I love eggplants, so I am welcome for any interesting eggplant recipes. Today, I found this Mediterranean Eggplant Pie recipe by google search. However, I did not have a few ingredients handy and did not feel like going to the store. Thus, I adopted this recipe to make my own version of the Eggplant pie dish.
Below is my version of the dish. I will try the original dish in the near future, though. It does sound good to me.
Ingredients:
4 Chinese eggplants, cut into 1/4" thick slices. Salt and Freshly ground pepper to taste. (I did not have time to do this step, which contributed the excessive liquid I mentioned later.)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, sliced
1 10-ounce package fresh spinach, cleaned and trimmed of stems. (I just used a bunch, no weight info.)
1 medium tomatoes, peeled and sliced.
1 can diced tomatoes, 14.5 oz (no need if you use 2 fresh tomatoes)
4 sweet Italian sausages
1 unbaked pastry crust for 10"" pie (I made my own, mix 1.5 cup flour, 6 Tbsp butter, pinch of salt and 2 small eggs, fridge about 30 minutes.)
Black or Golden caviar for serving with the baked pie (optional)
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly butter a 2 3/4 qt. deep baking dish (such as a Ducth oven or a souffle' dish) that is 8 to 9 inches in diameter.
2. Season the eggplant with salt and pepper. Set aside.
3. In a large skillet heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 10 minutes until they are softened, but not browned. Set aside.
4. Place the washed spinach in a pot. Cover and cook over high heat for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the spinach is wilted. Squeeze as much moisture as you can out of the spinach.
5. Cook sweet Italian oven medium heat till almost done. Break them into small pieces.
6. Arrange about half the eggplant in the bottom of the prepared dish. Top with layers of half the onions, spinach, fresh tomatoes, and sweet Italian sausage. Repeat the layers with the remaining ingredients, ending with the remaining eggplant slices and canned diced tomatoes.
7. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until it is large enough to over the top of the casserole. Place it on top, form a decorative raised edge.
8. Bake for 50 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.
It turned out almost perfect, just a little bit too much liquid retained in the dutch oven in the end. This was likely caused by the juice in the diced tomatoes and eggplants. When I make it next time, I will use fresh tomatoes instead. Hope the liquid situation will be improved. Anyhow, we ate a lot of it at dinner today. Yum!
Below is my version of the dish. I will try the original dish in the near future, though. It does sound good to me.
Ingredients:
4 Chinese eggplants, cut into 1/4" thick slices. Salt and Freshly ground pepper to taste. (I did not have time to do this step, which contributed the excessive liquid I mentioned later.)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, sliced
1 10-ounce package fresh spinach, cleaned and trimmed of stems. (I just used a bunch, no weight info.)
1 medium tomatoes, peeled and sliced.
1 can diced tomatoes, 14.5 oz (no need if you use 2 fresh tomatoes)
4 sweet Italian sausages
1 unbaked pastry crust for 10"" pie (I made my own, mix 1.5 cup flour, 6 Tbsp butter, pinch of salt and 2 small eggs, fridge about 30 minutes.)
Black or Golden caviar for serving with the baked pie (optional)
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly butter a 2 3/4 qt. deep baking dish (such as a Ducth oven or a souffle' dish) that is 8 to 9 inches in diameter.
2. Season the eggplant with salt and pepper. Set aside.
3. In a large skillet heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 10 minutes until they are softened, but not browned. Set aside.
4. Place the washed spinach in a pot. Cover and cook over high heat for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the spinach is wilted. Squeeze as much moisture as you can out of the spinach.
5. Cook sweet Italian oven medium heat till almost done. Break them into small pieces.
6. Arrange about half the eggplant in the bottom of the prepared dish. Top with layers of half the onions, spinach, fresh tomatoes, and sweet Italian sausage. Repeat the layers with the remaining ingredients, ending with the remaining eggplant slices and canned diced tomatoes.
7. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until it is large enough to over the top of the casserole. Place it on top, form a decorative raised edge.
8. Bake for 50 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.
It turned out almost perfect, just a little bit too much liquid retained in the dutch oven in the end. This was likely caused by the juice in the diced tomatoes and eggplants. When I make it next time, I will use fresh tomatoes instead. Hope the liquid situation will be improved. Anyhow, we ate a lot of it at dinner today. Yum!
2 comments:
this looks great, and buying the premade crust makes it so much easier -- the weird thing is i've never bought a premade crust before.
Thanks, Justin. You are right about premade crust. Since I could not get any from the store when I was in Germany, I am used to make them by myself, even now. It is not that hard, isn't it?
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