One-Pan Roasted Baby Eggplant With Roasted Tomato Sauce

   With Football Season in full swing now, we need some lighter appetizer options for those Sunday beer and wing fests. This easy one-pan app is your answer. My Roasted Baby Eggplant with Roasted Tomato Sauce is a light dish packed with tons of flavor. Oh, and it’s super easy to make!  
    If you haven’t had baby eggplant, they are the cutest things! They are meaty like a big eggplant, but in appetizer portions. You can’t find them everywhere, so if you’re having trouble you could always use Japanese eggplant or whatever small variety of eggplant you can find. If you’ve been following along with my past few articles, you know that I have a great garden at home manned by my husband, Andrew, who has a green thumb. We grew these little guys this summer and they are so good!  Here’s what you need to make a delicious (and healthy!) Football Sunday appetizer:

One-Pan Roasted Baby Eggplant with Roasted Tomato Sauce   

6 baby eggplant, tops removed, cut in half lengthwise
2 plum tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
2 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
Salt, pepper, fresh or dried oregano (mince fresh oregano)
Olive oil
Grated Pecorino Romano cheese

    1.  Preheat the oven to 350.  Line a small baking pan with tin foil for no stick and easy clean up.  Drizzle a little olive oil over the pan and, using your hand, rub it around the pan.  
    2.  Taking a sharp paring knife, score the eggplant in a diamond formation being careful not to poke holes through the bottom of the eggplant.  Repeat on all of them and then start on the tomatoes.  Lay them all on the pan. Season them with salt, pepper, and the dried or fresh oregano. Top the tomatoes only with the garlic (half a piece of garlic for each tomato). Drizzle with a little olive oil and rub the vegetables lightly to cover them evenly with the seasoning and oil and to distribute the garlic. Bake for 20 minutes. 
    3.  Remove the veggies from the oven. Let the tomatoes cool slightly, then transfer to a small bowl. Carefully remove the skin from the tomatoes as best you can.  Mash up the remaining tomatoes. Top the eggplant with a little of the roasted tomato sauce and a sprinkling of Pecorino Romano cheese.  Enjoy!

For more food and cocktail recipes, visit my blog Whatcha Cooking Good Looking? at www.whatchacookinggoodlooking.com.