If you've never had eggplant and you think it's kind of weird, I used to be like you. I don't know what compelled me to pick one up one day. Probably a sale. But I did and came up with this sandwich. It was great to break up the monotony of the usual deli sandwich I bring to work, and great for my wallet too (one $2 eggplant will make four or five of these babies. Enjoy, and feel free to change the ingredients around to your liking!
Ingredients:
Butter
About 1 quarter of a large eggplant
Cayenne Pepper
Black Pepper
Seasoned salt (regular salt works too)
A pinch of powdered ginger
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup grated mozzarella or cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons grated parmesan
1/2 a roma tomato
A handful of microgreens
2 large slices of sourdough bread
If you desire, you can treat the eggplant before you begin. See this episode of good eats for how to do that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRvchIUm-QI. I find it to usually be more trouble than it's worth.
Start by mincing the garlic, slicing four large coins off of the eggplant, and slicing the tomato, then set aside.
Melt a generous amount of butter on medium heat. Season the melted butter directly with cayenne pepper (the more you use the spicier it will be), ginger, pepper, and seasoned salt. Throw the minced clove of garlic in there too. Place the eggplant slices in the pan. Season the top just as you seasoned the pan. Cook until they begin to become translucent, then turn. When the whole coin is soft, turn off the heat, group the coins together, and place your grated cheese on top. Put a lid on the pan and let it melt to your liking.
Butter your bread and sprinkle with parmesan. If you have a toaster over, toast it on a medium setting. If not, broiling for 1min on high works too.
Use a spatula to lift the whole eggplant-cheese mess onto one of your slices of bread, then top with marinara. Put the microgreens on top of this (or whatever vegetable you want) and the tomato on top of that. The top with your other piece of bread. And there you have it! It's delicious to have hot right away, but also good to eat the next day for lunch.
