Eggplant Pancakes with Roasted Yellow Tomato Puree

I snatched up several eggplants at the store the other day because they were on sale, and last night I found myself looking at them wondering what to do with them. Eggplants present a lot of possibilities and I just couldn’t settle on one. Finally I decided upon Anna Thomas’s “Eggplant Pancakes in Sweet Red Pepper Puree” from The New Vegetarian Epicure. I did, however, adapt it. I wanted to use less eggplant, less olive oil, less garlic, no eggs, no white flour, and no olives or feta cheese. And then there was that sauce … don’t get me wrong, a sweet red pepper puree sounds delicious. The thing is, you see, I have this tomato plant of mine and it is laden with little golden orbs of deliciousness. I decided to go out into the yard and pick some for dinner, so I adapted the red pepper puree to accommodate less ingredients and to use the tomatoes instead of the peppers. The pancakes were quite tasty and the tomato puree was delectable – we were scooping mounds of it into our mouth with pita chips! If I were to make this dish again, I wouldn’t change a thing about the puree but I would add maybe 1/4 cup of whole wheat bread crumbs to the eggplant batter in an attempt to make the pancakes just a little bit sturdier. We wnjoyed the pancakes and puree with some tabouleh and pita chips on the side. Enjoy!

Eggplant Pancakes
Adapted from The New Vegetarian Epicure

3 medium eggplants
½ small onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 potent Ener-G “eggs” (4 tsp mix + 2 tbsp water)
1/8 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tsp dried oregano
Salt & pepper to taste1. Preheat oven to 400F. Slice the eggplants in half lengthwise, pierce each cut side several times with a fork, and place each cut-side down on a greased baking sheet. Roast them for 50-60 minutes in the oven, until they are each soft and collapsing. Let them cool a bit, then scoop out the flesh.

2. Sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil in a small non-stick skillet over medium heat until the onion is soft and translucent. Whisk together the Ener-G “eggs” with the flour and add it to the eggplant. Mix in the onion mixture, the oregano, and the salt and pepper to the eggplant.

3. Lightly spray a large non-stick skillet or griddle pan wit cooking oil and place over medium-heat. Place large spoonfuls of eggplant batter into the skillet, shaping them into small 3-inch pancakes. Cooke the pancakes until they are evenly colored on both sides, about 8-10 minutes total. Be sure to turn them very carefully because they are delicate!

4. Serve the pancakes with dollops of roasted yellow tomato puree on top (recipe follows).

Roasted Yellow Tomato Puree
Adapted from the New Vegetarian Epicure

½ tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cups whole yellow pear tomatoes
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp brown sugar1. In a non-stick skillet over low heat, heat the olive oil and sauté the onion until caramelized, about 40-45 minutes.

2. In a small roasting pan coated with non-stick cooking spray, roast the tomatoes for 20-25 minutes, until the skins are browning and puckering.

3. Place the onions, tomatoes, vinegar, and brown sugar in a food processor and blend until smooth. Gently warm before serving.

Finally, Cakelaw has tagged me for a “5 Things About Me” meme, so here goes:

• I believe that a person cannot be held accountable for the music on their iPod. What happens with your iPod stays with your iPod.
• I like artificial banana flavor. Banana popsicles, banana lifesavers (found in the tropical roll), and banana runts are tops in my book.
• I’ve been known to dress my cats in ridiculous clothing. Like collared polo shirts. And Halloween costumes.

Sometimes this upsets them.

• I’m addicted to mints. My doctor once told me this was a problem.
• I am currently in the process of weaning myself off of my caffeine addiction. It is now day 5 and I haven’t hurt anybody. Yet.

I am tagging the following people for this meme but give them all outs due to the fact that they are all super busy people who have babies, just had babies, just adopted babies, are tending to their spouse, are busy just being badass, etc…. Wow, that summary of my blogging friends just made me feel incredibly unaccomplished and lazy! :-O Really, though, the bottom line is that these are cool people doing cool things and they are blogging about them, so I’d like to highlight them in this small way.

1. Jennifer at What’s New Since Terminal 4

2. James at General Fuzz

3. Erin at Notes on Passage

4. Holley at 13th Degree Perspective

5. Maria at Bringing Home Babylicious

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