Roasted Eggplant with Butter Beans

Mediterranean-inspired Roasted Eggplant with Butter Beans is a healthy, delicious vegetarian-friendly meal. Recipe below.

EGGPLANT (OR AUBERGINE, DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU CALL HOME) is one of those “actually, it’s a fruit” foods generally treated as a vegetable. If it’s treated at all. Other than as the venerable Eggplant Parmesan, it doesn’t see a lot of action in many home kitchens, and that’s a shame. It’s deliciously creamy, mild and meaty. And it’s chock full of health benefits. Our easy-to-make, easy-to-reheat Roasted Eggplant with Butter Beans ticks all those boxes.

This dish has Mediterranean roots. Some versions call it a caponata, a Sicilian dish made with chopped, fried eggplant. Some call it an eggplant butter bean stew, again chopping the eggplant. Some versions, including ours, feature the eggplant in big, unpeeled wedges, with the butter beans, tomatoes, tomato paste and aromatics forming a thick, chunky sauce that gets topped with dollops of ricotta and a generous sprinkling of Parmesan. Swap the 3/4 cup of chicken stock with mushroom or vegetable broth, and it’s vegetarian. Leave off the cheese and it’s vegan.

Back to the health benefits for a moment. Eggplant is full of nutrients, including a decent amount of fiber. It also may reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer, promote blood sugar control and support weight loss. Butter beans do all of that and are a great source of plant-based protein.

This is the first time we’ve made Roasted Eggplant with Butter Beans. It was straightforward to make and easily reheats in the microwave (we nuked individual servings). And it was utterly delicious and satisfying, both when fresh and when reheated. So whether you call it eggplant or aubergine, you’ll likely call it wonderful.

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Roasted Eggplant with Butter Beans

Mediterranean-inspired Roasted Eggplant with Butter Beans is a healthy, delicious vegetarian-friendly meal.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mediterranean-inspired

Servings 4 to 6

Ingredients

• 2 eggplants, about a half pound each (see Kitchen Notes)
• 1 medium red onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 4 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
• 3/4 cup chicken stock, or mushroom or vegetable broth (see Kitchen Notes)
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 2 15- ounce cans diced tomatoes
• a grinding of black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried tarragon or herbes de Provence
• 2 15- ounce cans butter beans, drained and rinsed
• 2/3 cup ricotta cheese (see Kitchen Notes)
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350ºF. Cut the tops off the eggplants and cut them into quarters lengthwise—don’t peel them. Place them on an oiled baking pan and generously brush with olive oil. Bake until they are golden and soft, but still have their shape—should be about 25 or 30 minutes. When they are nicely baked, remove from the oven and set aside.
• While the eggplant is roasting, make the sauce. In a big heavy-bottomed skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil, then sauté the onions, bell pepper and garlic, stirring frequently, until the onions start to soften, 3 to 5 minutes. Add in the tomato paste and paprika—stir for two minutes. Pour in the stock, wine, tomatoes, black pepper and herbs. Stir well, then simmer gently until the sauce is thick but still liquid, about 10-15 minutes. Add in the butter beans and stir everything together.
• Oil a baking dish—we used a 10 x 14 glass dish—then ladle in the sauce. Nestle the baked eggplant wedges in the sauce, spacing them evenly. Dot with the ricotta, then scatter the Parmesan over everything. Return to the oven and bake until the sauce is bubbling and the ricotta just starts to melt, about half an hour. Serve, spooning sauce into shallow bowls and topping with eggplant wedges.

Kitchen Notes

What kind of eggplant? How big? For this, we used conventional eggplants. You may use Asian eggplants if you wish—before baking, cut them in half, not in quarters. For regular eggplants, go for about 1/2 pound or so each, not too big.

How much ricotta? If you can find ricotta at a deli counter, so that you don't have to buy an entire pound of it, that would be great. If you can only find prepackaged ricotta, use the extra in one of these five terrific recipes.

Can I make it vegetarian/vegan? Sure! Just use mushroom or vegetable broth instead of chicken stock for vegetarian. And to make it vegan, omit the cheeses. 

Can I reheat it? Yes, that's easy. Even better, it stays wonderfully delicious. Just spoon individual servings into microwaveable shallow bowls, cover with waxed paper (or a paper towel) and nuke for about 2-1/2 minutes.