“Tastes Like Chicken!”

Vegan cooks spend a lot of time recreating the taste and texture of foods they no longer eat. This can be both wonderfully creative and supremely frustrating. Sometimes the fakery is completely convincing, sometimes it’s better to simply embrace an honest replacement.

Enter the eggplant burger:

Wash, partially peel (if you want) and slice the eggplant into burger sized pieces. Salt and heavily season both sides..I like using a Greek flavor combo featuring a lot of garlic. Let the eggplant “sweat” off excess water for several hours minimum. Dab them dry (most of the spices will stay on) and either grill or fry in a pan LIGHTY(!!) sprayed with oil.

This is where the magic happens- or alas, where it all falls apart.

Take care not to over cook lest your eggplant turn into mush. 😫 I keep my eye out for a slightly glossier, translucent color to develop in some spots (not all over) and for my fork to sink in a bit easier. You want the eggplant to maintain a nice level of semi-firmness.

Add your “burger” toppings. The side I made was creamy, dairy free, butternut squash macaroni with roasted cauliflower. (Recipe to come!)

What I love about this delicious and healthy eggplant burger is its simplicity and authenticity. It isn’t trying to be all complex and mysterious like a fifteen ingredient bean burger.  It isn’t trying to fool you into believing it’s something it’s not, like Beyond Meat. There’s no slight of hand at work here..no subterfuge at play.  What a relief huh?

We have enough of that in politics right now..who needs it in their food?