Twigs, Leaves, and Grass: Eggplant Parmesan

I'm never quite sure what to do with eggplants when I buy them. They usually get turned into baba ganoush, but this eggplant called for something a bit more colorful. I decided to make a vegan Eggplant Parmesan. My husband was hesitant about it at first, since he has had some bad experiences with eggplant in the past, but he loved it, especially the cashew cheese sauce.

I have trouble with tomatoes because of reflux, so I substituted bell peppers for the tomatoes you normally find in Eggplant Parmesan. In addition, this is gluten-free and can be soy-free if you use chickpea miso. I baked the eggplant instead of frying it.

Eggplant Parmesan with saffron rice. The rice is from a box I found on sale since saffron isn't something I keep around my kitchen.

Eggplant Parmesan

1 medium eggplant, sliced into 3/8-1/2 inch rounds
1 red bell pepper, halved and seeded
1 green bell pepper, halved and seeded

1/2 cup water
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 cup raw cashews
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup roasted pumpkin seeds
1 1/2 tsp miso
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast

Preheat broiler on your oven. Place eggplant and bell pepper halves on a cookie sheet. Broil for 5 minutes, then flip over pieces and broil for another 3-5 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 400F. Lightly grease a large cake pan, then arrange the eggplant in a single layer on the bottom of the pan. Slice the bell peppers and lay them on top of the eggplant rounds.

Cashew cheese sauce - Put the water, nutritional yeast, cashews, lemon juice, onion powder, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour cashew mix over the peppers and eggplant.

Pumpkin seed Parmesan - Place pumpkin seeds, miso, and nutritional yeast in a food processor (I use a mini processor for small quantities like this) and pulse until a fine mixture forms. Sprinkle the pumpkin seed mixture over the vegetables.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until the cashew cheese is bubbly and the pumpkin Parmesan is lightly browned.