White Bean Puree and Grilled Eggplant Sandwich

        A few weeks back I made a pot of white beans. It was the first time I had cooked white beans from dry beans, and I wasn't totally crazy about how they had ended up. They were a little underdone and I just wasn't thrilled by their flavor. All the same, I ended up freezing close to five cups of them. I knew that I didn't want to use them whole again so I was trying to think of ideas with what to do with them. I decided that I would make a puree out of them and possibly turn them into a sandwich. I make hummus all the time, so I figured making a white bean puree would probably be about the same so I researched a few white bean puree recipes online to get an idea on flavor profiles and then took to the kitchen.
       For the white bean puree I used about two cups of white beans, three garlic cloves, salt, pepper, the juice of one lemon, and some olive oil, which I then pureed until smooth. I added a little bit more salt after the first run and then pureed it again.

I also grilled some eggplant in the way that I enjoy best. Lots of chopped garlic mixed with low sodium soy sauce and olive oil and coated each eggplant piece on both sides. I heated up my panini press, which I also double as a grill, and grilled off all of the eggplant.

Then it was time to put together the sandwiches. I sliced some tomatoes, washed some arugula and baby spinach, and got out the balsamic. To put this together I sliced some ciabatta bread in half, slathered bean spread on both sides, added balsamic to one of the sides along with some fresh basil leaves, topped that with the grilled eggplant, sliced tomatoes, and fresh greens. After putting this together it went back into the press to be heated through.

DELICIOUS!