An Aubergenistic Christmas

This lovely piece of photoshopping (done entirely without Photoshop, using only the miserably rustic Paint program) was featured in a Christmas entry two years ago. Since I put so much time and effort into this silly JPEG, it seems fitting to recycle:

Merry Aubergistmas.

Given that I, in all my Jewishness, do not especially celebrate Christmas -- and given that I am no longer dating a guy who does -- my Christmas today consists of something like this:

Yes, kitty is in fact responsible for the damage to the bed frame.

In other words, I'm spending the day hiding in my apartment, still in my pajamas, munching on chocolate, and writing my dissertation proposal (the research for which you may explore by reading my other blog). Today's various eggplant entries reflect my utter desperation to further procrastinate the proposal, even though it is IMPERATIVE that I finish it today, and even though there is absolutely nothing open, I have nothing else to do, and I have run out of excuses. 

But eggplants are important, right? 

Around Thanksgiving, I was in the mood for eggplant comfort food and I created a tasty, warming, Thanksgiving-like salad that could potentially double as a Christmas classic:

Roasted Eggplant and Portobello Salad with Balsamic Vinegar and Goat Cheese

It... tastes better than it looks. 

Ingredients

Several small/medium eggplants (graffiti or Italian variety)

2 portobello mushroom caps

balsamic vinegar

olive oil

garlic

fresh Thanksgiving herbs (sage, rosemary, thyme)

goat cheese

pepitas (roasted, salted pumpkin seeds)

salt and pepper to taste

As usual, this dish originated with a purchase of beautiful eggplants, followed by me fishing around for something to do with them. These graffiti eggplants are so beautiful that I was looking for a way to preserve their outside appearance -- and while I thought that roasting large pieces might leave the skin intact, the pieces turned brown like any other eggplant. I think the only way to keep that beautiful color is to deep-fry them, giving the skins no opportunity to oxidize in the open air... but this greasy, unhealthy, splattery method of cooking is not especially appealing to me.

Graffiti eggplants: vegetable or modern art? 

I decided to cut the eggplants into diagonal chunks, the way I've seen Chinese restaurants do it. 

Coat the eggplant pieces with a generous quantity of olive oil and roast at 350 degrees, turning them periodically until they're all thoroughly softened.

While roasting the eggplants, prepare your balsamic-marinated mushroom slices in a pan. Slice the mushroom caps into pieces that are similar in size to the eggplant chunks, merely for aesthetic purposes.

Sautee the mushrooms in olive oil until they start to look partially cooked, exuding juice. Add crushed garlic and let this cook for about a minute, stirring frequently to keep the garlic from burning. Then chop up your Thanksgiving herbs and add them to the pan, along with a generous dousing of balsamic vingear and some salt and pepper.

Cook this mixture all together for about a minute, then remove it from the heat. While the eggplants finish roasting, the balsamic vinegar will soak into your mushrooms.

Once the eggplants have finished roasting (about 20 minutes), mix them and the mushrooms together in a bowl.

Finished roasting: brown on the edges, with no spongy uncooked bits in the middle.

One of my favorite sights: roasted eggplant in a bowl. I could have eaten it just like this.

Mixing the eggplants and mushrooms together.

Add any additional salt if the dish requires. Top each individual serving with crumbled goat cheese and pepitas.

Tasty, wintry, Thanksgivingy... Christmasy?