Vegan for Dinner

It was the eggplant that started it all. Our CSA announced this week that only half the members would be receiving an eggplant in their share because they could not harvest enough for everyone. I thought to myself, it's okay if I don't get one. I'm not that fond of them because every time I try to cook one it just ends up soggy or oily.

Lo and behold, a purple specimen shows up in our bag on Saturday. It sat in the fridge until today, when I knew I had to use it or toss it because we are leaving tomorrow for a long weekend in Lake Placid.

What to do with an eggplant... Somewhere I remembered reading about roasting eggplant. It sounded like a nice way to make it flavorful without it soaking up too much olive oil. I also had a green cabbage from our CSA. Not knowing if it too could be roasted, I googled "roasted cabbage" and enough recipes turned up for me to confident in putting the two together in the oven.

I chopped the eggplant into 1-inch sections and the cabbage to approximately the same size. Both went on a rimmed baking sheet and both got olive oil and salt and pepper. I sprinkled ground cumin, coriander, and turmeric on the eggplant, and paprika on the cabbage. Into a 375 degree oven went the veggies.

To round out the meal, I sautéed an onion, a small bell pepper, a serrano pepper (from the plant on our back deck), and some garlic. When all was soft and golden, I added the water to cook the couscous and let that come to a boil. Then in went the couscous and off went the heat. It sat covered for 5 minutes or so until the liquid was absorbed.

After about 35 minutes the eggplant and cabbage was aromatic and browned on the edges (I had tossed it a few times during roasting). I put all of it in with the couscous and tossed it with some more olive oil, salt, and a drained/rinsed can of garbanzo beans.

It got finished with the juice from half a lemon and chopped herbs (parsley, mint, oregano and basil) from my herb box.

There was little to put away as leftovers after dinner. I even liked the eggplant.