Tag Archives: eggplant

eggplant with yogurt dressing and za’atar – somebody’s comfort food

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eggplant with yogurt dressing and za'atar

As I was preparing this baked eggplant with yogurt dressing from the newest edition to my happily growing cookbook collection, Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi, I was chuckling thinking about a conversation that I had a couple of days ago with co-workers.

eggplant with yogurt dressing and za'atar

We were reminiscing about comfort food from our childhoods. At first we were a little tentative to expose some of the wild combinations that to this day we continue to secretly crave. However, once we discovered that we’d all grown up on macaroni, hamburger and tomato casserole, the proverbial food gates opened! Kraft pizza was at the top of everyone’s list. Every household had their own combination of toppings. Mine was hot dogs and processed cheese slices. We were trying to create the illusion of a pepperoni and extra mozzarella!

eggplant with yogurt dressing and za'atar

Potato pancakes were served with apple sauce in some homes and molasses in others, fried bologna pronounced bah-loney sandwiches slathered with cheese whiz, macaroni and Campbell’s tomato soup…random quickly made cheap food that when push comes to shove ends up on our ‘top favorite food to eat’ lists.

eggplant with yogurt dressing and za'atar

I was eleven years old before I had ever seen a tossed salad. Lettuce was something that I picked off my sandwiches. One night, Mom placed a bowl of chopped up iceberg lettuce with sliced cucumbers and tomatoes in front of me and then passed me a bottle of Catalina salad dressing. I was fascinated with it’s beautiful shade of red and the tangy sweet aroma. It was love at first bite! I had yet to learn the art of tossing the vegetables to coat them in the dressing.  I was all about drowning my salad. I needed a spoon to eat it!

eggplant with yogurt dressing and za'atar

My fascination with food began in a very simple kitchen with very simple ingredients. Yet, as I was preparing the dish for this post, I realized that although my ingredients appear more sophisticated today, this is a very simple Middle Eastern dish. The only thing that’s changed with respect to my kitchen is the availability of foods. The produce aisle is over flowing with treasures from around the globe.

My kitchen is still creating comfort food but now it’s from all over the world.

eggplant with yogurt dressing and za'atar

EGGPLANT WITH YOGURT DRESSING AND ZA’ATAR       adapted from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

2 Japanese long eggplants
¼ cup olive oil
2 tsp lemon thyme leaves, plus a few whole sprigs to garnish
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pomegranate, seeded
1 tsp za’atar

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Cut the eggplants in half length-ways, cutting straight through the green stalk.
Make a criss-cross design in each eggplant half , without cutting through to the skin.
Place the eggplant halves, cut-side up, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Brush them equally with olive oil until all of the oil has been absorbed by the flesh.
Sprinkle with the lemon thyme leaves and some salt and pepper.
Roast for 25 minutes or until the flesh is soft and the topped is nicely browned.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool until slightly warm.

DRESSING

2 tablespoons buttermilk
1/3 cup Greek yogurt
1 tbsp olive oil, plus a drizzle to finish
1 small garlic clove, crushed
Pinch of salt

Mix well.

ZA’ATAR

4 teaspoons dried lemon thyme leaves
2 teaspoons ground sumac
2 teaspoons sesame seeds toasted
½ teaspoon sea salt

Place ingredients in a mortar and pestle and grind to a powder

To serve, spoon yogurt dressing over the eggplant halves. Sprinkle with za’atar, pomegranate seeds and garnish with lemon thyme. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil.

THE LOVE: It’s not easy to find dried lemon thyme. I grow it in the summer time then dry it for winter use. If you can’t find it, you can easily substitute regular thyme.

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Thanks for reading.

stacked ratatouille with whipped pesto-laced chevre

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finished veg



Moments of divine inspiration come rarely when the mind is busy. My brain is busting!

quad

Menus for a local food festival, Valentine’s Day and our new winter menu have me dreaming in pasta technicolor. And yet, despite the food chaos swirling around in my head,   this new vegetable and cheese appetizer popped to the top.

stacking

I had an overdue birthday dinner for two of my girlfriends this past Monday and really wanted to do something extra special, given that I was about eight weeks late! I had already figured out the main and dessert but I needed something beautiful to start. The girls love chevre and pesto so at least I had somewhere to begin.

parm

I wanted rich, crispy, creamy with a little spice. I could have done pizza except I was serving a pasta for the main course and I didn’t want the double starch. Fish is always at the top of my list for starters but I had a non fish eater so that killed that! I was leaning towards a salad but the idea of a cold salad on a blustery winter’s night wasn’t cutting it either. As I was walking through the green grocer’s, the magic happened. Eggplant, peppers, zucchini and tomatoes stacked beside each other waiting for me to turn them into – you guessed it – ratatouille! Except I didn’t want a french vegetable stew…

knives

Rather than stew everything, I did a little roasting, a little frying, a little whipping and then I restacked. Lo and behold an appetizer was created that overshadowed my birthday dinner tardiness. The girls loved it!

roasted veg

STACKED RATATOUILLE WITH WHIPPED PESTO-LACED CHEVRE

Serves 4
Preheat oven 350*F

1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut lengthways into 4 pieces
1 small eggplant, cut 4 ½ inch rounds
2 vine-ripe tomatoes, cut in half horizontally
2 small zucchini, cut in half then cut length ways to make 8 slices

Place peppers and tomatoes on a parchment lined baking sheet, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper and roast for ½ an hour.
Sauté the eggplant and zucchini in a griddle pan until soft but still holding their shape. Make sure that you use enough olive oil to thoroughly cook the eggplant

2 ounces mild soft chevre, at room temperature
1 tablespoon pesto
Enough heavy cream to make the chevre light and whipped – about 2 tablespoons

Place chevre, pesto and 1 tablespoon of heavy cream in a small bowl and whip with a hand mixer. Add more cream as necessary.

THE SAUCE:

1 – 14 ounce can pezzatoni [diced plum tomatoes in thick tomato puree]
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
¼ teaspoon dried chili flakes

Heat oil in a small skillet over medium high heat then sauté garlic for 1 minute
Add pezzatoni, salt, pepper and chili flakes, bring to a boil then remove from heat.
Place in a blender or small food processor and puree until smooth
Return to skillet and reheat just before serving.

PARMESAN WAFERS:

1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

Divide the grated cheese into 4 equal mounds on a parchment lined baking sheet. Spread the cheese out to make 4 inch circles. Bake for 5 minutes then allow to cool completely.

TO ASSEMBLE:

1 ounce mozzarella, shredded
1 ounce fontina, shredded

Starting with the eggplant, alternate the vegetables with a little shredded cheese finishing with the tomato. Place in oven for 6 minutes or until cheese has melted. Meanwhile spoon 1 tablespoon of reheated sauce in the middle of each serving dish. Place 1 vegetable stack on each plate. Top tomatoes with Parmesan wafer and a dollop of whipped chevre.

THE LOVE: it’s CRITICAL THAT YOU TAKE YOUR TIME FRYING THE EGGPLANT AND THAT YOU USE LOTS OF OLIVE OIL. aLSO, i USED rEGGIANO pARMIGIANO WHEN i MADE THE pARMESAN WAFERS…

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Thanks for reading.

lasagna for snowmobilers

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winter lasagna

If you’re anything like me, after a week of indulging in large stuffed birds, racks of meat and buckets of seafood your tummy needs a break. Starting every Christmas eve straight through to New Year’s day, it’s seven days and nights of feasting in honour of the holidays – that’s as good a reason as any! I try to watch my portions but turkey, beef and seafood in any quantity becomes an internal belly workout when eaten in daily succession.

winter lasagna

Last night, I hit the wall. Ignoring my carnivorous husband still salivating for anything roasted, as long as it’s protein based not including tofu, I reached past the lamb shanks and headed straight for the vegetables.

When I food shopped for our trip to the farm, I anticipated this moment. It happens every year! Also, knowing I would want to spend as much time as I could playing in the snow, hold on to your hat, I bought pre-made fresh lasagna sheets. I did. They are thicker than I like, true, but not so thick that I was willing to trade an hour of snowmobiling for an hour of pasta making. So with my slightly thicker than I would like commercial pasta, an eggplant, a long red sweet pepper, fresh thyme, garlic, some ricotta, fresh mozzarella and a can of pezzettoni, a new winter lasagna was born. Pezzettoni is canned diced Italian plum tomatoes in a thick puree which can pick up at most Italian grocery stores.

winter lasagna

It’s quick, fresh tasting and completely unorthodox. I didn’t make a sauce. I spooned the tomatoes straight from the can. I’ll give you a second to pick yourself up off the floor. You’ll have to trust me that once in the oven the flavours melt together and produce a stunning new twist on the lasagna your mother made. Not necessarily better, I know how protective we all are for anything our moms make, just different and definitely delightful after all that meat.

winter lasagna

Winter Lasagna

serves 2

preheat oven 375*F

extra virgin olive oil

8 – 1/4″ thick slices eggplant

1 red sweet bell pepper, seeded and sliced thin

3 sheets oven ready fresh pasta

1 cup ricotta, drained

1/2 cup Parmigiano, shredded

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, leaves picked

1 clove of garlic, crushed through a garlic press

1 – 28 ounce tin pezzettoni

1 – 8 ounce ball fresh mozzarella, cut into 16 slices

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Place eggplant slices on a plate and sprinkle liberally with coarse sea salt. Allow to sit for 1 hour to extract any bitter juices.

In the meantime, saute pepper slices in 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil until just tender – about 5 minutes then set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine ricotta, grated Parmigiano and slightly beaten egg until well mixed – set aside

Once the hour is up, pat the eggplant slices dry with paper towel and remove salt

Place a heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat and warm 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Once the oil is hot, gently fry the eggplant slices until golden on both sides – set aside.

Using a baking pan slightly larger than I sheet of pasta and 2 ” deep, cover the bottom with 1/3 of the pezzettoni. Sprinkle 1/2 of the picked thyme leaves, ground black pepper and half of the crushed garlic over the tomatoes.

Place a sheet of fresh pasta over the tomato mixture.

Cover the pasta evenly with the eggplant then sprinkle with the sautéed peppers.

Cover the vegetables with 8 pieces of fresh mozzarella

Next a layer of fresh pasta evenly covered with the ricotta mixture.

Another layer of pasta covered with remaining tomatoes

Sprinkle with the rest of the fresh thyme leaves, ground black pepper and crushed garlic

Finishing with the remaining 8 slices of mozzarella

Place lasagna in preheated oven until browned and bubbly – about 35 minutes

Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before serving.

THE LOVE: Putting your lasagna dish on top of a baking sheet while it’s in the oven will save your oven from a possible mess! And of course making your own pasta would knock it out of the park!

winter lasagna

Thanks for reading

One year ago: meatloaf for a chef

whale bone turkey

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Inviting friends to the farm to spend the day with us is always my opportunity to play around with new recipes. Sometimes it works - sometimes not so much!

The turkey looks good doesn’t it? I made a gorgeous herbed oil with garlic, jalapeno, parsley, tarragon and rosemary and basted it every twenty minutes while it roasted on the rotisserie which I have done a kabillion times before. The culinary angels were not with me. The turkey was as dry as whale bone.

As long as you chewed really well, the turkey was palatable and could be ignored because of the just picked vegetable side dishes. I served slow roasted field tomatoes with fresh garlic and variegated oregano, steamed green string beans and sugar snap peas sautéed in garlic and EVOO.

Happily the afternoon snacks were worthy of our friends investing their Saturday in my cooking skills. I’ve been playing around with different flat breads ever since Mom and I had lunch at Jamie’s Italian in Oxford, England in 2009. It’s my OCD. I get fixated on a dish that I taste somewhere and then have to try to recreate it. Ralph has been forced to eat the same dish six nights in a row!  Saturday, I nailed this Italian ‘music’ bread. I used pink Australian sea flakes and sesame seeds – I would have preferred black sesame seeds – to embellish the crackers and then served them with bacon marmalade. [recipe to follow in next post]

Baba Ganoush is a standard summer time dip at the farm. It’s one of those dishes that I never make the same way twice. The bar-b-cued eggplant leaves itself wide open to any and all sorts of flavour enhancements so I can use whatever is on hand. This one was chalked full of garlic, lemon, fresh flat Italian parsley and cilantro.

Baba Ganoush

4 small eggplants

1/4 cup tahini (roasted sesame paste)

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

1/8 teaspoon chile powder

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped

1 tablespoon cilantro leaves, chopped

Preheat the bar-b-cue to 375*F

Prick each eggplant a few times, then char the outside of the eggplants by placing them on the grill, turn until the eggplants are uniformly charred on the outside

Reduce grill flame and continue cooking eggplant an extra 20 to 30 minutes, until they’re completely soft

Remove from grill and let cool

Split the eggplant and scrape out the pulp. Puree the pulp in a food processor with the other ingredients until smooth

Chill for a few hours before serving

Serve with crackers or bread

The moral of the story is don’t sweat it when some part of your menu flops. Entertaining is as much about filling your guest’s spirit as it is about filling their belly.

Thanks for reading

Sicilian Eggplant Stacks on Labour Day Weekend

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Without a doubt, eggplant is my favorite vegetable. I made a valiant attempt at growing it this summer. To date, I have only seen lovely little purple blossoms and given that it is September 1, it is not likely that I will be picking eggplant from my garden.

While I was in Halifax last week, I made a pit stop at Pete’s Frootique in Bedford and found some gorgeous Sicilian eggplant. When Ralph and I were in Sicily, every trattoria that we ate at had their own version of eggplant parmigiano and eggplant Norma on the menu. I adored every bite that I took!

This recipe is rustic at it’s finest! The eggplant is fried in olive oil until soft and buttery on the inside and a little crispy on the outside. The Italian plum tomatoes are hand ripped. The fresh mozzarella is sliced thick and the basil is left whole. The result is fantastic!

It’s Labour Day weekend – the end of the summer . This dish is a perfect, decadent way to celebrate everything that is wonderful about summertime.

Sicilian Eggplant Stacks

serves 4

preheat oven 400*F

1 Sicilian eggplant, sliced 1/2″thick – typically the eggplant should be salted to draw out the bitterness but I skipped this step and the result was perfect.

28 oz can best quality imported Italian plum tomatoes, ripped open by hand

1 ball fresh mozzarella, sliced in half then each half sliced in 1/4″ slices

hand full of fresh basil leaves

1 clove of garlic, thinly sliced

extra virgin olive oil

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.

Place enough eggplant in hot oil to make one layer.

Fry eggplant until golden brown then turn over and repeat until second side is golden – add additional olive oil if necessary.

Repeat process until all of the eggplant is golden brown – set aside.

In a shallow casserole dish, alternate a slice of eggplant, a ripped open plum tomato, a sliver of garlic, a basil leaf and a slice of mozzarella – make 2 stacks and repeat until all of the ingredients have been used up.

Pour the remaining liquid from the tomatoes around the base of the stacks.

Place in oven and bake until liquid is bubbling and cheese is melted and browned on top – about 30 minutes

Remove from oven and allow to set up for 5 minutes before cutting.

Garnish with sea salt and serve.

Thanks for reading.