Home Fries

Over the New Year's holiday, we're hosting my fiance's family at our home for the first time. We were excited to share with them the house and lives we're building together. Well, we didn't build the house (or really even paint the walls), but we do pay the mortgage. We were also excited to share some of our favorite veg-friendly food spots and recipes which has been fun.

Mid-week it was time for a low-key day around the house. I whipped up this eggplant fries recipe based loosely on something my host in Michigan had made for me. Her's turned out much better, but mine still tasted great (and had me coming back for thirds.) For those of you who follow the blog, and wonder who was this hostess with the mostest...scroll to the bottom for a photo reveal of my host!

Eggplant Fries

2 medium sized eggplants
1 pkg savory seasoned bread crumbs (for stuffing/dressing)
6 tsp Ener-G egg replacer
8 T warm water
salt
oil spray

Tal Ronnen's Chipotle Cream (requires soaking cashews overnight)

Preheat oven to 450 and line cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Peel eggplant and cut into long 1/2 inch thick slices. Place eggplant slices in a colander in the sink and salt liberally. Let the eggplant "sweat" for 30 minutes to reduce bitterness and tenderize. Rinse eggplant and pat dry. While the eggplant sweats, use the food processor to crush up the bread crumbs to panko or fine crumb size and put in a medium sized bowl. Mix Ener-G egg replacer and warm water in a cereal bowl. Slice the eggplant into fries (~ 1/2 in x 1/4 inch x 1/4 inch), dip in egg replacer and roll in bread crumbs and place on cookie sheet. When you've filled the cookie sheet, lightly spray fries with oil and place in the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes. You can turn them midway through, but don't need to. I had 3 large cookie sheets worth of fries from my eggplants. Serve with chipotle cream for an easy snack that is good right out of the oven or at room temperature.

Now for the big reveal..... my Michigan host...eating some of the very eggplant fries that inspired these.....

Alright, that's one of my hosts: Sam. The other host was the better cook, but camera shy :)