On a quiet, cold weekend, it is hard to imagine anything better than a hearty soup or stew. I was thumbing through Veganomicon, a cookbook I got for the holidays, and came across a recipe for Roasted Eggplant and Chickpea Stew.
Ding ding ding! Since I had only recently written my culinary resolutions for 2011, it was too soon to forget my pledge to conquer eggplant this year. Or at least to give it a fair shot. This recipe sounded hearty and also not all eggplant, which seemed like a good idea.
First the recipe has you roast eggplant and peppers in the oven, saute some things on the stove, and then let them all simmer together. If anything (and can you even say this?) the recipe had too much flavor. The seasonings are terrific but roasting everything and adding the wine really brings out a lot of flavor. It is NOT for the timid! The recipe writers (who are the people responsible for Post Punk Kitchen, check them out) recommend eating it over polenta, but I just ate mine with couscous and that helped the problem, if you can call it that.
As far as the hero, the eggplant itself, well there were no complaints. It wasn't slimy, bitter, or a questionable texture despite the peel still remaining on it. I liked the taste of it roasted, and snacked on a few pieces before I added the rest to the pot.
Sounds awesome! Congrats on playing with the PPK folk!
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