A hearty vegan Thanksgiving offering, good for any meal
Food@Dominion Post.com
In The Dominion Post’s ongoing Wednesday feature, Quarantine Kitchen, we highlight dishes prepared by readers, staffers and chefs at our local restaurants, in an effort to keep us connected through food.
This week, we considered including a traditional Thanksgiving recipe — but decided you’re probably up to your eyeballs in stuffing and green bean ideas. How many variations on the old stand-bys do you need?
Instead, we bring you another recipe from reader Penny Pugh, that while not necessarily standard fare, would be a welcome addition to any holiday table.
Vegans, vegetarians and meat-eaters alike will appreciate your experimentation.
Pugh said she stumbled on this recipe during a random internet search.
“I found the recipe by happy accident when I was searching for something unrelated to food,” she said. “And I had three Japanese eggplants from our farmer’s market on hand and canned chickpeas are always in the pantry. It was meant to be.”
She said the original recipe called for one large eggplant — the kind you usually find the store. Since she had the smaller, Japanese variety, she just tweaked it a bit for her purposes.
“The original recipe calls for one large eggplant, but since I had only 3 slim ones, I mostly halved the recipe. I really like the way the long narrow Japanese eggplants provide some structure when cooked, since each piece had some skin.”
As always, she said, using the highest quality spices you can find will make all the difference.
“Critical, I think, is to have the best paprika possible,” she said. “Good paprika, along with the garlic, really provides flavor here. I’m not sure where I learned this, but if you can’t remember when you bought the paprika, toss it and get fresh. I can imagine the dish with smoked paprika and may try that at some point, but the sweet paprika was delicious.”
WARM EGGPLANT AND CHICKPEA SALAD
- 3 Japanese eggplants, sliced into 1 inch pieces and halved
- 1/2 can of chickpeas, drained
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and smashed with the side of your knife
- 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of paprika
- Chopped Italian (flat leaf) parsley
Warm the olive oil in a medium-hot saute pan. Add the smashed garlic clove and allow to infuse the oil for a minute or so.
Add the eggplant chunks and stir to coat them with oil. Reduce heat to medium low and cover the pan.
Cook covered for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
When eggplant is tender and slightly caramelized add the chickpeas and paprika. Stir well and season with salt.
Cook uncovered for about 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Remove garlic clove and plate, garnishing with lots of chopped parsley.
