Roasted Eggplant tinged with cinnamon spiced chickpeas

Roasted Eggplant tinged with cinnamon spiced chickpeas

This recipe has always been a family favorite ever since I first laid eyes on it in The New York Times. It's part of Martha Rose Shulman's Recipes for Health series. Not only is it healthy but it is also delicious and super easy to make. It's the simple things in life that bring true happiness and this is simplicity at its best. I deviated from the original recipe by adding shredded mozzarella cheese on half of the dish, party hoping that I could sway the kids into eating it with no fuss. It worked somewhat. They threw up some complaints about eating the eggplant. So to make the dish kid-friendly, I will chop up the eggplant after roasting and add it in as a layer. They loved the chickpeas though! Next time I might experiment by making this in individual serving ramekins. How fun!

3 cups cooked chickpeas or 2 cans chickpeas, drained

1 28-oz can whole or diced tomatoes, crushed into puree

1 whole eggplant, sliced into rounds

1/2 cup feta cheese

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/4 cup olive oil

1-2 tsp honey (depends on how sour your tomatoes are)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp crushed pepper flakes

Fresh oregano if you have

Salt to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Heat up about 2 tbsp oil in a pot. Add the crushed garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Then add the tomato puree, salt, honey, cinnamon and Italian seasoning and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and allow to cook covered for about 20 minutes to thicken. Taste and adjust seasoning based on your tastes.

2. Meanwhile, lay down some foil on your baking sheet and spray with nonstick spray. In a single layer lay down the eggplant rounds on the foil. You might need two baking sheets for this. I happened to use one very large round pizza pan and they all fit perfectly in one go. Drizzle a little olive oil and sprinkle a bit of salt on both sides.

3. Roast the eggplant slices for about 20 minutes. I flipped them over halfway through. Once roasted, remove from oven and crimple up the sides of foil so that eggplant can steam for a few seconds.

4. Lower the heat of the oven down to 350 degrees F.

5. Prepare your baking dish by spraying with nonstick spray. I used a small rectangular 2 quart Pyrex baking dish. Place all your chickpeas in the dish. Pour about 1 cup of the sauce from Step 2. Layer the eggplant slices on top of the chickpeas. Then pour the remainder of the sauce on the top.Sprinkle feta, goat, mozzarella or whatever cheese you like on top and chopped fresh oregano if you have.

6. Cover the baking dish tightly with foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 10 minutes more. 

7. Serve hot with garlic bread and a side salad. Enjoy!