I took this Crispy mustard roasted chicken recipe from Ina Garten as inspiration and made this eggplant. Same basic idea, but eggplant instead of chicken, and I made some other changes as well. Cooking for me is often doing a variation on a theme.

Shallowly pan fried then into the oven for a bit. We had already eaten 3 pieces when I decided to take this picture.

So I made this completely different dish. This eggplant was salted and laid out on paper towels to remove the excess moisture, and yes I was keenly aware of how precious those are right now. #stillapandemic

I’ve been making dressings using pickle juice, so I decided I would use a mixture of wine and pickle juice with a sweetish swedish mustard from Ikea (because I somehow have no grey poupon!). I also added Greek yogurt because it’s my business. [Shout out to Tabitha Brown.]

I mixed the panko with thinly shredded fresh parmesan cheese (~2 to 1 ratio) and some garlic powder. I have no quantities, but I used/would use Ina’s measurements as a rough guideline.

In the mix I had yogurt, pickle juice, white cooking wine, mustard, salt. I dipped the slices of eggplant in and then pressed firmly into the panko mixture. I coated both sides, and don’t worry about the skin. With just enough oil to almost cover the pan I fried the slices on medium heat until brown on both sides and then placed into a 350° oven to continue cooking for a bit. I had to replenish the oil a few times, in which case let the oil heat up again before adding the next round.

To say this is a vegetable dish is both absurd and sublime. Absurdly truthful, and sublimely ridiculous. The wife ate two helpings and didn’t even want a red sauce accompaniment which was offered. She doesn’t mostly like vegetables on the whole. Win!

All that remains…