A Mediterranean inspired Coponata dish recipe!

For those of you out there on a cleanse, or if you're gluten free, or vegan, this one's for YOU! So the night Fr. Leo came over to cook up a storm, one of our friends was on a cleanse (I know right, I felt so bad that all this carb dense food was staring at him!) and my daughter is a gluten free vegetarian, soooo we had to make something that wasn't all carbs and meat haha! This dish was refreshing to our palettes and diet friendly to our friends. Win win baby! So lets get cookin shall we! 

So this egg plant dish is creamy in texture, but not creamy in an 'I hate textures and can't eat that' kind of way. It's mineral-ly and smokey, and light enough that I could literally eat this every day. 

We had this in between courses while our food settled, and it was light enough to refresh us, yet satiating enough to keep us from going back for seconds on the other dishes. 

What you'll need for this Coponata: 

- 1 eggplant

- 1 clove crushed garlic

- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

- 1 teaspoon sea salt

- 1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper

- 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

- half of one finely diced red onion

So cut the tips off of the ends of the egg plant and slice the eggplant in half, horizontally. Then cube and cook them on very HIGH heat in 2 tablespoons of heated olive oil. Cooking this on high heat will allow the eggplant to blister which we want. You may drizzle the eggplant with extra olive oil if it's not frying enough, perhaps you didn't add enough at the beginning (this is what we experienced). You don't want the eggplant to dry out so if using more olive oil is necessary, go for it. 

Then add in the fresh garlic and onion, crack some fresh pepper over top and add in the salt, and give it a toss. Drizzle the red wine vinegar over top once the onions are softened, this will de glaze the pan, and then add in some freshly cut parsley to top it all off before serving. ENJOY! Nom nom nommyyy! 

This is really really yummy for an appetizer too, light enough for it, and gets you ready for the other 5 courses! Please visit Grace Before Meals for more yummy recipes, and thanks again to Fr. Leo! 

Hope you enjoy this dish, I know we did! Be sure to tag me on Instagram and Twitter when you make it, I love seeing your spin on recipes! 

hugs all around, 

Jess