Delicious recipe! I did omit the sugar entirely because of another cook's comment that the sauce tasted like a Bar-B-Que sauce and it was superb! I figured the Balsamic Vinegar would sweeten the dish enough and I was correct! My whole family gobbled it up - even my 5-year old and 19-month old children. No complaints of itchy mouths either! My husband loved the eggplant mixed in with his fettucini.
I would like to suggest to anyone who is contemplating making this dish to go ahead and use the anchovies in the recipe. We are not an anchovy family. I personally hate strong-flavored fish. There is no way I would ever eat a slice of pizza with anchovies on it but when you add anchovies to sauces, it gives a depth to the dish that would be totally lacking if you omitted them. I keep anchovies on hand just for this. It can really make a difference between a good dish and a great one!For this recipe, I used the whole 2 ounce can of anchovy fillets. Just drained the oil from them, chopped them up and tossed them in at the right time. YUM!!!!!
really good -- but i made some changes: no bell peppers, no wine vinegar, 1/4 c. br. sugar instead of 1/2 c., no anchovies, no capers... great!!!
made it again and got rave reviews--again! Here is what one person said: "Oh my gosh, recipe, please!!! Fabulous! Wanted to lick the bottom of the pan
but used my broccoli instead." I made it with the capers this time.
Like several others, I made some changes to the recipe based on other comments.
I reduced the brown sugar to 3 tablespoons, removed the anchovies, used only balsamic vinegar (didn't have any red wine vinegar handy) and used only about 2 tablespoons of olive oil along with some olive oil spray during sauteing. (Way more healthy with less total fat!)
I also added 1/4 cup of chopped kalamata olives, an 1/8 cup of chopped green olives and 3/4 of a cup of sauteed sliced white mushrooms.
This was an amazingly good base for a recipe, and even better after sitting a day for the flavors to meld.
Absolutely wonderful, although I did do a few alterations as I did not have a few ingredients. I used green olives ground up in blender instead of capers, accidently cooked the peppers with the onion, and used green onion instead. It is a bit sweet, and I might back off a bit on the sugar next time, but there WILL be a next time!
This is a very distinctive tasting dish the kind you either love or hate. I loved it thought it was tasty and different my hubby hated it wanted to know why I put barbecue sauce on eggplant. If you are looking for a more traditional italian tasting sauce for on top I would suggest cutting way back on the vinegars and sugar. If you like something new than leave it as is (maybe still less brown sugar!).
I made this dish last night for Valentines Day and it was amazing! I followed all the reviews and didn't really measure my oil just used enough to saute the veggies. It was the perfect amount! Everything about this dish was great I even made extra sauce to use with chicken parmigiana...(my boyfriend wanted both chicken and eggplant). All I had to do was add s bit of vodka and heavy cream to the sauce and a bit of tomato paste and it was amazing with the chicken. I would definitely recommend this recipe!
I would probably give this more like a 3.5 stars... we liked the flavors and with a few modifications it could be a 5. The "fixes" I made would equate to the following modifications on the original recipe. First I did not use any anchovies or capers. I used only about 2 tbs each of balsamic and red wine vinegar and about 2 tbs brown sugar (the original recipe made it WAY too sweet!). Also I would drain the tomatoes (I used diced instead of stewed) and would not saturate the eggplant with oil--my husband and I both thought it was way too oily and liquidy. Definitely has potential though--a good start!
For all you Ichthyophobics out there this is a fabulous recipe that integrates anchovies into a tart vegetable delight. Also great for any eggplant aficionados.
The sauce is delicious and I and used over eggplant rollatine instead of the original eggplant recipe provided. The vinegars & anchovies made it very tasty but I cut down the amount of brown sugar as I found it too be a bit too sweet 1st time around. It is one of our favorite pasta sauces now!
