Fire-Roasted Tomatoes and Eggplant

Start by slicing your tomatoes in half and placing them on a foil-lined baking sheet. Preheat your oven to 400 F. Drizzle olive oil over each tomato, then top with salt, pepper and Italian seasonings. Don’t be afraid to really douse them in herbs.

Place your pan in the oven and cook for 35 minutes.

While they’re cooking, grab your eggplant. Put your flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs into three separate dishes. Slice your eggplant into medallions, then dip each one into the flour, egg and breadcrumbs to create a thin breading.

Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Once hot, add your eggplant medallions. Cook 3-5 minutes on each side until golden brown.

Then, bring the heat down to medium low and cover the pan, allowing the eggplant to cook until insides are tender, about 10 minutes.

I’ll also point out that I only made half of the eggplant, because I was much too hungry to go through two batches of browning and simmering. But, if you have more will power than me (or are serving a large group), be sure to transfer your cooked eggplant to a warming dish when you prepare the second half.

When eggplant and tomatoes are done, transfer your eggplant into a large bowl. Add your tomatoes on top of the eggplant, and break some of the tomatoes apart so you get some of the tomato juices flowing over the eggplant. This shouldn’t be too hard, because I found that most of the tomatoes broke when I tried to scoop them off of the foiled tray anyway!

Finally, top the whole bowl with your Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!