I received an email today that cheered me up and surprised me a little. I make websites for a living and created a fitness website for a former client, they sold heart rate monitors, body fat monitor scales, stuff like that. Now to be up with the competition I subscribed to their email newsletters. I never unsubscribed to one of them, just out of laziness, I wasn’t normally interested in them because these “health” types, mostly body builders and exercise fanatics (heaven forbid), are not exactly my kind of healthy…
That’s why this issue of Megafitness, Health News surprised me. It’s all about vegetarianism and veganism. If you have a moment, it is an interesting read. Very sensitive and supportive comments from a non-vegetarian. This leads me to believe that vegetarianism and veganism is getting more and more mainstream.
Click here to read it for yourself.
I am featuring the vegan recipe they sent in the newsletter because it looks really good. I haven’t tried it yet, but I will.
Eggplant “Parmesan”
Ingredients:
1 large eggplant, cut into
You might want to peel the eggplant first. I don’t think much nutrition is lost in the peel, and if your eggplant is mature, the skin can be tough and bitter. Buy young and tender eggplants if you don’t wish to peel them.
I like to slice a little thinner than 1/2″. I get closer to 1/4″, like 1/3″.
Letting the eggplant sit in a colander to draw out moisture and bitterness won’t do anything unless you first sprinkle the slices on both sides lightly with salt. They’ll just oxidize if you do as instructed in the recipe above. The moisture and bitterness will remain.
Frying in oil makes this recipe needlessly greasy, messy, time consuming and high in fat. That all can be avoided by pre-baking the breaded eggplant in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes on a greased cookie sheet. Insulated cookie sheets are good for this. Check them at 20 minutes. No need to turn them over.
Your final product will depend upon the liquidity or lack of it in the tomato sauce you use. This recipe can be very dense if you use a thick, chunky sauce. Add a little liquid to that kind of sauce, maybe 1/4 cup (vegan wine is nice for that).
I usually bake the fully constructed dish for 30 minutes, and let it sit to cool for 5 minutes before attempting to cut into it.
Mmmm I used this as the basis for my recent eggplant parm – and took Vic’s advice regarding the sweating of the eggplant. I made once batch fried and once baked – I liked both but my boyfriend only liked the fried, go figure. The basil on top, post oven, really hit the spot.
http://letsgetsconed.blogspot.com/2006/09/once-year-i-really-really-crave.html