Eggplant and Bread Cassarole

Today calls for comfort food.  Not because it was a particularly awful day, although it was mildly inconsiderate, but because it's a "me" night tonight, meaning that Preston went to the foot ball game rather than bringing the football game to our house, via the TV.  So it's just me, well, me and my book, the two short stories I'm working on right now and one very anticipated Eggplant and Bread Casserole. 

I have had my eye on this recipe for a few weeks now.  I proposed it as a dinner dish last week and it was vetoed by the husband.  At the time, I presented it as Eggplant and Bread Lasagna, which I myself find a little hard to handle.  I remember that Pres called my vegan mac and cheese a casserole before, so I'm banking on the hope that the same thing will apply to this dish, plus the fact that I made it while he was out. Call it vegan and it's not so appetizing. Suddenly, it's a casserole. Suddenly, it makes sense!  No need to scrunch your eyebrows as to why there is no meat in the lasagna.

*I wrote the above paragraph before I tried the casserole.  Now, after I have devoured two servings, I have no doubts that this dish will be the second very close friend that I've found on my dairy/egg free journey and that Pres will have no reservations at all.  It's amazing.

This recipe, originally for Rustic Eggplant and Bread Lasagna on VeganYumYum, is a little more time consuming that my average recipe, yet I found myself consumed by it, diving in to get everything ready at the same time, ditching the garlic because mine was not so fresh, adding a cheez sauce and spinach at the last minute and topping with okra rather than tomato slices, because, well, I used all my tomatoes in the sauce.  My only regret is that I should have used more spinach and much, much more okra. 

I differentiated from the main VeganYumYum recipe by replacing half the canned tomatoes with fresh cherry tomatoes and in the layering of ingredients, I added a layer of cheez sauce spooned on top of the bread slices and a thin layer of sauteed spinach sprinkled on top of the eggplant, so it goes like this:  tomato sauce, bread, cheez sauce, eggplant, spinach, continue. top with panko bread crumbs and okra, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  The cheez sauce soaks into the bread, and kind of glues everything together.

I know, I know.  the okra is not so pretty placed like that, even if it tastes so, so good.  I've already picked it all off and eaten every bit.  Maybe next time, I put a full layer of okra under the breadcrumbs, or two layers within the casserole.  Hmm...

The cheez sauce is based on a recipe from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook, the newest in my collection, and is found as a component in a recipe for three cheese lasagna.  My version of it goes a little something like this.

Mix the following ingredients in a blender until smooth:

1 cup cashews

1/4 cup macadamia nuts

1 cup water

1/3 cup nutritional yeast flakes

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

3 tbsp tofutti sour cream

2 tsp sugar

3 tbsp tahini

2 tbsp cornstarch

2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp salt

Enjoy!