Friday Favorites - Eggplant Salad Toasts

Happy Friday friends!  We have another glorious "no-plans" weekend ahead of us. After weeks and weeks of fun, amazing trips it's a nice change to have absolutely nothing on the calendar. Sometimes you need to have the time and space do (or not do) what you want when you want without any commitments.   

This past week we've been eating tons of produce from our garden.  Our tomatoes are finally rippening, the bush beans are growing in thick clumps, we have squash and kale coming our of our ears, and you should see the size of Landon's Halloween pumpkin already! He wanted to grow one so we bought him the largest variety. The thing is going to be a beast when it's done. I'll post some photos soon.

One of the things we harvested this week were eggplants. We had a few decent sized ones ready to go so I chopped them up and made our favorite eggplant dish: Eggplant Salad Toasts from Smitten Kitchen. Think eggplant brushetta. It's so yummy RJ and I have been known to devour a huge bowl for lunch.

The original recipe is amazing. However, I made a small tweak a few years ago that I think really takes these things to the next level - swap out the feta cheese for goat cheese. Make sure you add it while the eggplant is still warm to the cheese melts. Mmmmmmm. So good.

You can also swap out the scallions for red onions. I actually prefer the red. 

The original recipe is here. Or see my slightly varied version below:

These taste so much better than the photograph. Promise!

Ingredients

2-3 c. chopped eggplant (about 1/2 inch pieces)
2-3 tbs. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. red wine vinegar (I think balsamic would taste great too but haven't tried it. If you do let me know what you think.)
1/4 c. creamy goat cheese
3 scallions chopped or 2-3 tbsp. finely chopped red onion
1 baguette thinly sliced
1 clove garlic peeled and haved


Preheat over to 425 degrees. Mix the eggplant with the olive oil until coated. Spread the eggplant on an oiled roasting pan, season with salt and pepper, and roast for 20-25 minutes, tossing occasionally. Remove the roasted eggplant from the oven and immediately mix it in a bowl with the goat cheese and vinegar. Stir until the cheese is completely melted. Stir in onion. (*I've also stirred in sliced almonds before for a bit of a crunch). 

Then, brush the slices of the baguette with olive oil and rub the garlic on each slice. Broil the slices on a cookie sheet for a quick minute, until just toasted (watch them carefully. I've burned mine more than once!) 

Top slices with eggplant mixture and enjoy!


PS - Smitten Kitchen is a great website for recipes and food inspiration. I don't have The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook (yet) but I've looked through my friends and it's amazing!