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Have you ever had a tomato explode on your counter?
OK, maybe mine didn’t exactly explode, but it sure had burst a hole overnight and spewed juices all over. For something as great as tomatoes, what is not great is the smell that results from a tomato exploding while you sleep.
I’ve never had that happen before, but I’m deciding it was a message. And that message was, “Hey, moron! You have delicious tomatoes on your counter! Eat them!”
So I came up with this recipe today. I mean, you can’t ignore talking tomato juice gods.
I used a mix of San Marzano and slicing tomatoes, because that’s (some of) what I have on hand, and San Marzano tomatoes are the best for sauces. No foolin’. I have a plant of slowly-ripening SMs in my garden and I can’t wait to get my greedy hands on them.
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Pan-Seared Eggplant with Tomato Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 eggplant
- 1 tbsp butter, olive oil, or other fat
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and diced
- 1 pepper, diced (such as Ringo or Ox Horn, but bell will do)
- 2.5 cups diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- Salt, pepper
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Slice eggplant into rounds and place into a colander, sprinkling each slice with salt before stacking more on top. Set aside in sink.
- Heat a large saucepan to medium, add oil and heat through, then add onion. Cook onion until soft, then add pepper and garlic and cook for another minute or two. Add tomatoes and stir, then cover pan and let cook about 10 minutes, until tomatoes have broken down. Add salt and pepper, then stir in cream. Re-cover, reduce heat slightly, and move on to the eggplant.
- Rinse salt off eggplant and dry on paper towel. Beat the egg in one bowl and pour the breadcrumbs into another. Heat a frying pan to medium and add a small amount of oil. Dip eggplant in egg, then breadcrumbs, and place in pan. Fry a few minutes on both sides until coating is crispy.
- Plate eggplant, with pasta if desired, and spoon sauce over the top. Bemoan the fact you didn’t make more sauce, but celebrate that it’s June and you have a long season of eggplant and tomatoes in front of you.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate based on online calculators. Any nutritional information found on Stetted should be used as a general guideline only.
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About Megan
I learned how to cook by exploring seasonal ingredients, and you can too! Meal time shouldn’t be stressful or complicated, and with fresh ingredients and easy methods, Iโm here to help you enjoy the time spent in the kitchen.ย Read moreโฆ
Nice way to deal with an unpleasant situation. It looks and sounds delicious!
@Jodi, I am just surprised at how much the one tomato oozed. I picked it up and it was still kind of spewing. So gross and cool!
we had an exploding tomato the other day! and we also have a san marzano tomato tree in our garden. I say ‘tree’ because this plant is HUGE and full of fruit. They are taking forever to ripen but their thicker skins are keeping the birds and squirrels away. I can’t wait to make sauce!
@Erin, ours just started to ripen, finally. I have a feeling they will all ripen at once and I’ll be overwhelmed, but at least that will help with making sauce!
I’m glad to hear that I’m not the only one who ends up with exploding tomatoes on the counter at the peak of the season. I’ll be waiting another two months to have that problem here in WI — and in the meantime, I’ll try to contain my jealousy!
@lo, I’ve never had it happen before, but I guess the humidity probably got to them when our AC died on Friday and then couldn’t handle it when it was working again. Oh well!
I wanna serving!