happy meatless monday!
today is not much of a recipe but an idea. throwing things together usually work for me. if i am excited about an ingredient i can usually come up with something that is good and satisfying.
we have a huge amount of vegetables in my house. every time i walked past the kitchen this weekend i glanced at my counter-top and saw the bowls of tomatoes i picked up at the farmers market, the 3 very large eggplants i just picked from my garden as well as the melons, cucumbers and onions. but no matter how many times i walked by, the eggplants always caught my eye. i am a huge eggplant fan, fry them up and i can not resist.
what better way to celebrate meatless monday then with eggplant and tomato stacks. here are some tips for frying up good eggplant:
- the double dip: i like to double dip. i dip in egg, then flour, again in egg, and last the breadcrumb. i find that doing this just makes everything crispier. with eggplant especially because eggplant tends to soak up what ever it is cooked in, especially oil.
- the egg: add flavor to your eggs. a touch of milk or cream, a pinch of salt and pepper, maybe some dried herbs.
- the flour: add a pinch or so of garlic powder, salt, and crushed dried basil.
- the breadcrumb: i do nothing to the breadcrumb. but here is my trick, for eggplant i love to use panko. i find it’s lighter and crispier then regular breadcrumbs. when you fry it up, it doesn’t burn fast and it doesn’t soak up a lot of the oil.
as you can see i am big on layering flavor, putting this together is easy, but the flavors are what really makes this disk spectacular. each bite is a taste of this and a taste of that, all flavors that you can pin point to which makes each bite even more fun.
just a side note: make sure to fry up some extra and store it in the fridge for easy lunches or dinners for the following days.
we made this a couple of different ways:
- for my kids: tomato sauce and cheese, almost like a pizza.
- for e: tomato sauce, fresh basil, hot pepper flakes, a little freshly grated parm, and fresh mozzarella.
- for me: fresh heirloom tomatoes sliced, fresh whole basil leaves and to top it off, sliced mozzarella.
this is a great idea to play with because you can serve it cold or warm. instead of sticking mine in the oven i could of easily topped it off with some good balsamic vinegar or even made a sandwich (that’s what i might do for lunch today).
so, what are you making for meatless monday?
These look delicious! And I'm going to try them out tomorrow since I have a ridiculous amount of tomatoes, eggplant, and zucchini in my kitchen thanks to my father-in-law's garden. I needed some new ideas, thanks!
hey Sara, thanks! love your blog! thanks so much for following me