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The Daily Recipe: Baked Eggplant and Feta
Posted on 9/29/2006 in recipes
Last night, some of the crazy women of NAWBO put together what proved to be the world's longest Mary Kay makeover. By 11pm, we had gorgeous new looks and I had promised to start posting what I've eaten for the day, including recipes where applicable, in order to give everyone some ideas on how to shake up their eating habits in a healthful way.
Fridays are always big days for eating out for me, mostly because my husband and I have a big breakfast with my dad every Friday at New York Deli. We think it's the best breakfast spot in town, mostly because of their huge selection of omelets. Today, I had the mushroom swiss made with egg whites and whole wheat toast on the side. (On a recent afternoon visit there with one of the make-over ladies from last night, I had a piece of pecan pie to which our Friday morning waitress, Sandy, quipped that it was going to take a lot of egg whites to balance that one out. It's all about the 80/20 rule!)
I had a lunch date at Panera which is always a good choice because most of their soups are pretty light and filling, especially with a whole grain baguette on the side. Today's soup was my favorite: black bean.
For dinner, I finally whipped out the ole pots and pans for my end-of-week scramble to use up as many of last week's market veggies as possible before getting more. Today's challenge: eggplant, bell peppers and potatoes. I was craving mashed potatoes and made them with garlic, light sour cream (there is a brand at Earth Fare that's light without any weird ingredients - tastes great too!) I stumbled across this recipe on Food Down Under to use everything else.
2 bell peppers
3 medium eggplants, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced (I always use extra though)
4 ounces feta cheese (you can get light feta at the store or goat feta from Goat Lady Dairy at the market)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (yes, freshly ground does make a difference)
1 teaspoon dry oregano or 1 tablespoon fresh, chopped
1 teaspoon dry basil or 1 tablespoon fresh, chopped
1 slice whole grain bread
Preheat your broiler. Remove the seeds and stems from peppers and place peppers skin side up on a baking sheet. Broil until mostly blackened then seal in a zip-top bag. Set aside for 15 or so minutes.
Reduce the oven to 350.
Meanwhile, coat a skillet with cooking spray (I use oil in a refillable pump bottle) and preheat the pan. Add as many eggplant rounds as possible and cook until golden, about 3 minutes per side. Layer browned sliced in a 9X12 baking dish coated with cooking spray. Repeat with remaining eggplant.
Once all the eggplant is cooked, throw the onion and garlic into the hot pan and saute until lightly browned and smelling great, about a minute. Spread those on top of the eggplant.
By now, your bell peppers should be well steamed and the charred skins should slip right off. You can encourage them with your nail if needs be. Chop and sprinkle on top of onion. Top that with the feta, pepper, oregano and basil. Chop the slice of bread in a food processor or by hand into rough breadcrumbs. Sprinkle on top of the casserole.
Bake for 20 minutes. Enjoy!
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