Eggplant Schmegplant

I have a problem: when I go to Sprout's I get over zealous and idealistic.

Exhibit A September 6, 2011: Cantaloupe, 3 for $1.00. I hate cantaloupe, but you sure bet I brought three of them home that day. Some weird part of my mind got so excited about the sale that I convinced myself that my tastes would change and I'd be eating cantaloupe after dinner for dessert. Please don't ask me how many of the three cantaloupes had to be thrown away.

Exhibit B September 12, 2011: Eggplant, some seemingly great price for some forgetable amount of eggplant. I hate eggplant. It's spongy and smells. But the deep purple and delightful sale lured me in and I bought one anyway, with no real plan of how to eat it.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011. I planned to cook my loverly husband a delicious Garlic Roast Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon from Rachael Ray's Classic 30-Minute Meals cookbook. He complained recently about how I have become inattentive to the chicken preparation since going vegetarian, and so I really wanted to put some effort into this meal. I hadn't thought much about what I'd fix myself and figured I could just throw some tofu in the pan along with the chicken, when I remembered the eggplant.

Often I find I am disappointed with the tofu I fix when I am making chicken for my husband. It's just not an acceptable main dish substitute if all we are having is chicken and a side. I wasn't sure how eggplant would hold up as a main dish, but I was aware that it is often served in place of chicken in Italian dishes so I figured it couldn't be a terrible substitute here. I sliced it lengthwise and prepared it exactly as I prepared the chicken (see recipe below) and OH. MY. STARS. It was deliciously satisfying. I was sad I had only cooked one slice because this dinner definitely left me craving more. In fact, every time I have sat down to eat since then, I've wished I was eating that eggplant instead of whatever was before me. No lie.

The texture was a bit slimy so I might cook it either on a lower temperature next time or take it out a bit earlier. I have to admit though, I kind of liked the slime. This is certainly worth playing with a bit.

The unfortunate part of this whole thing is that I only reinforced my delusional, sale-obsession. This is, however, a step of progress on the path to granola, for it doesn't get much crunchier than buying in-season (if sale means in-season), not making waste and trying new things. Speaking of, please go try this recipe. It goes great with a glass of white wine, which you will just happen to have on hand if you make this!

Garlic Roast Eggplant with Rosemary and Lemon (adapted from Rachael Ray's recipe)

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant, sliced lengthwise in 1/4-1/2" pieces

4 cloves garlic, crushed

4 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves stripped and chopped (I used dried rosemary)

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

The grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning or salt and pepper

1/2 cup dry white wine or vegetable broth

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Arrange eggplant in a baking dish. Add garlic, rosemary, olive oil, lemon zest and italian seasoning (I also drizzled a tiny bit of red wine vinegar over it, because eggplant tends to really soak up juices). Toss eggplant to coat, then place in the oven. Roast 20 minutes (probably more like 10). Add wine and lemon juice to the dish and combine with pan juices, then spoon over eggplant. Return to oven and turn oven off. Let stand 5 minutes longer, then remove from oven. Serve with pan juices.

Enjoy!