Ingredients
- 3 Italian Eggplants
- 1 Cup of Whole Wheat Flour
- 1-2 Cups of Pank Bread Crumbs
- 1 Cup of Rice Milk
- 1/2 Cup of EVOO
- 1/4 Cup of Pine Nuts
- 3 Cups fresh basil leaves
- 6 Tablespoons walnuts(almonds can be used if you have no walnuts)
- 4 Tloves garlic
- 3/4 Teaspoons course sea salt
- 6 Tablespoons additional good quality olive oil
- 1 Package of Spinach Fettuccine
Cook the fettuccine in water with splash of table salt and some EVOO. While pasta is cooking, start the eggplant. Cut the eggplant into 1/4 inch thick pieces, leave the skin on. Coat a skillet with EVOO, make sure that there is a decent amount of oil in the pan. Turn the heat on the pan to low so that it starts to warm up.
You will need three bowls:
- 1 with the 1 Cup of Rice Milk
- 1 with the Panko Bread Crumbs
- 1 with the Whole Wheat Flour
You will want to use these like an assembly line. In the bowl with the wheat flour, add your favorite spices and mix well. I usually use oregano, basil, parsley, and black pepper (use dry spices). Mix this well.
Take the first piece of eggplant and dip it into the rice milk. Make sure you coat it well and then transfer it to the whole wheat flour/spice mixture bowl. Coat well and transfer it to the Panko bowl. Again, coast well (in the Panko bowl make sure you press the eggplant firmly. Repeat this process for all of the eggplant.
Lay the coated eggplant slices in the greased skillet and cover to prevent splatter. Cook for 3 minutes on each side or until brown. Take a plate and place a papertowel on it. As the eggplant pieces finish cooking place them on the papertowel to drain off the extra EVOO. I usually have like two layers off eggplant when it is all done. You will have to cook the eggplant in shifts because it won't all fit in the pan at once.
While the eggplant is cooking, start to prepare the pesto. Put the basil, nuts, 4 gloves garlic and 3/4 teaspoon of sea salt into a food processor, you can use a blender if you don't have a food processor. Process until all the ingredients are finely chopped. Add the 6 tablespoons of EVOO gradually as you process the ingredients until smooth.
Drain the fettuccine and put it back into the pot. Add the pesto and mix well. Add some of the pine nuts while you are doing this. Put the fettuccine onto plates and then top with eggplant and garnish with a little fresh basil and pine nuts. You can add some vegan parmesan cheese for garnish.
I would be honored to make the first blog entry on Eggplants. Working weekends and sustaining on a steady diet of McDonalds and Taco Bell, Panko Crusted Eggplant with Pesto Spinach Fettuccine looks soo good. Living in Maryland, I haven’t heard of “Panko” Bread Crumbs. I guess I could look it up on Google, but instead I’ll ask the source. Would generic bread crumbs due or is “Panko” somehow different. Also I love looking at food pictures. Thanks for your food blog.
ReplyDeletePanko is my new favorite thing to cook with. Panko is Japenese bread crumbs and you can get them anywhere, even Stop and Shop or Shaws! They are often in the bread crumbs aisle and some times in the foreign food aisle. At Johhny's, they are in the bread section (weird). I am sure you can find them most places, you just may need to ask where they are located.
ReplyDeleteGeneric bread crumbs would be a fine substitute. However, I favor Panko because they have a really great crunch!