I am powerless to shiny new food products at Trader Joe's. So when I recently spotted a melange of grilled eggplant and zucchini in the frozen food aisle, I bought a bag without any idea how I'd use it.
One night, an ideal sandwich came together. Happily burdened with leftover pistachio-infused goat cheese from some yummy stuffed dates I made, I dreamed up another Trader Joe's sandwich special.
I heated the grilled eggplant and zucchini, which even from freezer to microwave tasted deliciously chargrilled. Then, I lightly toasted a Trader Joe's whole wheat pita and spread on TJ's black olive tapenade.
After stuffing the pockets with the grilled veggies and spinach, I slathered on some goat cheese and melted it slightly in the oven. The resulting Mediterranean-flavored pocket was warm, hearty, and worth repeating.
Sometimes, I'm not sure what causes it, I'll have a very intense craving for a falafel wrap, and the Blue Front Cafe version hits the spot, particularly because the not too crunchy, not too soggy falafel sits on a bed of melt-in-your-mouth roasted eggplant and crisp cukes. I should not have eaten all of this, but I did.
I believe the best sandwiches are tied to childhood memories, and I love the story of my friend Hal's "Sloppy Jayne." He shared this photo of what is, to his knowledge, the only Sloppy Jayne ever made: leftover "Eggplant Jayne" served on a baguette and, according to Hal, best followed by Tums.
Eggplant Jayne is named for Hal's mother, Jayne Farrar Webre, who inspired the recipe. I'll let him tell the story:
The Eggplant Jayne recipe is as close I can come to her (only) way of cooking eggplant (of course, she didn't call it Eggplant Jayne and never used a recipe for anything). Mom was born in 1910 in rural Louisiana, so her cooking was good but not very adventurous. She was from the "cook it until it is unrecognizable" school of Southern cooking. Until we were grown, my brother and I thought that broccoli was always supposed to look like army-green mashed potatoes.
It really sounds like Eggplant Jayne was made to grace a sandwich, and Hal was nice enough to share the recipe. Get it now.
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