Sesame Roasted Eggplant with Lemon-Sesame Rice Pilaf

This month's SOS Kitchen Challenge ingredient is sesame seeds. I had all sorts of ideas running around in my head. Even voiced a few, but as I was thinking Sesame-Eggplant Hummus would be great the idea for this recipe popped into my head. I had been wanting to try roasting eggplant again ever since I utterly failed at the endeavor when I lived in Mississippi. In fact, I hadn't done anything with eggplant in the almost seven years since. This summer I picked up eggplant at our local farmer's market several times as an experiment. I did well. I got daring, and that is how my entry came about.


Sesame Roasted Eggplant with Lemon-Sesame Rice Pilaf

4 small finger sized eggplants
2 Teaspoons sesame seeds
olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, and brush or dump olive oil to cover the pan. (Note: I tend to dump about 2 Tablespoons.) Sprinkle sesame seeds on pan. Place sliced eggplant on top. Place in oven and bake for about 15 minutes. Drain on a wire rack. (More information can be obtained here.)

1/2 Cup long grain rice
3 Teaspoons sesame seeds
1 Teaspoon minced dried onion
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Cup vegetable broth
1 1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice

Saute sesame seeds and dried onion in olive oil until slightly brown. Add rice, vegetable broth and lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook for 10-15 minutes. Liquid should be fully absorbed. Fluff rice with a fork. Serve warm with slice roasted eggplant.

Notes: The eggplant is a bit on the sour side, but still tasty. The rice is very good, but a little crunchy. I would probably add another 1/4 Cup of vegetable broth. I added a bit of parmesan cheese before microwaving the leftovers this morning (yes breakfast), and that actually I think completes the dish.