Grilled Vegan Sausage - Eggplant Sandwich with Tahini, Potatoes O'Brien

We had another late day; I had a photo shoot in Chapel Hill and didn't get home till well past 9p. Luckily, I came up with an idea that proved fast, tasty, and interesting. I remember back in my graduate school days that I came up with a tasty late night snack idea of toasting slices of sesame semolina bread, then spreading tahini, a little fresh onion, and a few drops of hot sauce. Tahini goes well with eggplant, as in baba ganouj, and I had purchased yesterday some graffiti eggplant.

So, what I did tonight is sliced the small eggplant into four slices maybe 3/8" thick. My wife and I don't like foods that resemble meat, but a notable exception is products from the Field Roast Grain Meat Company. We love their apple-sage artisanal vegan sausage - and it is non-soy, which is great since my wife and sometimes I can't easily digest tofu. I took one of the sausage links and cut it into half, then thirds. I sauteed the eggplant and sausage over medium-high heat.

Incidentally, for the past week or so, I've opened a new bottle of olive oil from Chile. I've never used Chilean olive oil, but it makes sense that it would be good, as, along with parts of California, Australia, southwestern South Africa, and, of course, the Mediterranean itself, Chile has a Mediterranean climate. I like this oil very much, but my favorite (so far!) is a Greek brand that Whole Foods Market sells, each bottle hand-numbered.

Sauteeing eggplant isn't the best way to prepare it, as it soaks up oil, so I had to add more oil several times. Once the sausage was brown and the eggplant light brown (maybe 5 minutes), I added a bit of widely cut onion and several 1/4" sliced bell pepper slices. I served on toast with tahini on the bottom and a dollop of ketchup on top. I also cooked some prepared frozen potatoes O'Brien. It was a good dinner!