Meat-free Friday -- What to do with all that eggplant

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First the good news:  in late summer, my vegetable garden looks like this:

Now the bad news:  I'm the only person in the family who LOVES eggplant.  Everyone else says "it tastes funny" or "it's leathery."  So I was on a search for a GREAT eggplant recipe.  Enough of the old, tomato-based ratatouille.  There had to be something new and exciting.

And I found it!  The best eggplant recipe ever (right after eggplant parm, that is).  Super easy and tasty, this recipe comes from Food52 Vegan, by Gena Hamshaw.  The only changes I made was to add some parmesan cheese as a topping and serve on quinoa instead of brown rice or toast.  Enjoy!

Roasted Ratatouille

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 lb tomatoes, chopped
• about 1 small eggplant, chopped into 1 inch pieces and lightly salted
• about 2 small zucchinis, chopped into half slices
• 2 red bell peppers, seeded and chopped
• 1 yellow or white onion, chopped
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced (or 4 tsp jar garlic)
• 3 cups (or two cans) of chickpeas
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tblsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• pepper
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
• parmesan cheese
• cooked quinoa

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. On a large pan, combine tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, onion, shallot, garlic, and chickpeas.  Stir well.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, thyme, and salt.  Drizzle over vegetables and stir.  Season with pepper. 
4. Bake 50 minutes to 1 hour, stirring halfway through.
5. Serve over quinoa, garnished with parmesan cheese and basil.