Aubergine Schnitzel with Lemon Butter Beans and Caper Salsa Verde
Oh and it's my birthday!
Hey, welcome to School Night Vegan - so glad you’re here!
The recipe in this week’s newsletter is for paid subscribers, to say a huge thanks for supporting School Night Vegan! THANK YOU!
But guess what? It’s my birthday! So for the next week only I’m giving away free trials to my paid subscription tier. You’ll get instant access to this recipe (including a downloadable, printable PDF) as well as my entire recipe/newsletter archive.
Aubergine is the vegetable most likely to get forgotten in my fridge.
I hate to admit it, because I do bloody love an aubergine, but there’s something about the effort/reward balance of cooking an aubergine (or eggplant) that puts me off bothering. So this week’s recipe is all about trying to correct that. I’ve seen aubergine schnitzel recipes before, but they always seem to take bloody ages. One I saw last week required roasting for an hour before you even start frying! Am I likely to do this for a mid-week dinner? No chance poopy pants!
So instead, I’ve come up with a way to make sure that your aubergine is thoroughly cooked and tender as a dream, without taking flipping yonks to prepare. For protein, fibre, vibes and also yums, I’ve added lemon butter beans and the most zingly tingly little portion of caper salsa verde. As dinners go, this one’s easy af and so, so bloody satisfying.
It’s my birthday this week, so I’m going to keep this one brief since I’m very busy blowing out seven thousand candles (I’m seven thousand years old). But I want to let you know how grateful I am that you’re all here. I was number 41 in Substack’s list of rising food writers last week, which feels totally surreal, especially considering that this newsletter didn’t even exist this time last year. So thank you. Massively. I LOVE that you’re here for this.
OK, let’s do a quick update before diving into the Aubergine Schnitzel recipe! Here are some things that happened this week.
Weekly Wrap
I Cooked Loads of Food For My Friend’s Hen Do
A hen do is what we call a bachelorette party, here in the UK. My friend Kelly is getting married in September so we booked a massive villa outside Marseille in France for a bunch of us to have a fun long-weekend. I was self-appointed private chef and I took this role very seriously.
I baked a fresh focaccia every day, each time with different toppings from the local village market. Imagine living like this? like 365 days a year. Fresh French fruit, veg and legumes just flooding your fridge every day and all you have to do is figure out a way to bake/cook it?? Dream come true!
I Had My First Family Lunch Since Moving Up North
If you missed it, I just moved back up north (to Manchester) for the first time in over 20 years. All my family are based up here, so I’m getting to spend loads more time with them. Me, my mum and my sister are all obsessed with good food, and this was the first meal out we’ve had together since moving up north.
We went to Unagi, in Altrincham market, and absolutely smashed this spread. My crispy tofu poke bowl was a winner, but my stand-out was a can of sour beach Cho-lo! I love a sour drink, and most sodas are too sweet to hit the spot personally, but this one was spot on!
Dog Tax
Alright, enough about me! Here’s my sleepy girl before we head to that schnitzel recipe.
This Week’s Recipe
Aubergine Schnitzel with Lemon Butter Beans and Caper Salsa Verde
(With Downloadable PDF Version)
Don’t forget, this recipe is for paid subscribers, but I’m throwing a birthday bonanza which means you can trial two weeks of a paid membership for free! It’s only valid for a week, so be sure to sign up if you’re interested. You’ll get instant access to this recipe (including a downloadable, printable PDF) as well as my entire recipe/newsletter archive.
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