Eggplant Salad with Roasted Tomatoes

I'm turning over a new leaf and planning a totally plant based menu for next week.  🌿#seewhatididthere  😅 We're going all in on this plant based diet.  The biggest change will be the elimination of meat and dairy. (Will I survive a week without cheese?) 🧀I, for one, am super excited about challenging myself to make a week of plant based meals - my family is less enthusiastic.  I'd call it apprehensive curiosity.  🤣 

I was inspired to try some new plant based meals when a friend loaned me a copy of Chelsea Winter's "Superfood"cookbook.   All of her recipes looked amazing and after flipping through the pages even briefly, I realized that I was going to have to give more than a few of her recipes a try.  All of the recipes in the cookbook are completely vegan and even though I love eggs too much to be a vegan - I totally appreciate her plant based creations.  

So what's on the menu for the week?  (I could hear you asking.)  Strawberry avocado salad, lentil and potato curry, bean quesadillas, halibut (not from the vegan cookbook), vegetable lasagna, meatless nachos, portabello mushrooms stuffed with rice and cheese-less pizza.  Intrigued? 

I'm a blogger so you better believe that I'll be posting all of these new recipes soon.  (It's what food bloggers do.)  🤷🏻‍♀️Historically, vegetable based recipes on the blog don't receive nearly as much traffic or feedback as the yummy, decadent dessert posts but I'm still committed to publishing healthy recipes along with the heavenly desserts.  I know that I have followers who want to see more plant based recipes so if you are one of those people - this recipe is for you.  

Eggplant Salad with Roasted Tomatoes
1½ cups cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
3-4 small eggplant
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
¾ cup uncooked farro
½ cup cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 garlic clove, minced
½ cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
Big handful of red romaine lettuce
Big handful of torn basil
1 Tablespoon sherry vinegar
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Toss tomatoes with a drizzle of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  

Roast on a foil lined baking sheet 35-40 minutes at 300.  

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.  Add farro, cover and cook 30-40 minutes until tender.  Drain.  

Chop eggplant into 1" pieces.  Sprinkle with salt and let sit on paper towels for 20 minutes.  

Heat oil in skillet.  Add eggplant and cook 10-12 minutes until browned.  Add garlic.

Combine roasted tomatoes, eggplant, chickpeas, farro, chick peas, basil and pumpkin seeds.  Stir in sherry vinegar.

Spoon over a bowl of romaine.  

What a delicious way to kick off our week of plant based eating.  😋 Oh, and if you have leftovers, they're even more delicious the next day.  I didn't have any leftover lettuce so I put the eggplant mixture in a tortilla and ate it like a burrito.  🌯 Scrumptious!

Ciao!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe