Eggplant Burgers

For this I started with a recipe from Crescent Dragonwagon's "Passionate Vegetarian" and modified it to suit my needs. The resulting eggplant cakes are my new favorite thing. There's really not much else I can say about these. You simply need to try them. They were twice as good as I was expecting.

Eggplant Burgers

2 eggplants sliced into rounds
3 Tbsp. Braggs or soy sauce
4 large cloves garlic, crushed
2 small slices of bread torn into pieces
1 Tbsp. tahini (or more)
1 teaspoon Chipotle sauce (or more)
1 1/2 cups dry textured vegetable protein

Bake the eggplant on an oiled baking sheet at 350 degrees until tender, turning halfway through. Remove from oven and transfer to a food processor.

Add the Braggs, garlic, bread, tahini, and chipotle sauce. Blend until smooth, then add the textured vegetable protein. Blend to mix well. Let it sit for at least 20 minutes. Blend again briefly and taste for seasoning.

Form into 8 patties (approx. 3 inch). When I am making patties from something sticky like this I find it helpful to form the patty between two layers of plastic wrap so they don't stick to my hands. Bake the patties on an oiled baking sheet at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes, flipping over halfway through. If you would like the burgers a little crispier, put them under the broiler for a few seconds on each side.

Serve as is, with the sauce of your choice, or on a bun with greens, tomato, Veganaise, and spicy ketchup.

Eggplant Rollatini

I'm way behind on my posts, but I'm still here cooking and taking pictures. I made one of Jeff's favorites on Valentine's day, Eggplant Rollatini with Corn Bread Stuffing from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. This is a book I turn to again and again, not just for recipes, but for detailed information on how to store, handle, and prepare vegetables. I should warn you that there is a whole section on cheese, and that Madison states that she is an occasional meat eater. But in any case, this book served as my biggest help in the kitchen when I went veg. I served the Rollatini with a red wine tomato sauce from the same book. The sauce is so rich and good, and it's character changes depending on which wine you choose to use.

Eggplant Rollatini with Corn Bread Stuffing

This Rollatini is not difficult to make, but is rather time consuming with making the cornbread, then the stuffing and the sauce, salting and cooking the eggplant, stuffing the eggplant, and then baking your final Rollatini. The flavors are so wonderful that it is well worth the time it takes.

Start with 2 large eggplants. Slice them lengthwise no thicker than 1/3 inch, salt and let sit for an hour, then rinse and blot dry. Meanwhile start on the stuffing and the sauce.

For the stuffing, fix your favorite cornbread (preferably not a sweet one). Then chop and saute an onion with 1 tsp. dried sage and 1/2 tsp. dried oregano. When the onion is soft and a little brown mix in 2 cups crumbled corn bread and just a tiny bit of liquid (water, soymilk, whatever) to help moisten it. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

For the sauce saute two small grated onions with bay leaf, thyme, oregano, savory, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Stir often for about fifteen minutes, adding 3 minced garlic cloves near the end. Add 1 cup of red wine and 1/2 cup water, raise the heat and simmer till reduced by half. Add a 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes and salt to taste. Simmer till sauce has thickened.

Brush the eggplant slices with oil and bake, fry, broil or grill them till tender. Then roll each slice around about 2 tbsp. of the stuffing and put seam side down in a lightly oiled baking dish. You could secure them with a toothpick if they want to unroll. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Serve with the sauce and fresh basil.

Closeup of the goodness

And a big thanks to Jenn The Leftover Queen who hosts the Foodie Blog Roll (see my side bar) for promoting Veg blogs (mine included!) in her most recent Finest Foodies Friday post. She is putting out the call for more Veg bloggers to join the Blog Roll, so if that interests you, do it!

Baba Ghanoush

I bought an eggplant the other day, and had to do something with it before it went bad. My eggplant repertoire is lacking, so I wanted to try something I hadn't made before. baba ghanoush was perfect for today, because while the eggplant was baking I was able to do some of the many other things that need done around the house.

The first time that I remember eating baba ghanoush is at a Mediterranean restaurant in the town I grew up in. It was a fairly small town, so having a place you could get falafel and spanikopita and hummus and baba ghanoush was pretty special. Angele made the best everything, including baba ghanoush. (I waited tables there for awhile, so I may be biased.) This however was my first attempt to make it myself, and I found myself somewhat intimidated.

There was no reason to worry, because this was so easy. The Eggplant went in the oven at 425 degrees until it was falling in on itself, and it's skin was just starting to blacken in spots. (This helps give it a smokier flavor.)

Baked Eggplant on the Operating Table

Then I peeled off the skin with my fingers, and plopped the gooey flesh into the food processor. A couple cloves of garlic, some tahini, lemon juice and salt, and that was it. I just adjusted everything until it tasted right to me.

We ate it with carrots, lettuce, tomato slices, and wheat toast (pita would be more traditional). I also whipped up some pseudo-falafel from a box. Pseudo because it looks and tastes nothing like homemade falafel, but is still quite good with a lot of tahini sauce and all the other fixins. For tahini sauce, just mix a couple tablespoons of tahini with some lemon juice, salt, and enough water to thin it to your liking. This meal was so good, next time I will make at least twice as much baba ghanoush. (And I will try my hand at falafel from scratch...stay tuned.)

With olive oil and paprika