Dip or Pasta Sauce? Eggplant & Sweet Red Pepper Dip

     An abundance of eggplant in the garden led me to Gwyn Johnson’s recipefor an ususual dip that I also sometimes use as a pasta sauce.    Unlike many dips, it lacks mayonnaise or cream cheese, and isessentially just a mixture of sautéed and simmered vegetables.     Gwyn shared this recipe when I interview her and her husband, Mike, formy monthly food column in March of 2005. Their recipes are in the subsequent 4thedition of  “Home-Cooking—DickinsonCounty Style,” Abilene Reflector-Chronicle, available at the Dickinson CountyHeritage Center.
Eggplant & Sweet Red Pepper Dip Gwynserves this as a chilled dip with crackers but it is also good as a pasta sauce.
Cut up . . .
1 lb. eggplant (leave the peel on)

Dip/sauce cooks down and can be mashed with the
back of a spoon.

4large red bell peppers (1 sometimes use jarred red peppers)
 Sauté vegetables in . . .1 tablespoon safflower oil (I use oliveoil)1 tablespoon sesame oil
 Add and simmer about 10 minutes .  . . 1 cup chicken stock or broth ½ small dried hot red pepper 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce 2 tablespoons pale dry sherry   1½ teaspoons granulated sugar

Cooked pasta has been added to the sauce for a tasty main or side dish.
Grated Parmesan is a nice topping for the pasta.