This sounds really good! I am having a really hard time visualizing how you cut up the eggplant though. Are you taking the whole unpeeled eggplant and slicing it up lengthwise?

There is a similar recipe in the Whole Foods cookbook that mixes eggplant, lentils, and barbecue sauce that I recommend if you like these flavors. I will definitely try this recipe too!

How much honey should be added and when?

I bought my very first pomegranate just this week after having my first taste in salad at a friend's house. It wasn't much worse than peeling a particularly stubborn orange, and doing it in a water-filled bowl really helped keep things clean and contained. Pomegranate molasses sounds like a great project for the holidays. Once I get my focus off of the pomegranates, maybe I could try making this lovely stew, too!

Unfortunately I don't know to cook eggplants. All I know is to fry them on a grill and then to add an olive oil and garlic. I'll try your recipe tonight. Not sure how tasty I'll make it for the first time, but I'm up for the challenge.

Hi Suzanne,

From answers.com:

Score - To mark the surface of (meat, for example) with usually parallel cuts.

Crosshatch -

v.
To mark or shade with two or more sets of intersecting parallel lines.

n.
A pattern made by such lines.
The symbol (#).

Hope that helps.

Hi Elise, I found your website sometime ago when I was looking up recipes on line. I love what you have done with your blog and the passion that you put into it. Anyway, just wanted to say that my boyfriend made this dish and it was delicious! We are definitely going to make it again! Thanks! :)

I have a question - I desperately want to make this dish, it looks amazing. But as an impoverished college student, I neither have, nor can afford a cast iron casserol dish. Is this essential? Will this dish be too tough on my measly non-stick soup pot?

Thanks!

This is quite tasty. I made it with no trouble at all in my 3 quart stainless steel saucepan. I used only 1/3 c. olive oil & that was plenty for me. I also thought it was plenty sweet, maybe due to sweeter tomatoes? You might want to taste before adding honey.

This was delicious, Elise. Thank you. I did add the touch of honey - you're right, it took the edge off the acidity from the tomatoes and the slight sour-bitter of the pomegranate. I also just chunked the eggplant after slicing/scoring/salting it as you suggested.

Made this for dinner and it was delicious. I decided to cook it on the stove top for 15 minutes and then 40 in the oven at 400 degrees. We topped it with a little feta cheese and it turned out really well!

I want to express my appreciation for this blog. It has literally taught me how to cook since getting married! I love the recipes and the clear, unassuming way they are presented. Thank you.

That being said, I want to make this soup for my in-laws. My father-in-law has a lot of food restrictions so this is one of the few recipes that will work for him. I too am wondering about cutting the eggplants -- should there be any skin left on them when they begin cooking? I will follow the explicit directions you posted on how to cut them, but I am still not sure if, in the end, it should just be chopped bits without the skin or if there are unpeeled pieces being cooked.

Thanks a lot.

You cut peel the eggplant in stripes, so that there are some stripes of peel left on the eggplant. This means that some of the eggplant pieces will have some peel on them. ~Elise

WOW. One of the best vegetable (vegan at that) stews I've had. Since it's only veggies, use only the best you can find. Although I found half the oil was enough for me.