Slow-Cooked Summer Tomato and Eggplant Sauce

Name: Slow-Cooked Summer Tomato and Eggplant Sauce
Yield: makes about 3 quarts of sauce
Ingredients: 5 pounds ripe plum tomatoes; 3 1/2 pounds firm eggplants; 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil; About 1 1/4pounds onions, finely chopped (3 cups); 2 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste; 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup); 1/2 teaspoon dried peperoncino (hot red pepper flakes), or to taste; 3 or 4 large branches fresh basil with leaves; A heavy-duty saucepan or Dutch oven, 8-quart capacity or larger, with cover

December 14, 2011

Here you prepare the tomatoes and sauté the base of onions and garlic in the exact same way as in the previous recipe, but the final sauce is unique. First you soften the eggplant chunks in the pan before adding the tomatoes. Then you cook the vegetables covered for a long time, so the chunks break down even more. The aim is to soften the eggplant so much that it almost melts into the tomatoes—which explains the traditional name for this sauce, melanzana affogata: literally, “suffocated eggplant.” The eggplant does not disappear, though, either in flavor or texture, I assure you. If you love eggplant as much as I do, you will want to make this sauce—and plenty of it.

Recipe notes

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