WHB: Eggplant and Goat-Cheese Sandwiches with Tomato Tarragon Sauce

As soon as I made this dish, I looked at the end result and thought, "It's a Whoopie Pie!"   As I dearly adore them, this added to the pleasure of eating this dish, so I'll always think of this as eggplant Whoopie Pie.  I enjoyed this recipe, as did my husband. However, he said that it reminded him of a souffle, and he's not crazy about them. So, he liked it, but it wasn't substantial enough for him. I loved it (I like souffles).  This was very quick to make. In fact, have everything ready because once you start cooking, it all goes like the wind. 

The dish has great contrasting tastes of sweet tomato sauce, crunchy panko crust, soft eggplant and creamy goat cheese.  The tomato sauce has the surprise seasoning of tarragon, rather than the expected sweet basil.   It adds a sweet anise flavor that makes the dish distinctive. Of course, you could substitute the basil, but I will always make this with the tarragon.  I offer this wonderful recipe for Weekend Herb Blogging, which was created by the amazing Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen.  This week WHB is being hosted by one of my favorite bloggers, Susan at Food Blogga. Go to her excellent site and see the Roundup of herby recipes by bloggers around the world.

This is a very fast, simple dish to make. Have everything assembled and keep a steady eye on the eggplant as you fry it. It browns  quickly, barely 1 minute per side.  I came periously close to having my skillet catch on fire when oil splashed onto the burner, as I laid in a breaded eggplant slice.  But, why not a little drama?   It was worth it.

I also made a few without the top layer of eggplant.  Delicious!

By the way, is it spelled Whoopee or Whoopie Pie?  (Because it's very important to know.)

Eggplant and Goat-Cheese Sandwiches with Tomato Tarragon Sauce

(Food & Wine)

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 cups fresh or canned crushed tomatoes in thick puree (one 28-ounce can)
1 teaspoon fresh tarragon
1- 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1 cup dry bread crumbs (I used plain Panko)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 eggplants, peeled and cut to make sixteen 1/2-inch-thick slices in all
4 eggs, beaten to mix
Cooking oil, for frying
1/2 pound mild goat cheese, such as Montrachet, cut into 8 rounds

DIRECTIONS
    1.    In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil over moderately low heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, tarragon, 3/4 teaspoon of the salt, and the sugar and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper.
    2.    Meanwhile, heat the oven to 350°. In a medium bowl, combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan, and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
    3.    Dip each slice of eggplant in the eggs and then in the bread-crumb mixture, coating well. In a large frying pan, heat about half an inch of cooking oil over moderate heat until very hot. Fry the eggplant in the hot oil, in batches, turning once, until golden and cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels.
    4.    Arrange half of the eggplant slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. Put a slice of goat cheese on top of each and then top with the remaining eggplant slices. Bake until the cheese melts, about 10 minutes. Put the sauce on plates and top with the eggplant.

Comments

[Kelly-Jane]

Oh my goodness! That looks sooooo good!

[Lisa]

I can't tell you how much I want to eat one of those right now. Talk about seriously good. And such gorgeous photos. Wow. And, another use for goat cheese, which I can get from a local producer so am always looking for new ideas.

What can I say? Another one to tag and make soon. Note to self: Get eggplant at the farmers' market tomorrow!

[Lisa]

Oh -- and the tarragon! As you may know, I adore that herb and am growing it.

This dish is making me SO happy.

[Tartelette]

Wow! This looks so good...Noticed that Tanna had made it and loved it so hopefully I can dish it up next week!

[Lannae]

OMG! That is very creative and yummy looking. If I were not on my "no fried food" diet, I would totally try making this.

[Elizabeth]

wow!now that is impressive presentation! fantastic! im just popping down the shops to pick up some eggplant...

[Lisa]

HOLY COW! I can't imagine this not being over the top delicious. And could you have made it any prettier? I think not! Just gorgeous, my friend. =)

I gotta wonder.. how do you think big slices of zucchini would work? I've got some monsters from our garden that I'd love to use up in a savory recipe while I'm waiting for my baby eggplants to mature. *swoon*

xoxo

[s'kat]

Wow- eggplant parm gone upscale! I'll take two, please!

[April]

I made these tonight. Y-U-M!

[Nic]

I made these last week. It was really, really good. The leftover tomato-tarragon sauce came in handy too. I tossed in some cauliflower florets, a couple of hand fulls of spinach and some garlic powder and it was great over ravioli. :)

[HBennet]

With eggplant being one of my favorite vegetables and tarragon my favorite herb and fresh young goat cheese, I will have to try this one and soon. Thanks for the posting!

[Terra]

What a fun, creative idea! These sound like a perfect dinner, lunch, or even snack:-) I love that you named them a "whoopie pie" so perfect! Take care, Terra

[Sara]

Oh my...I saw this on Pinterest and just made it tonight. I was literally speechless because it was so good. Even my 'meat-and-potatoes' boyfriend went back for seconds! Thank you so much! I can't wait to try more recipes from your blog.

[shellie]

I made this today and wow - it was so good!!!

[Jacy]

Just tried these tonight & highly recommend! AMAZING! Only thing I didn't have Tarragon on hand so used fresh Oregano....will definitely make again! Thanks for the great recipe.

[Grandma Barb]

This is one recipe I have to try.

[Rosaria Certo-Crimaldi]

It looks elegant and tantalizing...!
A brilliant idea to cook eggplants and to shape them as sandwiches..wow..!

[Monica]

Made this tonight, it was delicious! My fiancee loved it too! I served it with a salad. I haven't used tarragon before but it was good!

[Stacey Meyer]

This is the most delicious looking dish using eggplant I've ever seen and my family agreed! I pinned this recipe over a year ago and finally got around to making it. It is rich and delicious! But I think it's important to note that, while the instructions are simple, the execution is time consuming and not so simple.

Specifically, the frying was hard for me. You have to make sure your oil is really hot (hotter than you use to cook chicken for example) or your eggplant will get greasy. Too hot the oil burns or burns the outside of the food without cooking it and gives everything a blackish-gray color and burny flavor. If you are an experienced "fryer" (which I am not), the balance of hot but not too hot is probably second nature for you, but it's tricky.

I needed more breadcrumbs and not as much egg for my coating. Also, I had to guess at how thick to cut the eggplant, and since the recipe called for 2 eggplants, I figured the pieces need to be pretty thick so I cut them about 3/8" thick and I still had extra eggplant. I would recommend using only one good-sized eggplant and cutting the slices a little thinner. This will probably make frying faster and easier. I also drained the newly-fried eggplant on paper towels and used the towels to blot the excess oil from the eggplant, too.

The sauce is lovely and a perfect compliment to the rich, crunchy eggplant. I served it with a side of buttered spaghetti which also worked well.

My family loved it and it was decadent. Very yummy, but not a quick dish to make.

Thanks for sharing the recipe!