Cooking Lesson 4/Eggplant Up-Side Down

Vegan Eggplant Up-Side Down:serves 82        Large Eggplants1/4    cup olive oil1        medium onion, chopped1        16-ounce diced tomato with juice1        clove garlic1 1/2  cup Basmati Ricesalt and pepper to taste1/4    cup toasted pine nuts, optional-Dice one eggplant into 1/2 inch cubes and place in a bowl.  Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of olive, toss and place on a cookie sheet.  Broil the eggplant until golden.  Take out of the oven and set aside.-Slice the other eggplant  lengthwise into 1/2 inch thick slices.  Place on a cookie sheet, brush with olive oil and broil until golden.  Remove from the oven and set aside.-In a medium heavy cooking pot, heat the rest of the olive oil and saute the onion until transparent.  Drain the diced tomato and add them to the onion.  Measure the tomato juice and add more water until you have 3 and 1/4 cup of liquid.  Add the tomato juice water to the pot, the garlic, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.-Add the cubed eggplant and the rice.  Stir and bring back to a boil.  Cover and cook over very low heat for 15 minutes.  Turn off the heat and allow the rise to rest, covered, for 10 minutes.-Line a bundet cake with the eggplant slices, spoon the rice pilaf into the lined bundet cake and press gently.-Place shallow serving platter over the bundet cake and gently but fast turn the dish up-side down.-Remove the cake pan, sprinkle with pine nuts and serve.Tomato Cucumber Saladserves 42        medium tomato, diced4        small cucumber, diecd6        scallion, diced1/2   fresh fennel, diced1       cup cooked garbanzo beans1/4   cup lemon juice4      tablespoons, olive oilsalt to taste-In a salad bowl, toss all the vegetables gently. Whisk the lemon juice with olive oil and the salt. Drizzle over the vegetable and toss until well coated.