Stacked Tomato Eggplant Goat Cheese Salad Recipes

GRILLED EGGPLANT AND GOAT CHEESE SALAD

Steps:

• Place a grill pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Drizzle the olive oil over the slices of eggplant and toss to coat. Grill the eggplants until tender and grill marks appear, about 3 to 4 minutes per side.
• Place the eggplants side-by-side on a serving platter. Sprinkle with the pine nuts, goat cheese, basil, and mint. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.
• Cook's note: Plating the eggplant salad this way allowed the cheese to stay bright white. The salt and pepper showed up on it. The herbs remained green and fluffy. The grill marks on the eggplant were distinct.

TOMATO AND GOAT-CHEESE SALAD WITH BASIL VINAIGRETTE

Steps:

• In a blender, combine basil, oil, vinegar, and 1 tablespoon water. Blend until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Season vinaigrette with salt and pepper.
• With dental floss or a warm knife (wiped clean after each slice), thinly slice cheese. Arrange tomatoes and goat cheese on a serving plate; drizzle with dressing to taste. Serve garnished with basil leaves.

EGGPLANT WITH TOMATO-MINT SAUCE AND GOAT CHEESE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 500°F. Spray 2 large baking sheets with oil spray. Arrange eggplant rounds on prepared sheets; brush lightly with 1 tablespoon oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake 10 minutes. Turn rounds over and bake until tender and golden, about 10 minutes longer. Remove from oven. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.
• Meanwhile, heat remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil in medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion; sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and stir 1 minute. Add tomatoes with their juices, mint and oregano and simmer until sauce thickens and is reduced to 1 3/4 cups, breaking up tomatoes with back of spoon, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
• Spoon half of tomato sauce into shallow 2-quart baking dish. Arrange eggplant rounds atop sauce, overlapping slightly. Spoon remaining sauce over. Sprinkle cheese over. Bake until heated through, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with basil.

EGGPLANT, TOMATO AND GOAT CHEESE SANDWICHES

Steps:

• Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat) or preheat broiler. Combine oil and garlic in small bowl. Let stand 5 minutes.
• Brush cut sides of baguette and both sides of eggplant slices and tomato slices with garlic oil. Grill cut sides of baguette until toasted, about 2 minutes. Transfer baguette, cut side up, to plates. Season eggplant and tomatoes with salt and pepper. Grill eggplant until cooked through, about 6 minutes per side; transfer to plate. Grill tomatoes until warmed through, about 1 minute per side; transfer to plate.
• Spread goat cheese on bread, dividing equally. Overlap eggplant slices, then tomato slices on baguette halves, covering completely. Garnish with fresh basil leaves. Cut each sandwich diagonally into 4 sections and serve.

GRILLED EGGPLANT STACKS WITH GOAT CHEESE, TOMATO AND BASIL SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Cut the eggplant into ½" thick rounds. Lightly season them with salt on both sides and let sit on a paper towel for 30 minutes to let water to come out of the eggplant.
• Brush or drizzle olive oil on top of each slice and grill them for 2 -3 minutes each side until cooked.
• Blend the basil leaves with 4 tablespoons olive oil, 2 garlic cloves, lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon salt in a food processor or blender until smooth.
• Cut the tomatoes crosswise to 1/4" thick rounds.
• On an oiled baking pan or using parchment paper, arrange 4 eggplant rounds side by side. Spread 1/2 tablespoon of the basil-garlic mixture on top of each one, then generously sprinkle the cheese crumbs. Top each with tomato rings. Add another layer of eggplant, basil spread, cheese and tomato rounds and top with the rest of the crumbled feta. Make as many layers as you can. Usually, 1 large eggplant will make 4, 3 layer stacks.
• Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes until the tomatoes are wilted and the cheese is soft and melted.
• Enjoy!