Roasted Eggplant and Tomatoes

I feel as though the only recipes I post are sweet/dessert recipes...which is not a good representation of the foods I really love and enjoy.
So I am going to start making a conscious effort to post what I really eat, on the day-to-day, the healthy whole veggies and grains!
We'll start with a couple of eggplant dishes.  I love cooking with eggplant because there are a lot of different options, roast, stuff, puree...



So, the story behind this delicious dinner: My best friend (slash, roommate) from my days when living in Milan came to SF for a two week visit! Cecile is such an amazing person and fills any room that she's in with love and positive vibes.  Unfortunately, for me, she is still living in Milan (running the marketing for a very high end jewlery/accessory company!) but we still manage to meet every year somewhere in the world!

The day after she touched-down into SF we took a day trip up to Napa Valley for a little wine tasting.  Something all guests love doing when visiting, and something I never get tired of "tour-guiding"
On our way out of Napa we passed a big beautiful produce stand and stopped to load up on goodies for the house (after having already loaded up on the vino!).
Japanese eggplants, asparagus and cherry tomatoes were among the many things we grabbed (great low prices too)

This is a simple dish to make when you don't want to spend a lot of hands oh time- plus I did it all on the same pan in the oven.
Serve this on a whole grain (I used this) or over pasta or polenta

Serves 2 for Dinner or a 4 for a side
Ingredients:
2 medium Japanese Eggplants
1 cup tomatoes
1 garlic clove thinly sliced
olive oil
Fresh Basil
Parmesan Cheese
Sea Salt fresh Pepper
10 spears of Asparagus
Lemon zest

preheat the oven to 375
Chop the eggplant into about 1 inch cubes
Halve the tomatoes
toss in a bowl with olive oil, garlic, good salt and pepper to taste
Spread on a baking sheet and roast for 8 minutes.
In the meantime trim the asparagus toss with a little olive oil, minced garlic and salt and pepper
Up the temp to 400
Toss the veggies and scoot them to one side of the baking dish
Add the asparagus in a single layer
Roast for 10 minutes, tossing halfway through

I like to toss my veggies in lemon zest because I am obsessed with it.  It is so fresh and clean feeling, I love it, but definitely optional
Serve the Eggplant and omato over your starch of choice and top with fresh basil.