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Eggplant with Tomato-Mint Sauce and Goat Cheese

A roasted eggplant dish topped with a tomato-mint sauce and crumbled goat cheese.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Eggplant and oregano match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 157 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Eggplant with Tomato-Mint Sauce and Goat Cheese

Oven500°F, then 350°F

Ingredients

Directions

Roast the eggplant

  1. Preheat oven to 500°F.

  2. Spray 2 large baking sheets with oil spray.

  3. Arrange eggplant rounds on prepared sheets; brush lightly with 1 tablespoon oil.

  4. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

  5. Bake 10 minutes.

  6. Turn rounds over and bake until tender and golden, about 10 minutes longer.

  7. Remove from oven.

  8. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.

Make the tomato-mint sauce

  1. Heat remaining ½ tablespoon oil in medium nonstick skillet over medium heat.

  2. Add onion; sauté until tender, about 5 minutes.

  3. Add garlic and stir 1 minute.

  4. Season with salt & pepper.

  5. Add tomatoes with their juices, mint & oregano and simmer until sauce thickens & is reduced to 1 ¾ cups, breaking up tomatoes with back of spoon, about 20 minutes.

Assemble and bake

  1. Spoon half of tomato sauce into shallow 2-quart baking dish.

  2. Arrange eggplant rounds atop sauce, overlapping slightly.

  3. Spoon remaining sauce over.

  4. Sprinkle cheese over.

  5. Bake until heated through, about 20 minutes.

  6. Sprinkle with basil.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

446Calories
17 gProtein
32 gFat
27 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Feta Cheese1 oz (28g) cheddar113
Goat Cheese1 oz (28g)103
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Eggplant1 cup cubed (82g)35
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Oregano1 tsp dried (1.8g)5
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Basil5 leaves fresh (2.5g)1
Peppermintnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Eggplant + oreganotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together157 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Eggplant + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together801 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Tomato + oreganotop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,767 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggplants
Forms the main body of the dish and turns tender and golden when roasted at high heat.
Olive oil
Carries heat and adds fat that promotes browning on the eggplant and flavour in the sauce.
Onion
Softens as it sautés, adding sweetness and a savoury base to the sauce.
Garlic cloves
Adds pungent aroma that mellows as it cooks briefly in the sauce.
Tomatoes
Provide the body and acidity of the sauce, thickening as they simmer and break down.
Goat cheese
Softens and melts over the hot dish, adding tang and creamy richness.

The step that matters

Roasting the eggplant at high heat until tender and golden. Eggplant is spongy and holds a lot of water. Hot, dry roasting drives off moisture and browns the surface, so the slices turn tender rather than soggy and steamed. Oil brushed on the rounds helps them brown evenly.

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (eggplant, olive, onion, garlic, clove, tomato, oregano):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Basilfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against eggplant, olive, onion, garlic, clove, tomato, oregano. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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