Roasted Eggplant Rounds

I really do try to incorporate more vegetables into our diet. It's not that I have a problem with veggies, it's just I'm not as accustomed to cooking with them. Meat and pasta are a lot easier as the main stars.

I bought this eggplant with the intention of making eggplant rollatinis. Unfortunately a chunk of it started to rot and we were out of pasta sauce. (Hubby goes through sauce like water- that man of mine loves pasta!) Then ensued the quick scramble to come up with something to use up the eggplant before it goes bad and doesn't involved tomato sauce.

This is what I came up with- roasted eggplant rounds. They were pretty good! Some of the rounds got a little soggy, and I could have used less sausage (ok, fake sausage). But it was very good over cous cous and we still got the eggplant flavor.

I should note that I hope I get this recipe right- I made it over a week ago now from when I'm typing this and sometimes I forget what the heck I did. Sorry in advance!


Roasted Eggplant Rounds
Inspired by AllRecipes.com

• 1 Large Eggplant
  
• 1 Small Onion, chopped
  
• 1 Clove of Garlic, minced (I'm guessing I used garlic- I use garlic in everything.)
  
• 1 Tomato, chopped
  
• 1 C. Cooked Sausage Meat (I used our generic soy sausage stuff.)
  
• Oregano, Basil, Black Pepper and possibly other Italian type spices
  
• 1/2 C. (or less) Shred Mozzarella Cheese
  
• Parmesan cheese

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees.
   
2. Discard the very top and bottom of the eggplant. Slice 1/2"-1/4" rounds starting from the top. You'll want around 18 rounds. The remaining base should be chopped into cubes.
   
3. On a cookie sheet, place rounds in a single layer. I did not treat the baking pan and probably should have lightly rubbed olive oil on it to keep the rounds from sticking. Bake eggplant for about 15 minutes.
   
4. In a small saute pan, heat some olive oil and saute the onions and garlic. When tender, add in tomato, eggplant chunks, and spices. Simmer until eggplant is tender.
   
5. When done, put into a bowl or container on the side. Stir in the cooked sausage.
   
6. When eggplant is baked, remove from oven. Spoon small amount of the sausage mixture onto each round. Sprinkle a pinch of mozzarella onto each round and return to oven for about 15 minutes until cheese is melted.
   
7. Remove from oven and grate fresh Parmesan on each round. Serve over jasmine rice or cous cous.