Grilled Eggplant Panini

I'm still randomly trying to catch up on all of my belated posts and of course still trying to catch up on all of the recipes posted in my cooking groups first session. Mind you this is the fifth week of the second group, I'll get caught up eventually.

So this was the final recipe for the first session of the cooking group and it was posted by my friend Kristy, check out her cooking blog - she's funny & sarcastic and that's why I like her! Plus she makes good food & cool aprons. How's that for a plug?!?! She chose a grilled eggplant panini and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked it.

First I'd like to toot my own horn, check out those grilling marks on that bread. Yep, that's right the husband wasn't home so I manned the grill all by myself - the first time ever too! Don't even tell me that it's pretty hard to mess up grilled bread and eggplant either, allow me to bask in my joy for awhile. Small steps people........

I did change a few things about the recipe, but those were primarily because of person preferences. No onions, because if you don't know by now I'm not a fan - at all. I also didn't add the roasted red pepper because I didn't have any and sometimes I don't like them, this was one of those times. I forgot how I was supposed to cut them and ended up with half moon shapes, which worked pretty well. It didn't say to peel the eggplant, but I think I should have. Lastly, I used Texas toast which is superb on the grill.

As mentioned above I really wasn't sure I would like this, but wanted to give it a shot. I like eggplant, but it's one of those foods I can't think about or I get creeped out by it. I know I'm strange. But I did end up liking it a lot and will probably make it again next summer when the eggplant crop is in season. The brother & husband said it was good, but I don't really think they liked it much. Much of their eggplant ended up on the plate & the husband added ham to his sandwich.

I served the sandwiches with *gasp* frozen French fries, which I think I've finally figured out how to make them taste better. The key is to let them partially defrost then add some seasoning. I used a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and some Italian spices (garlic, basil, oregano, parsley, rosemary & Kosher salt). They were delicious and didn't taste like frozen fries at all.