I had a chunk of eggplant in the fridge earlier this week. Since it doesn't have a long shelf life, I started looking for a recipe. I didn't plan on eating it right after I cooked it, but decided the eggplant needed to be cooked now.
I consulted Molly Stevens, "All About Roasting" cookbook. I found a very simple recipe that the author raved about. And I had on hand the other ingredients.
Roasted Eggplant with Cumin and Pimenton
1 1/2 pounds eggplant
1/2 c extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1/8 tsp pimentos (smoked Spanish paprika)
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat oven to 450 degrees (425 if convection oven). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
To toast the cumin seeds, I put them in a small salute pan on medium-low heat. Shake the pan a time or two and watch carefully as the seeds can burn quickly. This should take less than 10 minutes. I put the cooled seeds into a "repurposed" pepper grinder to grind them up.
Cut the eggplant including the skin into one-inch cubes. Put the eggplant in a large bowl. Drizzle the olive oil and sprinkle the cumin and pimenton, add a generous amount of salt and pepper to taste. Toss well to coat all the pieces. Don't worry if some pieces are not thoroughly coated. Spread the eggplant out in a single layer on the lined baking sheet. The cubes will shrink as they cook.
Roast for 10 minutes then, using a turner, turn the eggplant over. Thereafter, do this every five minutes until the eggplant cubes are brown on the edges and soft in the middle. Mine were in the oven about 20 minutes. It will depend on the size of the cubes.
When done to your liking, remove from the oven and slide the eggplant into a serving bowl. I found these tasty hot, room temperature and cold. It was better than eating popcorn! The outsides were crispy and well browned and the inside was nice and soft. The author suggested making this into a salad by adding a small amount of balsamic vinegar (1 to 2 tsp) and 1/4 c. fresh basil leaves cut into ribbons. I ate half the batch when it came out of the oven. Then next day I put the remainder into a pasta with sausage and roasted red pepper and parmesan cheese. Delish!
