She's Like a Rainbow

Inspiration is coming from all sorts of various stimuli these days; farmers markets, psychic Ipods, Facebook friends and changeable weather conditions... Tuesday evening, I took a walk to the DelSo Farmer's Market and was magnetically drawn to the Asian eggplant.  They were so beautiful that I had no choice but to scoop some up and bring them home with me.  At the time, I imagined a stir-fry, perhaps with a sauce of coconut milk and maybe some red curry paste.  Today's overcast skies caused me to change direction however, and I decided instead to cozy up the kitchen by turning the oven on and doing some roasting.  And when my Ipod tossed me some vintage Rolling Stones, well, it just seemed to sum up the kind of eating late summer/almost fall offers us here in the gorgeous Northeast: 

"She comes in colors everywhere;

She combs her hair

She's like a rainbow..."

How pretty are these?

The  prep for these beauties was blissfully simple - slice them in half lengthwise and place them, cut side down, in your favorite roasting pan.  You do have a favorite roasting pan, right? The one I use time and time again was a gift (along with my shapely legs ;) from my mother, and my friend swears it is a "magic" pan - it always does the trick.  Anyway, I digress!  Drizzle the eggplant with sesame oil and kecap manis  (you did add kecap manis to your pantry, right?)  and then top with some chopped Thai basil.  That was it - I didn't even use salt or pepper.  Roast in a 375 oven for about 30 minutes and then prepare to swoon. 

Perhaps not as pretty, but damned tasty.