With my daughter being a Pescatarian, I’ve been forced to get out of my comfort zone of relying on roast chicken and bolongnese sauce, and really think about how to make vegatable dishes interesting on a daily basis.  I bought two Japanese eggplants at the farmer’s market.  With this gorgeous silky purple, I wanted to play with it and give the eggplant an Asian twist.   Right off the bat, I wanted to subsitute olives with mushrooms; be it portebello or shitaki.  I loved the briny olives with the eggplant in my previous rendition (did you?), and mushroom seemed to me to give my dish a different, meaty, and earthy taste that could be delicious.  While at the market, I spotted sugar snap peas at the end of their summer season.  I quickly grabbed two handfuls (before they disappeared!).  Then into the basket came another two handfuls of bean sprouts, a bunch of scallion, some Thai chili.  As I reached the cashier, I felt hopeful with the vague idea of what I was about to prepare.  Here is what I came up with. We enjoyed it immensely and I hope you do, too!

EATS: Asian Noodle with Eggplant, Portabello Mushroom, Bean Sprouts, and Sugar Snap Peas

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 Japanese eggplant, sliced long (see picture below)
• 1 Portabello mushroom, sliced long (see picture below)
• 2 handfuls of sugar snap peas, cut diagnally as shown in the picture above
• 2 handfuls of beans sprouts, with the ends cleaned off by hand (I know it’s tedious, but trust me, the crisp, crunchy texture of the bean sprouts after you twist off the limp, watery ends is well worth it!)
• Olive oil
• Sesame oil
• 2-3 tablespoons almond butter (or Peanut butter, whichever you prefer)
• 2-3 tablespoons of light soy sauce
• Thai chili, as much (or little) as you like; I used 5-6
• 1.5 handful of Chinese noodle
• 3-5 scallion, sliced both white and green parts length-wise

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450°F.  Toss sliced eggplant and Portabello with 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil and really get in there and massage them to make sure that the they are coated.  Season with salt and pepper.  Roast until eggplant and mushroom are tender, about 20 minutes.
• While the eggplant is in the oven, blanch the cut snap peas and the bean sprout in batches.  You want to just barely place the veggies in the boiling water, and immediately take them out and place them in ice cold water.  This will ensure that your veggies are cleaned, but still crunchy.
• Whisk together 3 Tsp of sesame oil, 2 Tsp almond butter, and 3 Tsp of light soy sauce in the serving bowl.  Keep mixing until the sauce is smooth.
• Cook the noodles al dente; drain well and mix it into the almond soy sauce.  You want the noodles to be a bit warm so they will better absorb the flavor of the sauce.  You can drizzle with more sesame oil or soy sauce to taste.
• When they are out of the oven, mix in the egglplant and the mushroom.
• Toss in the sugar snap peas, the scallion, the bean sprout, and the Thai chili!
• Garnish with Thai basil if you have it.
• Enjoy!!