Roasted Eggplant, Tomato, and Red Pepper Dip
via Frugal Cuisine
1 medium Italian eggplant (or 2 Asian)
2 medium tomatoes
1 large red pepper (or 2 small)
2 cloves garlic
1/3 c lemon juice (appx 1 lemon juiced)
1/3 c olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
Split the Italian eggplant (or leave the two Asian eggplant whole). Set eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers on lightly oiled baking pan – and roast in medium oven for 30 to 40 minutes until veggies are soft and blackened. (“Medium oven” is largely considered 350 degrees F.)
While veggies are roasting, chop the garlic, and blend with lemon juice, olive oil, and salt until they make a smooth puree.
(By the way, one lemon will yield about 1/3 cup of juice.)
Scrape eggplant out of the skin and add to the blender. Blend until smooth.
Remove skins from the pepper (this was rather tedious) and dice. Repeat for tomato.
NOTES: Pepper (the editor at Frugal Cuisine) says the tomatoes and peppers still had quite at bit of moisture, and we are not kidding. She reduced the pepper and tomato in a pan. My peppers were acceptable to me, but the tomatoes were very, very juicy yet. I roasted them for another 40 minutes, which helped but not as much as I’d expected.
Stir chopped peppers and tomato into eggplant puree. (You could puree everything, but the chunks add a nice texture to the dip.) Allow ingredients to sit together for a while – overnight is preferable.
OVERALL, this dip is EXCELLENT. If you have any inclination to try this, do it!
My dip made about 3.5 cups.
