5.25.2008

Spaghetti, Roasted Eggplant Cream Sauce

I vacillated over posting this recipe. It is not elegant. But I keep craving it. It is smokey, eggplanty, creamy, lemony, tangy, garlicky, unique...


Peter of Kalofagas and Marie of Proud Italian Cook this month both posted some awesome eggplant recipes. Fresh eggplant. Ooh eggplant, yes!

And you may recall I have a wonderful Croatian butcher, he carries some interesting side products, one of them is Roasted Eggplant in a jar from Bulgaria. On a recent visit to the butcher shop, a jar came home with me.

I heated a generous amount of olive oil in a sauce pan, added lots of shaved garlic and red pepper flakes and cooked until fragrant. Then add the drained-and-chopped roasted eggplant.


Finished the sauce with a hearty scoop of creme fraiche, fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, lots of chopped parsley, salt and pepper then tossed it with spaghetti. (Topping it with Parmesan cheese would be a good idea, too).

OK, there it is. It might be even better with fresh roasted eggplant. That is why I hesitated with this post. But then I thought, no, this eggplant-in-a-jar recipe really is that good.

Aubergine Lovers: I would love to hear what you think...