I adore eggplant though the first time I ever tried to prepare it, it was a disaster. I was in college and tried to make a baked eggplant casserole. Somehow it turned out a shocking gray color and tasted dreadfully! I think that I didn’t know the trick of pre-treating cut eggplant with salt back then.

This antipasto is simple to make and always delicious. Hegui makes something similar but adds a pinch of sugar. I don’t think that it needs it. If you want, you can also include zucchini with the vegetables.
We had this with sautéed baby Russian kale and bean salad and Roman style tomato pasta and a several kinds of red wine. Yum!

Roasted Eggplant Antipasto

5 to 6 baby Italian eggplant or two large
Kosher salt
¼ cup olive oil
2 tomatoes
3 small to medium onions
6 cloves garlic
1 tsp. dried herbes de provence
Black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350F.

Remove woody stems from eggplant and cut into ¾ inch rounds. Place in a colander and toss with some Kosher salt (several tablespoons) and let rest in sink for about thirty minutes. This will pull some liquid from the eggplant.

Remove woody parts of tomatoes and cut in halves or quarters. Peel onions and cut in halves or quarters. Peel garlic and leave whole.

Rinse salt from eggplant and add to other vegetables. Toss with olive oil, 1 tsp Kosher salt, herbes de provence and black pepper. Crowd vegetables into a baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 1 to 2 hours until they are tender. Remove from oven. Allow to cool then refrigerate overnight.

Serve alone or with other salads or antipasti. This tastes wonderful with olive bread.