Sandwich week day 2: Baked eggplant, tomato and avocado

Breakfast: Scrambled tofu with asparagus

Lunch: Baked eggplant, tomato and avocado sandwiches with cream of leek and potato soup

Dinner: Veggie pasta with marinated artichoke hearts and peas

For a lot of people, making vegetarian or vegan sandwiches is more difficult than it might be, because they were brought up, as I was, eating ham sandwiches or those made from leftover turkey breast. It makes you think that only things meaty can be put between bread.

Of course, even when we realise this isn't true, a purely salad-y sandwich can still feel a little lacking to some. And therein lies the beauty of this sandwich: the thick slices of baked eggplant are dense enough to feel a little like meat slices without being dead animal. Hooray!

The key to taking this sandwich into the stratosphere is to get some great vegan pesto. I was lucky enough to find some vegan kale and oregano pesto the day I made this, and I can't even begin to describe how good it was. This vegan mint pesto could also be fantastic!

You'll need:
(Feeds 2)

4 thick slices wholemeal bread
1/2 a large eggplant, cut into 4 slices
1 large tomato, sliced
1 avocado, sliced
good quality vegan pesto
black pepper
a little oil

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius
Arrange the eggplant slices on a baking tray and drizzle with a little oil
Place into the oven for 20 minutes, flipping the slices half way
After 20 minutes, remove from the oven
Assemble the sandwiches like this: bottom slice, layer of pesto, eggplant slices, tomato slices, avocado slices, black pepper, layer of pesto, top slice
Cut in half and serve with a green salad, or wrap in foil and take for lunch

Eggplants (or aubergines, if you're British) are rich in potassium and can help lower high blood cholesterol. Combine this with the B-vitamins in avocado and the antioxidants of tomato, and you've got yourself a nutritionally dense sandwich that will leave you feeling great as well as full!