7 Easy Recipes From Farmers to Your Table

Eggplant “Sandwiches”

From: Romero Farms, Dixon, New Mexico

For 20 years, Matt Romero was an executive chef at a number of renowned restaurants in Colorado and New Mexico. Now he supplies professionals and home cooks alike with more than 75 kinds of vegetables. Among his best sellers at the Santa Fe Farmers Market: eight types of eggplant, including a slender Japanese variety (“Great for grilling,” says Matt) and a striped Indian kind the size of a golf ball (“Good to throw into curries”). Moving from the kitchen to the farm was natural, says the father of three: “I wanted to follow my dream—and get home in time for supper with my kids.”

Looking for a new way to make a vegetarian sandwich, Matt got the idea to replace the bread with fried eggplant. Knife and fork are optional. “It has just enough crispness that you can hold it in your hands,” he says.

Get the recipe for Matt Romero’s Eggplant “Sandwiches”