Baked Eggplant Studded with Garlic

Use the youngest, most tender eggplants you can find, allowing one per person. Asian eggplants work beautifully here. Many recipes for eggplant call for sautéing them in oil—delicious, of course, but sometimes indigestible since the vegetable sops up oil like a sponge. In this dish from the Pyrenees, the eggplant is roasted and fresh olive oil is added at the last minute, so much less is needed.

The eggplants are seasoned with a mixture of crumbled dried herbs. You can mix your own