Great Grandma's Russian Ikra

Our May Food and Wine Pairing event featured comfort foods in honor of Mother's Day. I was excited to make a comfort food recipe from each of my Mother's Grandmothers and Great Grandmother's cookbooks. My Great Grandmother was an amazing cook - in the 20's she was actually the chief cook for California's Lieutenant Governor. She was Polish, but married to a Russian. This is her recipe for the classic Russian dish Ikra (eggplant and tomato caviar). It takes time to cook - as all classic comfort food does, but after the initial chopping phase, it's pretty hands off. This is one of the classic comfort foods of my childhood. Enjoy!

IKRA

1 large eggplant
1 medium onion chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
½ t. sugar
2 t. salt
Juice of ½ lemon
2T olive oil
Pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Prick eggplant with a fork, then place on a piece of foil on the oven rack and bake for 1 hour (turn once or twice) until very soft. Remove eggplant to a plate and let cool. Peel eggplant and chop the flesh very, very finely (almost a puree). In a large non-stick saute pan, saute onion in 2T olive oil over medium low heat until soft (6 to 8 minutes). We don’t want brown onion, just soft sweet onions. Stir in garlic and let saute 1 minute more. Add tomatoes, sugar, salt, pepper to taste and eggplant to the saute pan. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. Then turn the heat down as low as it will go, cover the saute pan, and simmer for 1 hour. Remove cover and cook an additional ½ hour or until moisture has evaporated. Add lemon juice and chill. Serve cold or at room temperature. Try making a sandwich of this with dark rye or pumpernickel bread!