Rustic Balsamic Eggplant (Whole30)
If you are new, we are huge about shopping at Aldi. In fact, shopping the cheapest store is one of my biggest points in How to Meal Plan/Shop/Prep on a Budget. But I’ve got to be honest about something: we occassionally get sick of the produce selection. Aldi has amazing prices, but not a huge variety. It’s the perfect store to pick up the basics, but anything beyond really needs to come from somewhere else.
When my husband went to a different store a few days ago, he asked if I wanted anything. Without even thinking, I responded “eggplant.” Now, I really like eggplant, but this came out of nowhere. My husband being him bought like 5. I’m glad he did though because it gave me the flexibility to test out this recipe! This italian balsamic eggplant is especially easy because it’s only three ingredients! The harder to find items I have linked to Walmart. These brands are both Whole30 compliant. Note that if you have an ad blocker on you may not be able to see.
Other equipment used: links are clickable to see/purchase.
Enjoy!
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Prep Time | 5 minutes |
Cook Time | 45 minutes |
Servings |
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- 4 small eggplants
- 8.5 oz sundried tomatoes in oil with herbs julienne cut will be easiest to work with
- 1/3 cup basalmic vinegar
Ingredients
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- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place pan into the oven (allows the eggplant to get crispy on one side)
- cube the eggplant into bite sized chunks, about 1/2" by 1/2" inch.
- cut the tomatoes into pea sized pieces. be careful to keep as much oil as possible.
- In a large bowl, toss the eggplant and tomatoes in the oil from the jar. Carefully remove your hot pan from the oven and dump the eggplant/tomatoes into a single layer.
- Roast for 45 minutes. While roasting, heat the basalmic vinegar in a saucepan over medium low heat. Reduce by half. Once reduced, pull off the heat and wait for the eggplant and tomatoes to be done.
- Remove eggplant and tomatoes from the oven and put into a serving dish. Drizzle the basalmic reduction over and enjoy!
- If you don't have balsamic vinegar, simply omit. The flavor will not be the same but it is still a tasty and easy side dish.
- If you cannot find compliant sundried tomatoes in oil, add in 4tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and 1tbsp of italian seasoning.
- You can also have this done in 30 minutes at 400F degrees. I just happened to recipe test with other foods that needed to be cooked at 375F.
Rachel is the creator and owner of Fresh Pine Co. and its subsidiaries, including allwavyhair.com = the #1 Web Source for naturally wavy hair information & tips. Rachel received a Breakout New Blogger Scholarship at FinCon 2018. She enjoys writing niche content about budget lifestyle, eco-friendly living, and mental health.