Roasted Peppers and Sautéed Eggplant

Name: Roasted Peppers and Sautéed Eggplant
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 3 bell peppers (a mix of red and yellow); 1 large eggplant, sliced into rounds; Olive oil; 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced; 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar; Handful fresh basil, torn; Kosher salt and black pepper

Serve when

Mario shows up at Martha's door with a bag of groceries and starts cooking in her kitchen without asking — plate this the moment he starts talking her through it.

In the movie

Theatrical

~01:05:00 Mario courts Martha with a simple home-cooked Italian spread — roasted peppers and sautéed eggplant among the dishes — cooking for her in a kitchen she doesn't control for once.

Mario doesn't cook to impress Martha with technique — he cooks the kind of simple, room-temperature Italian food you'd put out for family, in her own kitchen, on his own terms. It's a small act of trespass that works exactly because it isn't trying to compete with anything on her menu.

Ingredients

3 bell peppers (a mix of red and yellow)
1 large eggplant, sliced into rounds
Olive oil
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Handful fresh basil, torn
Kosher salt and black pepper

Method

Char the peppers directly over a gas flame or under the broiler, turning until the skin blackens all over. Seal in a bowl covered with plastic wrap for 10 minutes, then peel, seed, and slice into strips.
Salt the eggplant rounds and let them sit in a colander for 20 minutes to draw out bitterness, then pat dry.
Sauté the eggplant in batches in plenty of olive oil until deeply golden on both sides; drain on paper towels.
Toss the roasted pepper strips with the garlic, vinegar, a good glug of olive oil, and salt and pepper. Let them sit at room temperature to absorb the dressing.
Layer the peppers and eggplant on a platter, scatter with torn basil, and serve at room temperature — this is food meant to sit on a table while people talk, not food that needs to be served hot.