Roasted Eggplant Agrodolce
Partly due to necessity (state lockdowns and such) and partly from boredom, more people are spending time in the kitchen. Whether you’re experimenting with new recipes or figuring out how to make a meal out of a can of beans, some lettuce, and a block of cheese, I hope we can inspire you here at Gluten Free & More. We have more than 2,500 recipes on this site, so chances are you may just find something delicious to make with those random ingredients in your fridge that are about to expire, or those pantry items that you bought because your grocery store was out of your usual supplies.
For example, my grocery store was low or out of the more “usual” vegetables that I wanted to buy, like broccoli and asparagus. But stuff like eggplants and artichokes were abundant, so I grabbed those instead. I’ve been challenging my creativity and breaking away from some of my usual go-to dishes.
This Roasted Eggplant Agrodolce is a dish that uses some common pantry staples – olive oil, salt and pepper, rice vinegar (I use Marukan), honey, and crushed red pepper flakes – along with a few fresh ingredients I found at the grocery store.
And in case you’re wondering, agrodolce means sweet and sour and it is an easy way to make ordinary roasted vegetables seem fancy. We could all use a bit of ‘fancy’ during these sweatpants-and-no-makeup days, am I right?
Roasted Eggplant Agrodolce
Ingredients
- 2 medium eggplants (about 1 pound each)
- ¼ cup olive oil
- Kosher or fine sea salt
- Black pepper
- ¾ cup Marukan rice vinegar
- ¼ cup honey
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 Fresno chilies , seeded and sliced
- 2 green onions , sliced
- ¼ cup toasted walnuts , chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Slice the eggplant into ½-inch slices. Brush both sides with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast the eggplant for 30-35 minutes or until golden and soft, flipping the slices halfway through cooking. While the eggplant is roasting, make the sauce.
- Combine the vinegar, honey, red pepper flakes, Fresno chilies, and ¼ teaspoon salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil then lower the heat and simmer until the mixture reduces and become syrupy, about 8 minutes.
- Place the roasted eggplant on a serving platter and brush each side with the sauce. Spoon the rest of the sauce over top and sprinkle with green onions and walnuts.
Nutrition
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