Greek Baked Eggplant with Tomato and Feta

•  Prep Time 10 minutes
•  Cook Time 1 hour
•  Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
•  Servings 2 to 4
•  Calories 453 kcal

Ingredients

• 1 eggplant / aubergine, sliced in half lengthwise and scored all over in a criss-cross pattern (without cutting through the skin).
• olive oil for baking
• 85g feta cheese

For the tomato sauce

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 5 cloves of garlic sliced
• 400g chopped tomatoes (1 can)
• fresh basil optional
• 1 teaspoon salt
• pepper (to taste)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/390F, then brush the eggplant with a generous amount of olive oil, sprinkle with a bit of salt and then bake each half facedown in little separate baking dishes (or side by side in a slightly bigger baking dish) for about 45 minutes or until the flesh is soft.
2. Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce. Heat the olive oil on a medium heat in a pan with a large surface area, then add the garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes (don’t brown the garlic), then add the chopped tomatoes, herbs and salt and pepper. Half fill the empty tomato can with water and add that to the pan, too. Let simmer for about 15 minutes, then remove the herb sprigs. Add the sugar and balsamic vinegar and stir in.
3. Pour the tomato sauce over the eggplant, then crumble over the feta. Bake for about another 15 minutes or until the tomato sauce is bubbling.

Recipe Notes

I served my eggplant halves in two separate dishes, but if you don't have two small suitable dishes, you can easily bake both in the same, slightly larger, dish. Obviously this dish is also very easy to double up on if you want to serve more than two.

The tomato sauce I used is just a simple marinara sauce. Why not make a double batch and use the rest as a simple pasta or pizza sauce?

This dish is equally good served hot or a bit cooler (the greeks often serve this kind of dish at room temperature).

Serve alone with fresh crusty bread or garlic bread (unless you need the meal to be gluten-free, of course, in which case forget the bread!), with grilled meats, or as a simple side dish.