Sweet Potato-Seitan-Eggplant Casserole

I was thinking of doing something with sweet potatoes, perhaps cooking them with onions as opposed to baking them. Then I thought that maybe I would boil them till they were mostly cooked and briefly then saute them with onions and seitan.

What I ended up doing was making a casserole that came out much better than I had expected - we loved it. I cut 2 sweet potatoes into large chunks, maybe 2" long and 3/4" thick and boiled till the flesh was softened just enough to be able to gently penetrate with a knife - a surprisingly short time of maybe 8 minutes - then I drained them. In the meantime, I briefly sauteed seitan cut into matchsticks maybe 1 1/4" long and 1/4" thick, with thickly sliced sticks of shallot; after a few minutes, I put some fresh rosemary needles in. I also briefly sauteed some breaded eggplant.

I greased a casserole pan with the some herbed oil, then put in sweet potato chunks followed by the seitan/shallot/rosemary. On top of one half side (the side I'd eat), I added a little vegan Mozzarella "sheese" (from Bute Island Foods in Scotland), then put a layer of the eggplant, and drizzled a little more of the herbed oil, then baked at 375 degF for about 20 minutes.

I also put a little of the herbed oil along with a cube of vegetable bouillon in the water with rice in my rice cooker when I prepared Lundberg Farms Black Japonica short-grained black and medium-grained mahogany rices - the oil added a lot of good flavor. A salad rounded out dinner.

Tonight was supposed to be the last night of my cooking class, but many had to miss tonight. I postponed to next Tuesday and hope that most will be able to make that class.