Patlican- Biber Tava- Fried eggplant and peppers with tomato sauce

Patlican Biber Tava is Fried eggplant and peppers with tomato sauce

In this recipe instead of frying the vegetables, they were baked in an oven.

The eggplant was peeled in alternate lengthwise strips(leaving strips of peel between), then cut into slices.  I did not sprinkle the pieces of eggplant with salt and let sit, as felt it is an unnecessary step!

Brush eggplant with olive oil and bake in a hot oven until golden brown.  A red pepper and 3 banana peppers were cut into strips, brushed with oil and also baked.  2 zucchini were cut into slices, brushed with olive oil and also baked until golden brown.. they were all flipped one during the baking process. About 30 to 45 minutes  for the different cooking times of the vegetables.

For the sauce, uncooked tomatoes were suggested but with the weather in the 30ths,  a can of plum tomatoes, diced was used instead. Seasoned with pepper, garlic, olive oil.. Sugar was suggested but not used as sweet enough and just noticed that vinegar should have been added.

The sauce was thickened on a slow simmer but watched carefully as tomatoes can turn bitter.. A slotted spoon was used to pour this hot sauce over the vegetables when they were plated.  The plated dish was chilled until serving time!

Olive oil was drizzled on the vegetables and seasoned with fresh crushed peppercorns before serving.

Another addition to the appetizer platter was baked olives in olive oil and hot spices

This dish was served with Greek Yogurt and slices of lemon. The olive oil used was a subject of conversation as it was an Italian Olive oil.  To my astonishment,  one of the guest was able to differentiate the difference! 

However, this appetizer disappeared quickly!