different regions. (If in doubt, start with a 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.) We decided to follow the recipe and boil the eggplant for the sake of time, but you could easily roast it to bring out even more flavor. Also, we sauteed the onions and garlic together, prior to adding them to the eggplant mixture, which was another departure from the recipe we found. Given the delicate eggplant flavor, we thought adding raw onion and garlic would be too powerful. Cooking the aromatics together, mellowed the flavor while adding some sweetness. As I mentioned above, because it's so simple, you can truly make this dish yours. For instance, you could use any number of cheeses separately or together (we used mozzarella instead of cheddar), use basil instead of parsley, use any variety of tomato or onion, etc. Alternatively, if you wanted to make this a vegan eggplant tomato pie, just nix the cheese altogether and I'm sure there are vegan breadcrumbs out there. We also thought it better to add some parmesan to the eggplant mixture to add a combo punch of flavor and structure to the dish. We wanted to compensate for the all the moisture inherent in the veggies, and we nailed it. Please make this dish and share it on Pinterest if you like it. How would you change this recipe to make it yours? Eggplant Tomato Pie Recipe Ingredients 1 large eggplant 6 Roma tomatoes, sliced into half-inch rounds 1 medium red onion, diced 2 cloves garlic, chopped 1 cup panko breadcrumbs 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese 1 egg 3 tablespoons butter, melted 1 tablespoon prepared pesto 4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded Fresh chopped, flat-leafed, Italian parsley Salt and pepper to taste Directions Peel and cube eggplant, and boil in salted water until soft, about 10 minutes. While eggplant is cooking, saute onions and garlic over medium heat until translucent and fragrant, being careful to not burn the garlic, then set aside. When eggplant is soft, drain water and mash. To eggplant mash, add sauteed onion, garlic, breadcrumbs, parmesan, egg, melted butter, pesto, and mix well. Lubricate the pie pan with non-stick cooking spray. Layer on the bottom of the pan with tomato slices. Add eggplant mixture. Top mixture with the rest of the tomatoes. Add shredded mozzarella and sprinkle with the fresh parsley. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

tomatoes

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