Roasted Tomato and Eggplant Antipasto is a delicious way to preserve the late summer harvest. Charcuterie boards are all the rage and this easy recipe is a winner, even to those who think they don’t like eggplant. The secret to this super tasty recipe? Most of the ingredients are roasted on a sheet pan.
What is Antipasto?
Antipasto translates to “before the meal” and has many different interpretations. It can consist of a platter of various cured meats, cheeses and preserved vegetables, or in this case, a thick chunky combination of vegetables with tomato and herbs. Antipasto is a great addition to a charcuterie board along with some baguette slices or crispy crackers.
Just like a traditional Antipasto platter, Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Antipasto can be customized to your liking by increasing or decreasing some of the vegetables while keeping the ratio the same. Meaning, for example, if you don’t want to have olives in the mixture, just increase the amount of one of the other items. But I can assure you, the olives really work in this. As do all of the other ingredients.
Roasting vegetables brings our their best flavours and reduces the liquid, resulting in a thick and delicious Antipasto. You can use either paste tomatoes or larger field tomatoes. Paste tomatoes are smaller but since they have a lower water content and are meatier, you’ll end up with about the same amount after roasting.
Do you need to peel eggplants and tomatoes?
Like all great recipes, start with fresh ingredients. If your eggplant has perfect outer skin, don’t peel it. But if it’s got brown spots or marks, go ahead and peel that part off. The peel adds some nutritional value and colour. The larger older ones do tend to have skin that’s a bit tough and bitter so if you’re worried about that, peel away.
But the tomatoes – here’s a great tip. You can peel them easily by dropping them for a minute in boiling water, then plunging into an ice water bath. The skins peel right off. However, just like eggplant skin, tomato skin also has nutritional value. To save the step of peeling the tomatoes, you can (and I make it this way) just roast them with the skins on and pick out any larger pieces of skin after roasting. The pieces will roll up so they’re like little tubes. Any smaller pieces are perfectly fine in the antipasto.
You’ll need a large sheet pan to hold all the chopped veggies. Parchment paper helps keep the cleanup to a minimum but I wouldn’t recommend foil as it may brown the veggies too much. Start with the tomatoes. Just cut out the core and slice them in half. Lay them face up on the baking sheet, drizzle with a bit of olive oil and season them with salt and pepper. Get them roasting while you prep the rest of the veggies.
The peppers can be green, red or any combination of sweet peppers. And use any type of olives you like, or even better, a combination of black, green, Kalamata, stuffed, not stuffed – it’s up to you. Obviously not the kind with pits. I’ve occasionally used garlic stuffed olives. They work well because there’s already garlic in the Eggplant Antipasto so you’re complementing the mixture.
After the tomatoes have roasted 15 minutes or so, or likely longer if you’re using field tomatoes, carefully drain off most of the liquid and add the rest of the veggies. Except the garlic. It can easily burn and become bitter. Return the pan to the oven and roast about another half hour. Give the whole mixture a few stirs. Maybe every 10 minutes or so. This way you can keep an eye on them. Add the garlic for about the last 10 minutes. When everything is very soft, reduced and most of the liquid (but not all) is gone, remove from the oven.
Pour everything from the baking sheet including the liquid into a large pot. Add the olives, vinegar, sugar tomato paste and herbs and bring to a simmer. Tomato paste really is an important component in this recipe. Sorry that it’s only a small amount. Did you know though, you can buy tomato paste in a squeeze tube? It’s really handy and I always have one in my fridge. If you use canned tomato paste you can actually freeze the rest and use it in a sauce another time.
Antipasto makes a great hostess gift. If you’re gifting it right away, store it in clean jars in the fridge and suggest that it be eaten within a few weeks. Mr. H politely tolerates my Eggplant Parmesan and Moussaka but he tells me that Eggplant Antipasto is the best eggplant he’s ever eaten.
After the mixture has simmered about 15 minutes, carefully ladle into small jars. I like to use 250 ml (1 cup) sized canning jars because they’re a perfect size for gifting. If you’re not giving away your Roasted Tomato and Eggplant Antipasto, you need to preserve the jars using a home canning method of boiling the sealed jars completely immersed for between 8 and 15 minutes depending on the size of the jars. This way they will store for ages in the pantry.
If you want to skip the canning step, keep the jars in the fridge and make sure to share some with friends!
Here’s the recipe:
Eggplant Antipasto
Ingredients
- 2 eggplants medium sized
- 12 tomatoes paste or field both work well
- 1 onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 sweet peppers, any colour
- 2 cups chopped mushrooms 4-5 large
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- fresh ground salt and pepper
- 1 cup sliced olives variety of types recommended
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar or regular
- 2 tsp white sugar
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 2 tsp dried oregano
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper. Cut tomatoes in half and remove any core and green parts. Spread face up on the baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 15 - 25 minutes, depending on water content of tomatoes, until soft.
- While tomatoes are roasting, chop eggplant, onion, peppers, and mushrooms into similar sized small chunks. Add to baking sheet and return to oven for about 20 minutes, stirring after 10.
- Mince garlic and add to vegetables, roast for another 10 minutes or until most of the liquid is reduced and veggies are very soft.
- Carefully pour contents of sheet pan into large pot. Add olives, vinegar, sugar, tomato paste, basil and oregano. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer for about 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
- Ladle antipasto into clean jars. Refrigerate over night before serving.
- Can be processed for longer storage. Using safe food canning method, use clean sterilized jars and new lids and process jars according to size, between 8 and 15 minutes.
It was very nice! I doubled the recipe and I have frozen eggplant antipasto before in zip lock bags and I thought it worked out well, so I froze this recipe to in 1 or 2 cups per bag. It is just enough for a nice snack with crackers. Thanks for this recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I hadn’t ever thought about freezing it, thanks for the tip!