Friday, October 20, 2017

Deconstructed Eggplant Parmesan


Vegan Month of Food 2017
“Lines and Light”
(a line of original poetry or a photo of light every day for the month of October)

Your purple coat hides your secret
At first glance we see beauty
       Shiny and dark and rare and royal
You feel heavy, substantial, worthwhile
      My heart races
I’m tempted by your beauty
Upon taking a knife to you though, I’m weirdly surprised
Your outer-wear belied the truth

Day 20: Deconstructed Dish: Hipster Style Food
(click HERE to see what others are sharing today)




If you have been reading my blog for a while, then you know I love eggplant. The Green Zebra in Chicago serves an excellent roasted eggplant and tomato dish. I expanded it by adding my homemade garlic almond cheese. Super fancy! With a big salad and crusty garlic bread, you have a super hipster meal – serving it on a slate is optional 😊  


The technique for roasting the eggplant is perfection, by the way. 

Here's what you need:
1 large globe of eggplant, sliced 3/4 inch, skin on
1 T olive oil
thick slices fresh tomatoes, about 3/4 inch thick
fresh basil
almond cheese (recipe HERE)
1 head garlic
1 T olive oli
coarse salt


Here's what you do:
Lay the eggplant on a cookie sheet and use your fingers to dab on some olive oil. Repeat  on the other side. Roast in 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, flip over with a METAL spatula and continue until both sides are nice and brown. 

Lay the tomato slices on a cookie sheet and do the same technique for the olive oil. These need to roast for about 2-3 hours in a 250 degree oven. Obviously, this can be done the day before. 


Cut off the tip of an entire head of garlic so that the cloves are exposed. Nestle the garlic in two layers of aluminum foil and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap loosely in the foil and bake 400 degrees for abouot 30-45 minutes. After the garlic has cooled a bit, squeeze the cloves out into about 1 cup of almond cheese. Mash with a fork. Maybe add salt? 

Plate everything artistically. Garnish with fresh basil and coarse salt. 

1 comment:

  1. That looks so good! Well roasted veg is a thing of beauty.

    ReplyDelete

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