Spiced Eggplant Mezze Spread

Is this a food blog now? IDK it's whatever I want it to be. Anyway, I was pulling together a dinner recently with the "whatever's left in the fridge" situation and ended up coming up with something I found to be delightful! A spiced eggplant / tomato spread served on Olive Oil and Garlic bread, so I'm posting it here. It drives me absolutely insane when food blogs have extensive intros that I have to scroll through to get to the recipe, so here's the recipe.

• 2 Small or 1 Large Eggplant, cut into 1.5 inch pieces
• 1.5 cups of cherry or grape tomatoes
• 3 cloves garlic (whole)
• 3 tbsp Olive Oil, divided
• 1 tsp coriander (ground)
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• Salt to taste

1. Preheat Oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit 

2. Toss eggplant pieces with one tablespoon of olive oil and spread in a single layer on a foil lined baking sheet, leaving room on the sheet for the tomatoes

3. Mix coriander, curry powder, paprika in a small bowl and sprinkle generously over the eggplant, add salt to taste

4. Add tomatoes to the sheet whole, sprinkle with salt and a tablespoon of olive oil

5. Roast for 20 minutes

6. Meanwhile, prepare your garlic bread. A Baguette or sourdough would do nicely as your base.

7. When ready, the eggplant should be soft to the touch and the tomatoes should be wrinkly. remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 or so minutes.

8. while the vegetables cool, put your garlic bread in the oven, you may wish to lower the heat to 350 or so.

9. When the Eggplant and tomatoes are cool enough, pop them into a food processor, add some red pepper flakes if you want it a bit spicier, and more olive oil and salt if you so desire, and pulse until you have a spread. You don't want it completely smooth, some lumps are fine.

10. Serve on top of garlic bread as an appetizer or as part of a light meal!