Roasted Eggplant & Red Pepper Chutney

This may seem like I am thinking about summer when I post this in March.

Well what's wrong with that? Summer is always on my mind. Gorgeous produce, farmer's markets, beach, sun, tomatoes, sun.
Did I mention sun?

Though my garden has no eggplant or bell peppers (not until August in New Jersey), my supermarket has plenty. From Mexico (eggplants) and Holland (peppers) will have to do. Shame on me, I am not sticking my my "cook only what is in season" rule.

I have been seeing so many beautiful chutneys on Australian and New Zealand food sites because it is summer down under. They call them "aubergines" in Europe and Australia instead of eggplant, and "capsicum" instead of peppers.

You say tomato, I say tomatto.

This turned out fantastic. This chutney was wonderful served with a cheese plate, as well as swiped on a baguette.



Please remember this recipe in the summer, when you have more produce than you know what to do with. I will remind you.

Roasted Eggplant & Red Pepper Chutney: (made up by me)

1 large eggplant, peeled and cut into 2" dice
3 red bell peppers
1 small red onion, diced
7 dates, cut in half
1 cup of cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
kosher salt

Roast the peppers:
Cut the peppers into quarters and lay on a foil lined baking sheet.
Broil for 10-15 minutes until the tops are starting to blacken. Fold over the foil to make a packet. When cool, the skins will peel right off. Cut the peeled roasted peppers into 2" pieces.



For the eggplant:
Peel the eggplant and cut into 2" pieces. Lay on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and kosher salt. Roast the eggplant chunks in a 400F oven for 15-20 minutes.

Add the roasted peppers and eggplant to a heavy saucepan.
Add the sugar, dates, vinegar, onions and the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Turn the heat down to low and simmer the chutney for an hour until it becomes a jam like consistency.



We ate this within a few days, but you can certainly do the sterilized jar thing, which I have not tried yet, and keep this for months to give out as gifts!

(I gave a jar to my friend Sarah who took these great photos of the chutney. Thanks Sar!).

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