This recipe took me about an hour from start to finish. That’s a little longer than I typically spend on a weeknight meal, you may want to save this one for a weekend if time is an issue. I wasn’t terribly hungry this evening so didn’t mind investing the time in it. This recipe originates from Cooking Light.

Baked Eggplant Stacks with Roasted Tomato Sauce

8 plum tomatoes (about 1 pound)
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups diced onion, divided
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sliced onion
1/2 cup dry white wine
20 garlic cloves, peeled (about 2 large heads)
1 cup canned vegetable broth
1/4 teaspoon salt
18 (1/2-inch-thick) slices eggplant (about 2 medium)
2 (10-ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, squeezed dry
Oregano sprigs (optional)

Preheat oven to 425°. Place tomatoes in a shallow baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 425° for 30 minutes. Set aside.

Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add 1 cup diced onion; sauté 3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, red wine, oregano, pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 20 minutes. Place tomato mixture in a blender; process until smooth. Set aside; keep warm.

Place a saucepan coated with cooking spray over high heat. Add sliced onion; sauté 5 minutes. Add wine and garlic. Bring to a boil; cook 5 minutes. Stir in broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 20 minutes. Place garlic mixture in a blender; process until smooth. Set aside; keep warm.

Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt over eggplant. Place half of eggplant in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; broil 5 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Repeat procedure with remaining eggplant; set aside.

Place a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add 1/2 cup diced onion; sauté 3 minutes. Add spinach; cook 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Preheat oven to 425°.

Arrange 6 eggplant slices, 2 to 3 inches apart, on a baking sheet. Spread 2 1/2 tablespoons spinach mixture over each slice. Stack each with another eggplant slice, an additional 2 1/2 tablespoons spinach mixture, and remaining slices. Bake at 425° for 15 minutes. Arrange 1 eggplant stack on each of 6 plates; spoon 1/3 cup tomato sauce and 2 tablespoons garlic sauce on each plate. Garnish with oregano, if desired.

NOTES:

A lot of the prep work can be done ahead of time in order to cut down on day-of prep. Both sauces, actually, can be made beforehand. Blend them and toss them in tupperwares, reheat when you make the dish. Also, I’m not sure why they tell you to bake the eggplant in two separate phases; all 18 slices of eggplant can in fact go in at once, saving you 10 minutes.

One thing that doesn’t make sense to me about this recipe is that ultimately you need 12 tablespoons of the garlic sauce (equal to 3/4 cup), but with the onion, garlic, wine, and broth, you end up with nearly double that. Perhaps I didn’t let mine reduce far enough, but seeing as how the tomato sauce came out in the perfect amount and I simmered them for the same time, I think it might just be a problem with the recipe. I would cut the garlic sauce items in half (so 1/2c broth, 1/4c wine, 1 head of garlic, 1/2 onion), that would be plenty.

The tomato sauce for this was fantastic. It was a rich, purple-red color, very fragrant. I would be tempted to keep the recipe for the tomato sauce and use it in other dishes, it was so good. Too bad I don’t have any of that left over!

Also, forgive the fact that I am not a food photographer of any quality :) I do my best with my little Canon point-and-shoot.