Open Baked Aubergine & Goats Cheese Sandwich

I'm like Joey in Friends.... I  LOVE sandwiches. I would live on them given half the chance. I'm not talking about finger print flat ham and cheese triangles though, they go in the Food Hell bin for me. No; I'm huge lover in artisan sandwiches, particularly Mediterranean ingredients such as roast peppers, feta, parma ham etc.

I'm always trying to come up with new combinations to keep things interesting. Flavour and health are my main concerns. The sandwich needs to have bags full of flavour to start! The sandwich also needs to be healthy and low fat! That is a big concern for me.

This aubergine & Goats Cheese sandwich on a wholegrain bagel ticks all the boxes for me. You'd hardly call this a recipe even, it's just a sandwich i hear you say! This is one of those weekender sambos that you make for your girlfriends when sharing gossip from the night before; or a sambo for a working lunch appointment at home. The spread is used is my homemade hummus. This is much healthier than mayo or butter; and a lot tastier.

So without further jibber jabber, here's how I made my Open Baked Aubergine & Cheese Cheese Sandwich.

Serves 1

Ingredients

• 1 wholegrain bagel, halved (your can choose which ever bread you prefer though)
• 2 tbsp of hummus
• 1/4 of aubergines, cut into 6 thin rounds
• Low cal cooking spray
• Salt/pepper
• Lemon juice from 1 lemon
• A few sprigs of thyme
• 6 thin slices of goats cheese (pasteurized if pregnant)
• Soon lettuce leaves to serve.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
2. Place the aubergine rounds on baking paper, toss in lemon juice, salt, pepper and thyme, and spray with low cal spray.
3. Allow the rounds to bake on the tray spread out, for 20 minutes.
4. Toast your bagel halves
5. Top each round of aubergine with a slcie of goats cheese and continue to bake for a further 5 minutes.
6. Spread the hummus over each half of bagel and top each slice with 3 aubergine and goats cheese rounds.
7. Use soon lettuce as a garnish and if you have some balsamic glaze, it's nice to squeeze some glaze over the sandwich; otherwise top each piece of goats cheese with some balsamic glaze, very sparingly.

Note: here's a link to home made hummus on the blog: http://serenasmediumrare.blogspot.ie/2012/12/dips-n-chips-for-christmas-drinks.html