A Late Summer Recipe: Amazing Eggplant Dip

Come on. Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte does not get to redefine the scope of the seasons. I am not ready to strip over (has this typo really been up all day? Oy. I meant TRIP over) those plastic pumpkin buckets and bags of orange-and-black wrapped candies at the end of the grocery aisle. It’s still time for reveling in the bounty of summer.

But now that it’s cooling off, it’s also not awful to think of roasting things. Like food. Like this amazing eggplant dip, originally posted more than a year ago.

{Just made it again, and it is still delicious.}

Preheat oven to 450F.

{you don’t need to cut everything neatly, since it’s going to be almost-puree anyway. if you’re using Japanese eggplants, like I did, just leave the skin on–it’s quite tender.}

Toss all of the following together in a large roasting pan:

• 1 large eggplant, peeled and diced
• 2 red bell peppers, seeded and diced
• 1 large red onion, peeled and diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste (or 1/4 cup fresh seeded and diced tomatoes)

Roast for 45-65 minutes, or until the vegetables are fragrant and caramelized and reduced by 1/2 their volume. Cool slightly before pulsing in food processor to your desired level of chunkiness.

(We had a lot of eggplants and peppers, so I doubled the recipe and put what we didn’t eat immediately into 1/2 pint jam jars to freeze.)

{if you’re going to do the same, remember to leave 1/2″ of space at the top of the jar to allow for the expansion that comes with freezing!}

{small white bowl to the far right has the eggplant dip. my son, trying his best to look fierce.}

Delicious as an appetizer to Middle-Eastern or Italian inspired dishes. Yum!

I hope you’ll make some and enjoy it with friends this weekend. Peace!