'Heavenly' Oven-Roasted Eggplants
I'd been seeing for a while this oven roasted eggplant recipe on blogs, but I only tried it a few weeks ago. I'm already addicted to it. I had days when for supper I would only have half of an eggplant cooked like this. They really are 'heavenly'.
The most surprising for me is the the effort vs taste relation - you won't find an easier way of cooking aubergines. Many times, cooking them require a lot of steps and procedures. For this recipe, you only place them in the oven and, within the hour, you can already savour them. Even the salad is not that appealing to me anymore. Now I prefer the aubergines cooked this way, fresher and quicker. Serve them with some thicker yogurt, preferably Greek, and that's all!
I gave my word I was going to cook oven roasted eggplants every week until the season ends because they are simply too tasty, too 'heavenly'.
Wash and dry the eggplants and cut into halves, lengthwise.
Cut a criss-cross pattern into each half, just like in the photo.
Arrange the aubergine halves in the baking sheet.
Sprinkle with salt and dried herbs - try to slightly open them out with your hands, so that the spices can go deeper inside, not just stay at the surface.
Drizzle with plenty of olive oil. Don't be afraid, pour without mercy, deep inside as well.
Olive oil is the one which gives the nice taste and the aubergines can brown so nicely thanks to it.
Bake in the preheated oven to 200 degrees C (preferably in the fan mode, if you have it in the oven settings), for about 45 minutes.
Baking time may differ depending on the oven. You'll know the eggplants are ready when they are evenly brown on top.
I like to let them sit in the oven for about 15 more minutes to allow them to cool down and the flavours to blend.
After that, serve warm with a lot of Greek yogurt on top.
Can also be mixed with garlic, but I like them as simple as possible, maybe only with some flake salt sprinkled over the yogurt.
Of course they can be served as a side dish for meat, fish or they can make a wonderful combination with canned tuna.
Enjoy!
