Nurturing my inner... copy cat

When I was in San Antonio, Texas a couple years ago, I had the best vegetarian sandwich EVER at a little place called Sips.  I love TX!  For starters it's because the people are some of the nicest on the planet. (I am originally from New England though, so it doesn't take much to impress me in this area.)  But I swear to you, the food there is incredible.  (What are they pumping into the air?!!  I also had a knock your socks of California turkey BLT, but that's for another time.)  Back on task, the vegetarian sandwich.

It was a wrap with goat cheese, roasted red peppers, cucumber, sprouts and the most amazing eggplant spread.  I absolutely had to figure out how to make that eggplant spread at home.

Eggplant and Roasted Garlic Spread

3 medium eggplants
3 fat cloves of garlic
Olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground pepper

Seeing as the only clue I had to start with was that it had eggplant in it, that's where I started.  It's not December yet, so yep, Farmers' Market.  (Be prepared for me to cry when the market closes for the Winter.)

So purple, they were almost black!

I sliced them in half and put them in a metal baking pan.

Inside, a pale greenish off white.

I wasn't satisfied with this and decided that I wanted more surface area to be exposed to the heat.  Seeing as I don't have a even a local channel cooking show, I changed direction and didn't try to hide it from you.  I wanted to let you see that cooking evolves as you do it.  You may not always think of the best way to tackle a challenge at first.  There are times when your instincts kick in and you'll switch it up a little.  It's good.  Go with the flow.

So, I cut them in quarters instead and jammed them all in there.  They'll reduce a bit when they cook, so don't take any lip from them.

What are we, sardines?

Little drizzle of olive oil (which seems to be the most commonly used ingredient in my blog thus far), some salt, freshly ground pepper and into an oven at 400 degrees for about 35 - 40 minutes or until soft and browned.

Much happier with the quarters.

At the same time, I took three large cloves of garlic, cut off the bottoms and made a slice down the middle, leaving their paper on.

They look like they are on a tanning bed.

And true to our former lessons on how foil captures moisture and helps steam what's inside, I wrapped them up loosely in a silver pocket.




Hey, it's dark in here. Why is it suddenly
getting warm? Is this a surprise trip
to the Bahamas?!

After they've been in the same 400 degree oven for 30 minutes, they will look like this:

Ah, like my tan?

The paper will slip right off and you can smell the deeper, woodsier smell of the garlic now that it's roasted.  Plus the color will darken to a yellowish tan.

So mellow. The flavor is much smoother
after roasting.

Time to take the eggplant out.  Don't want to burn it, but definitely need it to be soft.  So test it with a fork or a knife.

Looks like a whole different vegetable!
Nice caramelized exterior.

This next part will take a little work.  They are HOT!  That is a warning.  But you have to peel them because eggplant skin is tough and you can't eat it.

See, not so difficult if you actually wait
and let them cool, unlike I did.  Ow!

Place eggplant and garlic into the food processor.  I only have a little one, but it worked terrifically.

I forgot to put the blade in when I took the pic,
then had to take it all out and put it back
in again. That's honesty.

More olive oil.  You'll be able to tell how often I've been cooking as you see the level of oil in the Wegmans bottle go down and down with each posting.  At least you know I love it and use it all the time.

Wegmans olive oil, once again, you have
been a true and reliable friend.

I used the chop button to mash up the eggplant and garlic some, then I drizzled in some olive oil, maybe a couple tablespoons while on grind.  Starting with just a bit and going up as I felt was needed.  If you have a fancier food processor or a blender, you'll have more blending options than I do.  Just go for smooth and you'll end up with a preferred texture.

That whole container of eggplant, reduced
to a much smaller amount.

Added a little more salt to taste, mix it up and into a bowl it went.  It's not really meant to be eaten alone.  Originally I thought of making baba ganouj, but I didn't have any tahini (sesame paste).  Then I thought, well, I do have some sesame crackers.  I could still work this out, just in a different way.

I particularly like that it said "New Bold Flavor!"
I mean, it's like, toast. How bold can toast get?

I also had some fresh, soft goat cheese from Cherry Glen.

Sold in small tubs.

I love the mild flavor and smooth/creamy texture.

Obviously I had already gotten to it for something
else. You can tell by the crater in the middle.
So tasty, who can resist?

I also had a couple of whole, roasted red peppers left over from Wegmans olive bar.  (Which is the most amazing olive bar I've yet to encounter.)  Very handy for buying small or large amounts of so many things.  I'm a big fan of variety.  All I did was slice one up into strips.

The black is a minor remain of the charred skin
they remove before packing them.

Lay a few crackers down, spread on some goat cheese, add a dollop of eggplant spread and a slice of pepper and you have a delicious snack or appetizer.

And they matched my plates.

I purposely chose the most misshapen crackers just to be the renegade cook. One on the top right was actually two crackers that got baked together.  (Clearly Old London is a bit relaxed on the old quality control standards.)  When I'm featured on the cover of Real Simple magazine, we can talk about the perfect money shot.  For now, I'm having fun with odd shapes that taste great and remind me that I'm cooking at home, not for the White House.

Well, I must say, I'm pretty happy with my recreation of a terrifically yummy spread that I had on that unforgettable wrap from Texas.  (Wish I had taken a picture at the time, but I wasn't blogging back then.)  Just goes to show you, if you dismantle the ingredients in your head when you're eating out, you can surely come home and make it for yourself.  Guess I'll need to work on recreating the rest of that vegetarian sandwich next!