Recipe: Pomegranate-Glazed Eggplant with Tempeh, Butternut Squash, and Ricotta Salata

Here's the real scoop on what no one is going to tell you before you start your PhD.

Picture yourself a first year grad student, all starry eyed and naive and thinking that you're going to do experiments! And they're going to work!! And you're totally going to find a cure for {cancer/diabetes/Alzheimer's/lupus}!!! And it's going to be SO.AWESOME.!!!!

Then you start this seemingly endless task of doing experiments that don't work or trying to repeat other people's work (only to realize that no one in science actually does good science and so those experiments don't work either), all with the hope that someday, this elusive someday, everything will come together and you'll actually contribute something to the field that you can point to and say, "Yeah, I did that" and then brush your shoulders off. Just a little.  Jay Z-style. No biggie.

And about one and a half years in, someone will come to you and say, "Hey! You need to take a qualifying exam to see if we'll give you the privilege of doing this to yourself for the next 3-5 years."

Uhhhh, what now?

And of course, somewhere inside that hardened, jaded shell of yours, is still that naive first year who hopes that she's going to change the world.  And so, against all odds and rational thought, you say YES. Of course I'll spend a whole week making a powerpoint presentation and worrying endlessly and will just speak to myself for 48 hours straight about Rab proteins and GLUT4 translocation and the insulin signaling pathway even though my voice is already sore from {still} trying to hack up a lung every hour."  And then, as a last minute resort, you may or may not stay up until midnight baking brown butter snickerdoodles to bribe sweet-talk thank your committee with.

Yup, that's where I'm at right now.  It's not pretty.



But, this pomegranate-glazed eggplant with tempeh and butternut squash and ricotta salata is!

It was seriously the one bright spot in my otherwise masochistic Sunday.  The tart-sweet glaze is just perfect atop the caramelized awesomeness that are the roasted eggplant, squash and tempeh.  And then there's ricotta salata on top which is totally the icing on the cake. I'm newly obsessed with it.  But if you can't find it...feta or goat cheese would be awesome here also. Just saying.

I would serve it atop some kind of grain or with a piece of naan (which is what I did)...or you could just eat half the batch in one sitting. I won't judge.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go talk to myself some more.  And hope that by 5pm today I'll still {officially} be a PhD candidate. Fingers/eyes/toes crossed!!

--

This is the ELEVENTH week of our 12 Weeks of Winter Squash, which I'm cohosting with the lovely Heather of Girlichef!  If you happen to have to cooked up anything with winter squash in the past or coming week, then definitely feel free to link up!!




Pomegranate-Glazed Eggplant with Tempeh, Butternut Squash and Ricotta Salata
Serves 4, adapted from Super Natural Every Day

Ingredients asdf
1 small eggplant (8 oz), cut into 1-inch chunks
8 oz tempeh cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 winter squash, peeled and diced
Grated zest of 1 small lemon
1 tsp fine-grain sea salt
3 medium cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/3 cup pomegranate molasses
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup crumbled ricotta salata (or feta)

Instructions asdf
Preheat the oven to 350 with a rack in the middle of the oven.
Mound the eggplant, tempah, squash and lemon zest on a rimmed baking sheet.
Start making the glaze by sprinkling the salt over the garlic. Chop and smash the garlic into a paste using both the flat side and blade of your knife. Combine the garlic paste in a bowl with the red pepper flakes and pomegranate molasses. Whisk in the olive oil. Drizzle three-quarters of the glaze mixture over the ingredients on the baking sheet. Toss well and arrange in a single layer.
Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, tossing everything at the 35-minute mark, until the eggplant and squash are soft and starting to caramelize.
Drizzle with the remaining pomegranate glaze, sprinkle with the cilantro and ricotta salata, and serve.