Roasted Eggplant Spread

It's time for another Eating the Alphabet Challenge.  I missed last month as March is the craziest month in my family.  Three birthdays and an anniversary all within two weeks is a lot to do.

This month, the letters for the alphabet challenge were 'E' or 'F'.  I honestly wanted to try something with figs.  I found some great goat cheese and fig recipes, but then I found out that they aren't really in season yet.  Nonetheless, when they do come into season, I found some great recipes.

When I ruled figs out, I kept thinking about eggplants.  I am one of the few people that I know personally that LOVES them.  If I was still single, I think I'd eat several of them a week, but my husband isn't a fan.  One of my favorite flavors for eggplants is roasting them, so I found this new recipe for a spread that I knew would be simple yet delicious.

Roasted Eggplant Spread
slightly adapted from FoodNetwork
Ingredients

1 medium eggplant

1 red bell peppers, seeded  

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons good olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon oregano

 

Directions

1)  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2)  Cut the eggplant and bell pepper into 1-inch cubes. Toss them in a large bowl with the garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and oregano. Spread them on a baking sheet. Roast for 45 minutes, until the vegetables are lightly browned and soft, tossing once during cooking. Cool the vegetable mixture slightly.

3) Place the vegetables in a food processor fitted with a steel blade, pulse 3 or 4 times to blend. Taste for salt and pepper.

 

 I like this spread as an appetizer idea because it seems like a lot of appetizers are either really heavy with cheese or meat based.  This is really simple, but the roasted flavor of both vegetables really comes through.  Depending if you like roasted red peppers or the roasted eggplant more, you could go heavier on the vegetable that you like.  I served these with pita chips and it was amazing.  Definitely a great appetizer.

Please check out all the other letter 'E' and 'F' submissions below.  Thanks Brenda for hosting this challenge!