Roasted Eggplant and Saffron Soup

From epicurious.com: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/2720.

Ingredients

• 1 medium russet potato (about 8 ounces)
• Olive oil
• 1 large eggplant (about 1 ¼ pounds), unpeeled, cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
• 5 cups chicken stock or canned broth
• 1/8 teaspoon saffron threads

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Pierce potato with fork. Place potato on oven rack and bake until very soft, about 1 hour. Remove from oven and cool. Line 2 baking sheets with foil and brush with olive oil. Arrange eggplant rounds on prepared sheets. Bake eggplant 15 minutes. Cover with foil. Bake until very soft and brown, about 30 minutes longer.
2. Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic and oregano and sauté until onion and garlic are translucent, about 10 minutes. Cut potato into pieces. Combine potato, eggplant and onion mixture in processor. With machine running, gradually add chicken stock and blend until smooth. Transfer to saucepan. Add saffron and bring to simmer. Serve hot. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Reheat before serving.)

Notes

• This was great, as is. I also tried adding a dollop of plain yogurt when I served it, and once when reheating it, and that was also really good.
• This amount was too way much for just Erin and I, I think half would do the trick for a main course plus leftovers. Half would probably be a good amount for four people’s soup course.
• I think that if I was serving this for the in-laws, I might try peeling the potato and eggplant, in order to get a smoother looking soup. As for color, it was all right, but maybe a little too swampy looking. Removing the skins would also help this, but the roasting process would still probably turn the eggplant slices brown, so I don’t know. Maybe I could roast the eggplant whole, and then remove the skin like with the potatoes. That may affect the flavor. The chicken stock would also lend a hint of tan, but tan would be better than the bluish-green color that it ended up being.
• The whole soup barely fit in the food processor, so a half recipe would also help in this regard.