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!

Where would you add the extra honey, in the same drizzle as the pomegranate molasses? This sounds delicious already.

How much honey should be added and when?

Thanks for posting this recipe Elise. I had given away my Food and Wine magazine then realized I hadn't copied this fabulous recipe.
You've also reminded me to make a few bottles of pomegranate molasses before Christmas. It's good to get reminders like this!

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!

In Boston, we lived down the block from a wonderful Middle East market, and I bought my first bottle of pomegranate molasses because the label was beautiful! Since then, I've been collecting recipes to use this delicious condiment. Though garden-grown produce is a distant memory here in the northeast, this will be lovely with store-bought eggplant and lentils from the pantry.

PS -- if you can't find this in the stores, make your own by boiling down one quart of pomegranate juice (widely available in the markets these days) to half-cup of "molasses."

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.

When you tried to explain the cutting up of the eggplant a second time, you just copied your explanation from the recipe. Could you be more specific? What does "Score one side of each slice with a cross hatch pattern" mean?

I tried this recipe for dinner last night, and it was incredible! The vegetables & lentils came out perfectly cooked and the flavors blended together so well. And the pomogranate molasses! I was sneaking sips of it all night. Thanks for posting this, Elise.

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! :)

After being seduced a few weeks ago by the photo of this dish, I finally got around to making it tonight. I added some honey into the vegetable mixture and served the whole thing over rice. WOW!

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!

Ana -- I think you could use your soup pot. Don't let lack of a cast iron pan scare you away. I would watch the heat very carefully though. When I made this dish, I had to scrub a think layer of char off the bottom of my pot. Next time, I'll cook it in the oven for more even heat. Was delish though.

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.

I'm going to try this recipe tonight, it sounds great! What kind of lentils should I use? I have green or puy in the house, would either of those work?