When life hands you baby eggplants (and it did), sauté it up, add some herbs [de provence], melted Munster cheese and serve along-side a juicy vine-ripened tomato, dusted with salt and pepper.

.

Sounds difficult…right?

Wrong. Easiest vegetarian dish, ever.

Whoa…fine, you wanted it vegan, too? Ok, omit the cheese, please!

But if you go that route, I’ll have your share of cheese, because it is so yum-erific atop this herbed eggplant.

Such a masterpiece. It’s really amazing how a little extra water soakage before sautéing will really yield such crispy and flavorful eggplanty results. This trick should be used for Eggplant Parmesan, as well! .

Herbed Baby Eggplant & Vine-ripened Tomatoes

Serves 1 as an entree, or 2 as a side-dish

Ingredients:

2 baby eggplants, sliced in ½-inch slices

1- 1½ tsp olive oil

1 tsp Herbs de Provence (thyme, basil, garlic, onion, bay leaf, salt oregano, rosemary, lavender, black pepper, spices)

1 oz (about 1 slice) Munster cheese, torn into pieces

1 vine-ripened tomato, sliced

salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

Slice the eggplant and with a paper towel, press each eggplant round between the palms of both hands, to soak up extra moisture. This way the eggplant does not get soggy and maintains all of it’s flavor. Drizzle the olive oil over the top of the eggplant pieces, along with a pinch of salt and the Herbs de Provence.  Using the hands, toss the eggplant around, being sure that each side is slightly coated with the olive oil and the spices.

In a hot skillet, place the eggplant pieces in an even layer, and let cook on high heat for about 8 minutes, flipping them over halfway through, and drizzling more olive oil over top, if needed. Meanwhile, slice the tomato and lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper; set aside. When eggplant is somewhat crispy, they are done. Transfer to a plate alongside the tomatoes.

Add the cheese pieces on top of the eggplant and the cover the whole plate with the hot skillet, upside-down, to allow the cheese to melt. Enjoy the crispy eggplant, melted cheese and fresh tomato all in one bite!

From the Little Yellow Kitchen,

Chrissy

Posted on Monday, July 11th, 2011 at 10:44 pm in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes, Side Dish, Vegetarian   |  RSS feed |  Respond  |  Trackback URL