CNYEats A Taste of Utica Eggplant

“From the kitchen of my good friend Debbie Pecorello”  says Jo Giacovelli who posted the following recipe on page 41 of our book A Taste of Utica 

EGGPLANT

This recipe is for an Eggplant sauce.  It can be used on pizza – to cover the dough with a layer of the following eggplant mixture, add mozzarella and bake.   It can be used as a dip – serve on crackers, Italian bread, pita bread, bread sticks, etc.

I used it over pasta, as suggested in our book “….be creative.  When making baked ziti, add the eggplant mixture and the shredded mozzarella and sauce…bake.”

• 2 medium eggplants *helpful hint from Jo …”Hint: When you buy the eggplant, make sure they are long and slender – these tend to have the least amount of seeds which make it bitter”.
• garlic (to your taste) – I used 3 cloves *To crush garlic, take the side of your knife and press it on top of each garlic clove.  This will enable you to easily remove the skin and then simply cut off the hard end.
• 4 –6 cups tomato sauce  – I used a 28 oz can of sauce. 
• oil – I used 2 TBS
• water – I used 1 cup
• Pecorino – Romano grated cheese (to taste) – I used 1/2 cup
• salt  and pepper to taste
• red pepper flakes to taste – I used 1/4 tsp
• flavored bread crumbs – I didn’t use bread crumbs.  The sauce was a perfect consistency for pasta. 
• basil – I used 3 fresh basil leaves, chopped

Peel eggplant – dice into small pieces.  Sauté in water, oil, and crushed garlic. *I cooked the eggplant 10 minutes over medium heat.

Cover while cooking and stir occasionally.  After 10 minutes or when the eggplant is soft enough, you will mash it with a spoon/fork/potato masher.

When the eggplant is at the consistency you want, add the sauce, basil, red pepper and grated cheese.  Let it simmer 5 minutes.

Add enough bread crumbs to soak up any of the liquid that is left in the pan (oil and/or water).  now it’s done.  My sauce didn’t need bread crumbs. Add any seasonings you may feel are needed.  No additional seasonings were added – it was PERFECT!

This sauce was tasty and light over penne pasta.  Ted has plans to put the rest of it on a homemade pizza. Fresh, flavorful, great recipe Debbie and Jo!

Joanne