Eggplant with Sweet Pepper and Cherry Tomato Sauce

Although this dish may not look like the most appetizing meal that I've ever made, I swear it was delicious!

I made a wonderful sauce by sauteing up some chopped onion and garlic in some butter until just beginning to brown, then I added the chopped red bell pepper, sweet pepper and halved cherry tomatoes. I allowed this to simmer until all of the juices had been released from the tomatoes and the peppers cooked through. To finish, I added a little salt and some fresh chopped basil.

Next, I peeled and sliced the eggplant into medium sized strips using a mandoline slicer. The strips were then cooked in a little olive oil, just until starting to brown and set aside on paper towels to drain.

I then layered a spoonful of the tomato pepper sauce in the bottom of a small loaf pan, added a layer of the eggplant slices and repeated until all of the eggplant was in the pan. I finished it off by adding the remaining sauce on top and sprinkling with shredded mozzarella cheese. This was placed in an oven on 425 degrees until the cheese was melted. To brown the cheese, I turned the broiler on for the last few minutes of cooking.

Despite the fact that I threatened to burn the house down by forgetting about my meal in the oven, under the broiler, until it was just about too late to salvage, this meal turned out great! The cherry tomatoes and the peppers made such a great sauce that I wish I had made twice as much so that I could use it for something tonight too!  I do think that if I were to make this dish again though, I would use half as much oil to cook the eggplant. My portion of the meal turned out a bit on the oily side (the eggplant is like a sponge and soaked up the oil).