We posted a recipe for eggplant cutlets earlier this month and this is a new twist on how to serve cutlets. This recipe has many moving parts and they all come together to make a divine dining experience! The cauliflower is light and creamy and offers the perfect balance to spicy greens and delicious crispy eggplant. If you don’t want to spend a whole evening cooking this, you can easily make the cauliflower and red pepper sauce ahead of time and just heat it up when the eggplant and greens are finished cooking. This flavor combination can also be achieved with less labor by buying pre-made options. There are several frozen brands of breaded eggplant cutlets available on the market, and in many markets you can also buy roasted red pepper in a can or bottle. Either or both could be substituted in this recipe to achieve this flavor combination in a much faster way.
Serves: 6-8
Time: 2 hours 45 minutes
Ingredients
for the mashed cauliflower:
1 head of cauliflower
3 cloves roasted garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
salt
for the roasted red pepper sauce:
2 red bell peppers, roasted
2 cloves roasted garlic
1 jalepeno, seeds removed
1/2 onion, chopped and sauteed
1/4 cup of almond pulp (can substitute 1/4 soaked cashew/almond blend)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
water, until desired consistency
1 tsp salt
for the eggplant cutlet:
3 medium eggplants, cut into 1/4” coins
kosher salt
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
4 pieces of toast or two cups of bread crumbs (a gluten free bread or crumb will work here)
1/2 cup oats gluten-free option
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
2 tbsp garlic powder
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tbsp salt, if your sunflower seeds are salted, you will need less salt.
3/4 tsp pepper, divided
3 or 4 eggs
olive oil
for the fried greens:
1 bunch dark leafy greens (kale, swiss chard, collards, spinach, etc)
3 T high heat oil (we like avocado)
1/4 tsp szechuan pepper (if available)
squeeze of lemon
Salt
Cut eggplant into 1/4” thick coins. Layer them in a colander salting each layer generously. Leave eggplant to drain about 20 minutes. This will pull the moisture from the eggplant allowing it to cook faster and get sweeter.
There are many ways to roast a red pepper. If you have a gas stove, you can place the pepper directly on the burner, turn the burner on and cook, flipping with tongs until all the sides are charred. If you don’t have a gas stove, it can be done in the broiler. Move a shelf to the top of the oven and turn on the broiler. Place the red peppers under the coils of the broiler and allow to cook about 6 minutes before rotating the peppers. The skins should char. Remove the peppers from the oven once the skins are charred on all sides (about 24 minutes). Either way you cook the peppers, once they are charred on all sides, quickly place them in a bowl and cover with lid (this makes them easier to peel). Set the bowl aside.
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Roast garlic. You can do this a number of ways and our two favorite are to use a garlic roaster or a small cast iron pan. If you are using a garlic roaster, chop the tops off the garlic, drizzle a bit of oil into the garlic cloves, put this into the garlic roaster and roast in oven for about 45 minutes. To use a small cast iron pan, peel the garlic and place cloves in the cast iron pan with a small amount of olive oil. Roast this in the oven for about 20 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Either way, the garlic should look golden brown and be very soft. With the cast iron method, it is easier to burn the garlic so make sure to check on it.
Once the eggplant has been salted for 20 minutes it should have released some moisture that you will be able to see on the surface. Press the eggplant between kitchen towels to remove the moisture and some of the salt. Rip your toast into chunks before putting it into the food processor with the oats. Blend them until they are sandy with slightly larger chunks. Add the sunflower seeds, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Blend until the majority of the sunflower seeds have been cut at least once, but not so far that the mixture looks homogeneous. Leave some sunflower seed chunks. Assemble a workstation with a shallow bowl of beaten eggs, a shallow bowl of cornstarch mixed with 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp pepper, and a shallow bowl of the breadcrumb mixture. Dip the egg in the cornstarch, then the egg, and then breadcrumbs. Start with two eggs and add more as necessary to coat all the eggplant. Place on oiled baking sheet and bake in the oven for 1 hr flipping every 20 minutes.
While your eggplant cooks chop and saute the onion about 7 minutes until soft and starting to caramelize.
Put a pot of salty water on to boil. The water should taste about as salty as sea water so that the potatoes soak in the water and are perfectly salted when done. Don’t worry if these feels like a lot of salt; you will be draining the water.
Rough chop the cauliflower removing the core and leaves. Add the cauliflower to the heavily salted water and cook until fork tender (about 15 minutes). Drain the cauliflower and allow to sit for 10 min.
Next create the roasted red pepper sauce. Remove the roasted pepper from the covered bowl and remove the skin over the sink, rinsing off the char. Remove the seeds and stems. Add to a food processor with the remaining roasted red pepper ingredients and blend until mostly smooth. If you are using almond pulp, you will need a bit of water to make the sauce a nice texture. If you are using almond milk or cashew crema you may not need water. Put the sauce in a small jar or bowl.
Rinse your food processor and then combine all ingredients for the mashed cauliflower and blend until smooth and fluffy.
Lastly, rinse, de-stem, and thinly slice your greens. Heat a pan with 3 tbsp of high heat oil and wait until oil is very hot. Add greens and flip with tongs until greens are wilted and maybe a bit golden brown on some sides. If using szchuan pepper add to the pan right as greens are starting to wilt. Garnish with a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of salt.
To assemble, layer mashed cauliflower on a plate. Next place the eggplant cutlet and pour roasted red pepper sauce over the eggplant. Finally top with fried greens and enjoy!