Day 73: Brushed Eggplant II

Today's vegetable recipe: Sliced eggplant brushed with vinaigrette, baked, then topped with cheese. Low carb. Weight Watchers 1 point.

~ recipe & photo updated in 2008 ~

2005: I seem to be on an eggplant kick so had high hopes for this after Day 71. This time, however, I wanted an easy way to roast eggplant without a lot of oil so I brushed the slices with fat-free Italian dressing from the fridge. Too bad: not so good, even the addition of a bit of feta didn't help. Who knew that cheese couldn't save nearly anything?! The eggplant are pretty, though, yes? I had no idea what the internal structure of an eggplant looked like until these came out of the oven.

2008: This time I used a homemade vinaigrette of 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard and a clove of minced garlic (plus lots of salt and pepper) for a beautiful two-pound globe eggplant. Straight from the oven, the slices still tasted quite plain so again, I went the cheese route, for comparison topping a few slices with grated Parmesan. Too bad: still so-so. Interestingly enough, later I found the plain slices -- the ones without the cheese -- quite good when cold. Temperature somehow allowed the creaminess of the eggplant to emerge.

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VEGETABLE RECIPES from the ARCHIVES
~ more eggplant recipes ~
~ more recipes for roasted vegetables ~

BRUSHED EGGPLANT II
Active time: 5 minutes
Time to table: 55 minutes
Serves: 4

Cooking spray
1 pound eggplant
1/3 cup non-fat Italian dressing (2008: homemade vinaigrette)
Few sprinkles of feta (2008: Parmesan)

Set oven to 375F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Slice off the stem end of the eggplant, then cut into 3/4 inch slices. Pour dressing into a small dish, brush both sides of each slice with the dressing. Arrange slices on the baking sheet. Put the baking sheet into the oven, even if it's not fully preheated, for 25 minutes plus the remaining pre-heat time. (For example, if your oven takes 10 minutes to preheat and has been warming up for 3 minutes when you put the tray in, set the timer for 32 minutes, 25 minutes plus 7 minutes.) Remove from the oven and turn the slices over and bake another 20 minutes. If desired, add a few sprinkles of feta for the last few minutes of baking.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
With feta, Per Serving: 65 Cal (29% from Fat, 15% from Protein, 56% from Carb); 2 g Protein; 2 g Tot Fat; 1 g Sat Fat; 10 g Carb; 4 g Fiber; 56 mg Calcium; 0 mg Iron; 367 mg Sodium; 8 mg Cholesterol, Weight Watchers 1 point

Without feta, Per Serving: 41 Cal (5% from Fat, 11% from Protein, 85% from Carb); 1 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 9 g Carb; 4 g Fiber; 10 mg Calcium; 0 mg Iron; 262 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol, Weight Watchers 0 points