One Mexican eggplant

The other day I bought a little eggplant that was too small for our favorite meal, eggplant Parmesan. So instead I tried this vegetarian side-dish with saffron rice. It's easy to make with what you have on hand, no recipe required.

Heat some olive oil in a pan, then add chopped onion, garlic and one finely diced eggplant. Cook everything together slowly until fork tender.
Then I chopped a fresh Roma tomato and some red fire-roasted peppers from the fridge. I had a couple cups of left-over cooked rice in the freezer.

Right before serving, stir in the rice, peppers and tomatoes with a squeeze of lemon juice...

Of course this would have been a healthy, light supper on its own, but it was even better with a breaded pork chop. Hey, it's January.