Cake, Batter, and Bowl

Mediterranean Eggplant Stacks

Main Dishes

You may have noticed that I’ve been on a bit of a Mediterranean kick lately – chickpeas, roasted red peppers, and feta have all been making me very happy and this dish is no exception. I wanted to come up with a fun vegetarian main dish to serve at an upcoming dinner party. I’ve learned the hard way that it’s best to practice dishes before the actual event so I spent a bit of time brainstorming and finally decided to stack slices of roasted eggplant in between layers of a roasted red pepper and chickpea spread, feta, and pine nuts. I really loved the contrast of the crunchy pine nuts with the creamy chickpeas and I’m already looking forward to serving these cute little stacks!

Also, I’m working on going through our 2000 (!) pictures from our trip to Lithuania right now and I’ve already whipped up several dishes inspired by our trip, so stay tuned for a recap!

Mediterranean Eggplant Stacks
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 medium eggplants, ends trimmed and cut crosswise into 12 1/2-inch thick round slices
2 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 7-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 cup crumbled feta
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375˚F. Sprinkle eggplant slices evenly with 2 tablespoons salt on both sides and let stand for at least 30 minutes on paper towels. Rinse the slices with water and pat them dry. Place 1/4 cup olive oil in a small dish and use a pastry brush to coat both sides of each slice of eggplant. Place eggplant slices on two large greased cookie sheets in a single layer and roast at 375˚F for 22 to 25 minutes or until tender but not mushy.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat high. Add onion and sauté for 5 to 7 minutes or until tender; add garlic and sauté 1 additional minute.

Place cooked onions, chickpeas, roasted red peppers, red wine vinegar, remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt in food processor and pulse until well blended.

To assemble the eggplant stacks, evenly layer a slice of eggplant, approximately 1 tablespoon of the red pepper chickpea spread, 1 teaspoon of feta, and 1 teaspoon of pine nuts. Repeat 2 more times, so each stack contains 3 slices of eggplant. Makes 8 eggplant stacks.

Nutrition: 308 calories, 20.6g fat, 7.3g fiber, 7.3g protein per serving
Cost: $1.11 per serving

Five Spice Scallops over Sesame Spinach

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had seven adults at our celebration, including Shannon and her parents, and my good friend Geeti and her hubby Puneet and their cutie newborn son. Shannon and I split up the menu so we both ended up being quite relaxed...

Indian Spiced Salmon with Pineapple Chutney

Whenever I buy a pineapple, I’m always reminded of the Hawaiian cruise my family took the summer after I graduated from high school. We went to a luau on the Big Island, kayaked in Kauai, attempted to surf in Maui, and snorkeled everywhere, but my most vivid memory is...

Farfalle with Mushrooms and Goat Cheese Sauce

This pasta has Apolinaras’ name written all over it. I guess you could call him my muse from time to time. He looooves mushrooms and was so happy when I encouraged him to go ahead and put the pricey fresh shitakes in the grocery cart the other day. When I told him I...

Caprese Bulgur with Chicken Sausage

Apolinaras is like a kid in a candy store at any establishment that sells tools or hardware stuff. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful he’s so handy and likes to do all the maintenance on our cars and tackle home improvement projects. But, the other weekend I was so...

Pesto Goat Cheese Pizza

When it comes to pizza, I’m a crust girl. It can make or break a pie for me and I will often scavenge up extra pieces of crust from my crazy family members who are somehow not all about the carbs. The very first thing I made with my sourdough starter was this...

Salmon over Coconut Broth with Baby Bok Choy, Snow Peas, and Mushrooms

I have to admit that even though I consider myself a “foodie,” sometimes hearing about the local/organic food debate tires me out. Ideally, we’d all get all our food from farmers in our state who use no pesticides, right? But it’s not really economical for most people...

White Pizza with Sausage, Pancetta, Leeks, and Parmesan

Apolinaras and I recently celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary with a trip to Martha’s Vineyard over Memorial Day weekend! I really can’t believe it’s already been eight years. It was our last vacation before the baby arrives, so there was nothing on our agenda...

Orange Roasted Chicken

Time for part 2 of our New Zealand adventure (you can check out part 1 here)! After visiting Rotorua, we drove down to see Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand, which fills a caldera created by a huge volcanic eruption, and the Huka Waterfalls. Taupo is a...