Eggplant Casserole with Orzo

I was busy with my photography business and getting material together for my film review column in Saathee Magazine, so wanted to put something together that would be fast and require minimal cooking. I preheated my oven to 425°F and took advantage of having frozen breaded eggplant slices on hand (available at Whole Foods Market). I sprayed a little extra virgin olive oil into a baking dish then put in slices (which were quite large) of eggplant, covering the bottom. I sliced most of a small onion into very thin slices and spread those slices atop the eggplant. I used two links of Field Roast "Grain Meat" [my quotes] Company's vegan apple sage sausage and sliced them into 1/4" rounds, and spread them on top, as well. I added a little bit of bottled mixed grilled vegetable bruschetta topping as well. Finally, I had leftover heirloom tomato and eggplant-tomato sauces that I had recently made and mixed together, and spread this sauce on top. I baked the casserole dish, covered, for about forty minutes.

In a saucepan, I made a simple orzo side dish by putting in rainbow (naturally colored with vegetables) orzo and four times as much water, as well as a cube of vegan bouillon, and brought to a boil, then lowered the heat and simmered, covered, for 10-15 minutes. The liquid should have been absorbed, but it wasn't and I drained off a little bit. I also served some raw slices of rutabaga - this is the first time that I've purchased this vegetable.

We loved the casserole! I don't take much credit, but chalk this winner up primarily to the breaded eggplant. The orzo was also good; I had wanted to zest some lime into it, but didn't have a lime.