1 medium globe eggplant, cut up into 2″ pieces

2 medium onions, cut up into large chunks

4 to 6 large cloves of garlic, minced

3 to 4 gypsy peppers, stemmed, seeded, and cut into pieces

3 to 4 small summer squash, any variety, cut into pieces

olive oil

salt and pepper

fresh basil, cut into ribbons, to taste

tomatoes, either halved grape variety, or cut-up heirloom variety, to taste

baguette

whole garlic cloves

Preheat oven to 450ºF.  Place all vegetables into a  large rimmed baking dish (lined with foil if you don’t like scrubbing).  Stir in enough olive oil to coat all the veggies, add salt and pepper, and arrange them evenly in the baking dish.

Roast the veggies for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.  The edges of the vegetables will become slightly charred, so stirring is necessary.  Continue to roast, stirring every 10 minutes, until the onions are caramelized and the remaining vegetables are soft, up to 50 minutes.  Repeated stirrings will show the eggplant and squash to be gooey.  While the vegetables are still hot, stir and scrape up the yummy bits from the bottom of the pan.

Allow vegetables to cool to room temperature.  Separate the amount of the vegetable mixture needed for your intended use.  Add fresh basil and tomato to make a chunky, gooey, yummy mixture.

Slice baguette into 1/2-inch slices and toast in the oven until golden.  Scrape whole garlic cloves over baguette slices to flavor bread.

Serve toast and vegetable mixture so guests can assemble their own bruschetta.

The remaining vegetable mix can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator.  Allow to come to room temperature, and add basil, tomatoes, and salt and pepper to taste immediately before use.

This is sexy, trust me.  This is a very easy recipe that is tasty, vegan, contains a minimal amount of healthy fat, and shows you care just a bit.  This is great as part of a spread with other things to put on the bread, a selection of cheeses, olives, and other snacky bits.  And wine, of course.  Or cocktails if you so choose.

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