The French certainly know how to make food look beautiful! I was inspired to make this Provençal French dish with the late Summer eggplants and tomatoes from our local produce delivery company. This is similar to my Vegetable Tian recipe; but only uses the eggplants (aubergines) and tomatoes, along with fresh basil. Using smaller eggplants is best and they fan so nicely, exposing the vibrant tomatoes inside the fans. It’s really just a fancy way of roasting and serving these veggies; but it is actually a simple recipe that tastes delicious and is still great for leftovers. I served it over lentils and it was perfect!
Directions
Preheat oven to 400F. Wash and pat dry the eggplants, and on a cutting board. Trim just the very end of the stem end. Then slice the eggplants lengthwise into about 6 even slices – stopping short of the stem end to leave the slices attached at that end. Fan open the eggplant slices and stuff the tomato slices here and there in between the eggplant. Sprinkle the garlic in between the slices too. Pour a little olive oil into a baking dish and carefully place the eggplant fans in the dish. Once in the dish, then you can fan out the eggplants a little more. Drizzle with olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste. You can also add some black olives on top if using. Place the dish in the oven and bake for about 35 minutes, or until the eggplants are tender.
When the eggplants are done, remove from oven and sprinkle with fresh basil and parsley. Serve as is, or to make it a complete meal, serve over cooked green lentils. Enjoy!
