Roasted Eggplant Dip

When I was in Southern Italy last summer, it was an amazing experience - walking around the small towns, buying fresh seafood from the fisherman and vegetables from the farmers.  When we arrived, we go a little too excited about all of the fresh vegetables.  We bought 4 eggplants.... I decided to take the eggplants, roast them along with some fresh tomatoes and make a eggplant dip before dinner one evening.  It was exactly what I was hoping it would be, and it was gone right away!  When I came back from Italy, I replicated it a few times and it was just as delicious.  So, I thought would share the recipe with you.  Especially since it's that time of the year when people are coming by, and it's nice to have some food out.

Ingredients;
1 large eggplant
1-2 tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil
1/2 c crushed tomatoes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Chop tomatoes and eggplant into 1 inch chunks.  Place on a cookie sheet.  Add cloves of garlic to the cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Place in the oven for about 30-45 minutes or until the eggplant is soft and golden.

Place the roasted vegetables into a medium size pot on low heat.  Add the tomato sauce and simmer until it's cooked down, anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.  I sometimes let it simmer longer.  Optional - you can also add a few chili flakes if you want to give it a little bit of a kick!

I think the best way to serve it is with a baguette.  I also like to put 2 different dips on the same plate sometimes.  It depends how many guests you are having over.

Thyme 2 Taste...