2 summer vegetarian dishes with one sauce: Rich Roasted eggplant and Lentil-Kale Delight

The original recipe (which I cannot remember if I found on Pinterest or online, can't figure out my phone's browsing history, arg!) dressing is for eggplants plus bell peppers, if you're just doing eggplants probably only need 2-3 tbsp of dressing. But I found it also works nicely on other veggies or I think could make a great lettuce salad dressing too. 

This first recipe will be the best if you can bbq your eggplants in a metal basket to avoid heating up your house, but you can use your oven also. 

Both recipes are eaten cold and are therefore considered by me to be wonderful on a hot, El Paso summer day. 

I will always first remember kale as a decoration in the salad bars that we would use at the dining hall. At the end of the night we would collect them in buckets to be used another day if they weren't wilting yet. Now they are such a trendy food. 

See the little serving of eggplant above the sammie?

Recipe #1 Rich Roasted Eggplant Salad 

Ingredients: 

• 2 Italian egg plants (the big bulbous ones, rather than Japanese or other Asian varieties that are longer. Probably fine to use them but just increase the quantity). Makes about 4 servings. 

Dressing for eggplants (or Lentil and Kale salad)

• ¾ cup of vinegar
• Cumin 1 tbsp
• Salt 1.5 tsp
• Pepper 1 tsp
• 5 roasted garlic cloves-(cooked with the eggplant)

Optional: Toasted nuts. I did about ¾ cup toasted pecans (toast 5 minutes on 300F or on a pan over low). Let cool then break into small pieces to sprinkle on eggplant just before serving

1. Tuck in the garlic cloves whole with the roasted cubed (about ½” pieces) eggplant tossed in olive oil (about 2-3 tsp) in baking dish in a single layer at 400 for 30-40 minutes stirring every 10 until very tender and pieces shrunk to about 1/3 of their original size.

2. Pull out the garlic cloves when soft enough to be easily pierced by a fork. Place dressing ingredients in a blender. Whizzzzzle around until smooth. 

3. Toss with dressing (again try it with just 2-3 tbsp and see how it tastes) and stick in fridge for at least 1 hour to let flavors marinate. Save the rest of your dressing for another meal. Add nuts to each person's serving if you think there will be leftovers so nuts remain crispy. 

Could probably make this more hearty by adding some kind of a bean for protein. Chickpeas perhaps? I went nicely with Liz's tomato-white bean-basil soup (dairy free) and grilled cheese (yay bread maker to have myself a gluten free version).

Recipe #2 Lentil and Kale Delight: 

It will still heat up your kitchen since a pot is boiling 40 minutes.

Allow yourself 40-50 minutes to cook the lentils. It makes enough for about 6 servings.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of dried brown lentils (rinsed and sorted for any stones)
• 1 bundle of kale (any kind, I used the curly version)-rinsed and cutting off the leafy part from the stem. Curly kale steam is very tough usually, you may save it for making a soup stock or compost it. 
• 2 tsp coconut or olive oil

1. Put lentils in a medium pot covered with water (about 3/4 full). If you have a lid with a steam hole, use it. If not just check the beans more often.

2. Drain lentils once they are tender enough (about 40-50 minutes). Check about every 10 minutes to see if more water needs to be added.

3. Prepare the kale by tossing it with 2 tsp of olive or coconut oil and 1 tbsp of lemon juice.