I had an eggplant languishing in the pits of my fridgerator that began calling out to my guilt last night, so i went googling for “eggplant recipes”. I was thinking maybe parmasan, but that was a staple in my mum’s house so i wanted to see if i could find something new. I found this site : http://www.science.uva.nl/~mes/recipe/gale/vegetables/eggplant-coll.html#9

And as it was cold and stormy last night; as it had been autumn-raining here for two days and making me feel deeply cold and melodramatically melancholy I was in need of comfort food and went with the soup.

All I did to tweak it was to roast an entire head of garlic along with the eggplant instead of frying four cloves with the onions. That added a layer to the taste that I was pretty happy with. I over-oiled the eggplant though, I think. We ate this soup with a side of Geogre-Forman’ed chicken breast, cooked with basil and that was proteiny and good.

Source: LA Times. (Mary Jane Kelly- i don’t know if this is the name of the person who added this recipe to this list, or the orginal author, but props to her either way. way to go mary jane. )

ROASTED EGGPLANT AND RED BELL PEPPER SOUP
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Ingredients:
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3 large Japanese eggplants (or 1 very large regular)
2 sweet red peppers
1 large onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 quart chicken stock
1 bunch fresh basil
Salt and pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Instructions:

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Wash eggplants and split lengthwise in halves (in quarters if using 1
large regular eggplant). Lightly season with salt and pepper and
sprinkle with olive oil to taste. Roast at 400 degrees for 45 minutes
or until tender and golden brown. Puree flesh with skin in blender or
food processor and set aside.

Place peppers under broiler until skins are scorched on all sides.
Place in plastic bag for 10 min to soften, then peel and remove seeds.
Puree flesh in food processor until smooth. Set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in skillet. Saute onion and garlic until tender.
Cover to sweat over very low heat for 5 min. Add roasted eggplant puree
and chicken stock to onion-garlic mixture. Cook over low heat 15 min
until flavors blend and mixture is heated through. Puree mixture in
blender or food processor until smooth, then strain into clean bowl.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To serve, place serving of soup in deep bowl and spoon red pepper puree
in center, swirling it into soup. Drizzle lightly with olive oil if
desired, and sprinkle with chopped basil.

Makes 6 servings, 150 calories each. It has a wonderful smoky taste and
is good either hot or cold.