Eggplant Gratin with Bergamot, Dried Ramps, Tomato and Parmesan
Eggplant baked with tomato, dried bergamot and ramp leaves.
Serve warm, hot, or at room temperature. This is a great addition to an appetizer spread
Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 medium sized eggplant skin on, washed
- 1 14 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
- Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
- Pinch of chili flakes
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 large clove of garlic about a tablespoon roughly chopped
- ½ cup carrot onion and celery roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon crushed dried bergamot, stems removed
- Toasted panko breadcrumbs as needed, about ¼ cup (or puffed wild rice, pictured)
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese preferably an Italian reggiano or grana
Instructions
- Dice the eggplant into ½ inch cubes.
- Bring a 2 qts of lightly salted water to a boil, then add the eggplant, return the mixture to a boil and cook for 2 minutes, until the eggplant turns translucent.
- Remove the eggplant, cool, and gently squeeze out the water in a towel.
- Reserve the eggplant. Sweat the carrot, onion, celery and garlic in 1 tablespoon of the butter for a few minutes until the onion is translucent.
- Deglaze the pan with the wine then add the tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes on medium heat, until the vegetables are tender.
- Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a highspeed blender and puree until very fine, then combine with the eggplant, season the mixture to taste with salt, pepper, parmesan, herbs and the chili flakes, then pack the mixture into a casserole dish, top with the breadcrumbs, dot with the remaining tablespoon of butter, then bake at 375 until hot throughout, browned and bubbly, about 30 minutes.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then serve immediately, warm, or at room temperature.
Notes
*The meal I was making here had to be gluten free, so, instead of baking the dish with breadcrumbs on top like I would normally do, I used puffed wild rice. To make puffed wild rice, cook wild rice per usual, then dehydrate it. After the rice is dried, fry it in a thin layer of oil as you would popcorn. The puffed rice will keep and stay crisp for 24 hours.