A Month-of-Mediterranean: Baked Eggplant with Tomatoes and Caramelized Onions

Does this picture look familiar? Yep. I served the eggplant alongside yesterday’s orange chicken. Wow! Did they ever go together well! This couple of recipes becomes your next easy company dinner!

We love eggplant. Babaganoush or baked with marinara or stuffed eggplant rollatini. Yum! Eggplant takes on the flavors added to it, so it’s a great palette to showcase savory tastes. Sauteed, baked, grilled, or fried, eggplant is versatile. And good for you! Naturally low in calories and sodium, eggplant is a great source of fiber, vitamin C, potassium, B vitamins and more!

"Mediterranean Living" is a wonderful source for some authentic Greek Mediterranean tastes. I followed their recipe pretty closely (for me!). I swapped out the oregano for Greek Seasoning and I used Garden Gourmet’s chunky garlic paste instead of my own minced garlic so I could spread it more evenly on the eggplant. But you can do the original recipe and it will be delicious, too!

I did get a bit impatient (Who? Me?) and I more kinda like fried the onions (as you can see) than caramelized them. They were delicious anyway, but next time, I’ll plan ahead better and sweat the onions slowly and then caramelize them. I promise. I’m sure caramelizing will deepen the onion flavor. I give you the caramelizing directions I skipped. Allow time for this step.

Baked Eggplant with Tomatoes and Caramelized Onions (serves 6-8)

2 medium eggplants, cut into slices ¼” thick

2 medium onions, sliced into rings

1-4 cloves of garlic, minced (1 used 3 tablespoons)

3 tomatoes, diced (I sliced)

1 tablespoon McCormick’s Greek Seasoning, divided

About ½ cup extra virgin olive oil, divided

Slice eggplant and arrange on a paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and let sit.

Slice onions. Put a skillet on medium heat with 2 tablespoons oil. Add onions and stir often for about 30 minutes until caramelized. Remove from pan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 13”’x9” baking dish with one tablespoon oil on the bottom.

Pat the eggplant dry and make a layer in the bottom of the pan with half the eggplant. Spread on half the garlic. Add half the onions and half the tomatoes. Drizzle on olive oil. Repeat layers finishing with olive oil.

Bake covered for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Serve as a side dish or as a vegetarian main dish on top of pasta.

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up

This is another one to “put into the rotation”. I usually serve baked eggplant, as you know from an earlier recipe, with marinara sauce. So, no sauce in this one, but eggplant, tomatoes, garlic and onions is a combo that cannot fail no matter the final form. This did make a lot! So, I’m after serving as a side one more time, I’m going to make the rest into a blender with V-8 Juice and make soup. Presto bingo! Lunch is served along with some croutons on top!