Eggplant Burgers Simmered in a Tomato, Mushroom, and Wine Sauce
Why I Love This Recipe
Ingredients You'll Need
1 medium eggplant
2 carrots
2/3 cup oatmeal
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 small onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)
salt and pepper
olive oil for frying
Tomato, Mushroom and Wine Sauce
olive oil for sauting
2 cups of baby portobello mushrooms, or your favorite kind of mushrooms, destemed and sliced
1/4 cup red wine
2 (8 oz) cans of tomato sauce
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 cup minced parsley
salt and pepper
Combine:
1 lb egg noodles (or your favorite broad noodle)
minced parsley
more parmesan (optional)
Directions
Peel the eggplant and carrots. Cut the eggplant into 1 inch cubes and chop the carrots. Boil the vegetables in salted water (or steam) until tender, about 10 minutes.
When the veggies are done, drain them and press out any extra water. Put in a mixing bowl and crush with an immersion blender. You could also use food processor but you don¡¯t want to completely puree the veggies, just rough them up a little bit.
To the veggies add the onion, garlic, oregano, parmesan (optional) and salt and pepper to taste.
Shape the mixture into burgers (or ¡°meatballs¡± if you¡¯d like) and dust with more breadcrumbs. The Li¡¯l Sis recommends the meatball or flat burgers shape so they become proportionately more crisp outside to juicy inside.
Heat the olive oil over medium high heat and brown the burgers for a few minutes on each side, until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel.
Tomato, Mushroom and Wine Sauce:
While the burgers are cooking you can start the sauce: saute the sliced mushrooms in the olive oil for a few minutes until soft.
Add the wine a cook for a few more minutes to reduce and then add the tomato sauce, oregano and parsley. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.
Gently add the cooked burgers and simmer in the sauce for a few minutes until reheated.
Putting it Together: Cook the noodles.
Assemble a pile a of noodles. Top with a burgers and ladle over some extra sauce. Sprinkle with parsley and grated parmesan if you¡¯d like.
Makes excellent leftovers.
