Eggplant Patty aka Veggie Burger

This dish works better without a bun as the bun takes away from the delicate flavors in the patty. But feel free to eat on a bun with your favorite burger topping, just make patties a little thicker so that there is ample patty to stand up to toppings and bun.

1 medium sized eggplant
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup diced onions
1/2 cup roasted mini pepper, diced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic
1 egg
1/4 cup lemon pepper breadcrumbs, any breadcrumb will work
1 teaspoon cavendars spice
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon Greenland shish kabob spice, you can substitute paprika and coriander
2 tablespoon olive oil or canola oil

Peel and cube eggplant, saute in 1 tablespoon of olive oil with the onion until the eggplant begins to get soft. Add fresh garlic, mushroom, roasted peppers and continue cooking until mushrooms are cooked. Add seasoning and mix well. Let mixture cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Beat egg and add to the eggplant mixture and then mix in breadcrumbs. Form patties and pan fry in the remaining olive oil for about 3-5 minutes a side. Be mindful as not to let the patties get over brown. To make sure egg is cooked, place patties in oven for about 5-7 minutes.

Makes 6 patties. They will keep in refrigerator for a week and can be reheated in microwave or on stove in a dry skillet.

I recommend serving these over a red pepper sauce or ajvar (Indian eggplant and pepper sauce).

Hummus Pizzas

I am proud to say that this is my first post on Pass That Dish... I have been meaning to write this blog post since mid-August, but sometimes things don't go as planned, I'm sure everyone can relate. Anyways, I made hummus pizzas a couple of weeks before I left for school. The pizzas turned out very well and were super easy to make. I want to share my recipe, or at least what I remember. I'm like my father... I didn't follow a recipe and did not write down what I did.

Ingredients

• Whole wheat wrap
• Hummus (Sabra's my personal favorite)
• Vegetables (your choice)
• Olive oil
• Mozzarella cheese and/ or feta
• Garlic Powder
• Red Pepper Powder 
• Salt
• Pepper

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Sautee veggies while the oven preheats
• Spread a little pit of olive oil, garlic powder, and red pepper on top of the wrap and place in oven until crisp
• Take the wrap out of the oven and put the hummus on, followed by the veggies and cheese
• Place back in the oven. Take out when cheese has melted, but make sure the shell isn't burning

Presto! You have yourself an easy, delicious meal.

BrownTrout

Crystal and I tried a place tonight that we had been meaning to try for the last year. The name of the place was Browntrout and it is located at Irving Park and Lincoln Ave. Browntrout is known for its fish dishes and a menu that changes frequently. In fact, some of the dishes we discussed getting based on the menu posted online only to see that none of them were on the actual menu tonight. However, the menu items we did find upon our arrival sounded delicious. Looks were not deceiving tonight, as the food matched our expectations and were excellent.

We started with the black truffle parpadelle, which had a nice broth layered on the fresh pasta coooked with sauteed oyster, shitake, and cremini mushrooms. My only regret is that I did not order a pinot noir to pair with this dish, it would have paired tremendously. It was such an earthy dish, that was light and savory at the same time.

For the next course, Crystal had the 1/2 chicken which was paired with roasted walnuts, sliced apples, pureed squash and brussel sprouts. It was like the perfect Thanksgiving meal, it was fall on a plate. The roasted walnuts and the brussel sprouts were truly perfect side dishes to the juicy chicken. The chicken was cooked to perfection, juicy meat and a crisp skin that was not oily but added the right amount of crunch and flavor to the dish. The kicker on this dish was the deep fried sage leaves that came with the chicken. A bite of the chicken, roast walnuts, sliced apple and fried sage was as perfect as chicken gets. Truly amazing.

I went vegetarian tonight with my meal and had the gnocchi. It was presented beautifully, with micro-greens, squash and a butternut squash puree. It was topped with wax beans and some other root vegetable that I could not place. The gnocchi was pillow soft, but with a crispy, pan-fried crust. Delicious. Again, this dish tasted of fall and certainly struck a chord with the season.

Overall, a seasonal experience that met expectations and then some. Crystal and I are excited to return to try the different dishes as the seasons change. You could tell that you were tasting dishes prepared by a talented chef and the atmosphere was nice, but accomodating and relaxing. I think we may have a new Friday night spot.

Simple Dinner

It's been a while since anybody posted anything, and I assume we've all been eating since mid-August. So to get the ball rolling again, I thought I'd put up the simple dinner Tay and I had tonight.

We had veggie burgers with spinach and colby-jack cheese, and lima beans. We had a nice riesling to go along with it.

We may get into some cookies and cream ice cream for dessert...time will tell.