Meatless Mondays: Roasted Eggplant Sandwiches

It's the beginning of the week, and you know what that means...it's Meatless Monday!  Studies have shown that vegetarians often have lower rates of heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, and some types of cancer.  In addition to all of those benefits, a vegetarian diet is also a great way to use all of those veggies in the garden to make delicious dishes.  

A few weeks ago, we had roasted eggplant sandwiches at our community potluck and they were a huge hit.  Try this dish at your next party or for tomorrow's dinner.   It is a really simple, fresh, light, and delicious crowd-pleaser.  

Roasted Eggplant Sandwiches

Recipe for 4

Ingredients:

Your favorite type of bread (ciabatta is a good choice for this sandwich since it is very crusty)

Garlic mayonnaise (recipe below)

Sliced mozzarella

Basil leaves

1 sliced tomato

1 large eggplant sliced in 1/2 inch slices

Olive oil

Salt

1.  Slice the eggplant.  It is very important to let the eggplant slices "sweat out" because they have a lot of moisture; therefore, not salting them out will cause the eggplant to be soggy.  Sprinkle salt on both sides of the sliced eggplant.  Leave for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, wash the salted eggplant and put slices between paper towels so that the excess moisture will be soaked up.  Leave for 30 minutes.  Then brush the slices with olive oil.  Place on baking sheet and broil (on high) for 10 to 15 minutes (until eggplant is of desired level of tenderness).

2.  Slice bread and spread garlic mayonnaise on both sides.  (If you do not like mayonnaise, hummus is a great alternative spread.)

3.  Place eggplant on bottom slice of bread, followed by tomatoes, sliced mozzarella, and basil.  Be sure to put the tomatoes in the middle of the sandwich so that the bread does not get soggy.

4. Enjoy!

Garlic Mayonnaise:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

To make mayonnaise:

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate overnight.