Recipe #1: Grilled Eggplant Panini

There are not many things in life that I am passionate about and those few, real passions reside primarily with food. But okay, I admit that fashion and shopping for "uber-cute" clothing is high on my list of priorities as well. One afternoon I was thinking out loud and wished that I could have something different every single day -- and before all the cynics begin to state the obvious, "Other than normal life?"-- I thought, I ought to have something I can contribute and control within my own realm of day to day things. Wearing a brand new outfit each day would be, of course, so fabulous but tough on my skimpy, flat wallet. So crossing out fashion I was really only left with food. But how grand and convenient it is that this topic is so wonderfully broad.

So here I am, folks. I'm starting out small and working my way to bigger and (perhaps) tastier recipes. For now, it is The Grilled Eggplant Panini. And to give credit where credit is due since I am not above sharing where I found my recipe, I was very pleased to have stumbled upon www.foodgawker.com where there are literally so many irresistible and flat out mouthwatering pages to choose between. It's lucky at all I settled on Grilled Sandwiches otherwise I would have tried my luck with something far more complicated, like deboning a duck or...something. Alas, from the ingredients list to the directions below, you will understand that this is a delicious summer sandwich that you just cannot go wrong with during this season.

Ingredients:

* 3 Roma Tomatoes
* Bruschetta Olivepeno
* 4 slices of Mozzarella
* 1/2 Large Eggplant, or 1 Small Eggplant
* 4 Bread Slices
* Extra Virgin Oil
* Sea Salt
* Pepper

Cooking Directions:

First, slice the Eggplant into about 1/2 inch slices and place them on a tray that has 2 sheets of paper towels already laid down. Place another 2 sheets of paper towels over the Eggplant slices and place something moderately heavy over the top. (I learned this from the website and was very surprised at how much water came out of the Eggplant. I was even more pleased that it helped cook the eggplant much faster, too) I let the Eggplant dry out for about 40 minutes before I took the paper towel off and drizzled the slices with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. (Just a light coating will do.) I don't have a full grill at my home so I used my George Foreman to prepare the Eggplant and it worked just fine. It only took about 5 minutes for the Eggplant to soften and have grill marks. You will want to remove them from the heat then.

Preheat your oven to 400 degress Fahrenheit and this can be done while the Eggplant is drying. Slice your 3 tomatoes into thin slices and place them on a cookie sheet. Drizzle them with Olive Oil and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. (Since replacing our table salt with Sea Salt, there has been a remarkable difference: the flavor is stronger and sharper but we are no longer ingesting the dye from the white table salt, which causes you to bloat after a meal.) Once the oven is preheated, place the tomatoes in the oven for about 12 minutes.

While you're waiting for the tomatoes to sizzle and bake in the oven, slice the mozzarella. I purchased an enormous chunk of mozzarella for about a quarter of the price of fresh mozzarella. Personally, when you're on a tighter budget like me I can guarantee it melts the same and is just as satisfying when you're in the mood for a hearty sandwich. Now you can choose to buy a loaf of bread that is not sliced yet however I went ahead and purchased an already sliced, but freshly baked sourdough loaf from the bakery.

Take the Bruschetta Olivepeno, or whichever Olive Tapenade you prefer, and spread a couple of tablespoons over the slices of bread. As soon as both the Eggplant and tomatoes are cooked everything will just need to be layered. First, place a layer of tomatoes over the Olive Tapenade and then place a layer of Eggplant over the tomatoes. You can stack this baby as high as you want but for my first try I only did one layer of each ingredient. Finally, place a couple of slices of mozzarella over the top and complete the sandwich with the second slice of bread. After drizzling the sandwich with Olive Oil it will need to go onto the George Foreman. It doesn't need a long time on the grill as this sandwich, after being pressed on the Foreman, will transform into a gooey panini. You will know when the sandwich can be removed from the grill just as soon as the cheese is melted and there are some nice grill marks on the bread. As an added side to the panini there will be extra tomatoes and eggplant that when piled onto the plate make for a very tasty reinforcement of flavor and color.

*Muah!*