I have finally perfected eggplant parmesan!

Eggplant parm is a staple for me, and has been for about the last two years. One day I was at my mom's house and we needed something to fix for dinner but there wasn't a lot of food in the house. She did happen to have an eggplant though, and some shredded mozzarella, so we decided to try eggplant parmesan even though neither of us had ever had it before (I have no clue why she even had the eggplant). I ended up really liking it and have been making it ever since. I didn't do much differently this time, but for some reason it just all came together in the most perfect way.

When I make this I cut the eggplant into rounds and bake it, instead of breading and frying it. This has two upsides: it is MUCH easier and cleaner, and it's healthier. No gluten from the breading, no worrying about oxidized frying oil. I'm sure I originally did it this way to make it lower in fat, and while that isn't really my focus anymore, baking the eggplant is still a good idea. This recipe takes a little time, but it is super easy.

Eggplant Parmesan:
1 large eggplant
1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
2 C shredded mozzarella
2TBS shredded parmesan
1 clove garlic, minced
1 TBS each chopped thyme and chopped oregano
Olive oil, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes

First preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Then slice the eggplant into rounds. Use a sharp knife for this, it makes a world of difference. I think one of the keys to really good eggplant parm is uniformly thin eggplant slices. Lay the slices on a cookie sheet and drizzle both sides with olive oil and season both sides with salt and pepper. This is basically the same way I cooked the eggplant when making enchiladas.

While the eggplant is baking make the sauce. Saute the garlic in some olive oil over medium heat. Add the red pepper flakes (to taste) and let that hang out for a minute or two. Next dump the tomatoes into the pot, season with salt, pepper, and herbs, and turn it down to medium low to simmer while the eggplant is cooking. This is basically the same simple sauce I used for my sausage meatballs.

After about 20 minutes in the oven the eggplant should be done. It should look nice and brown before you take it out. The next step is to assemble everything in a casserole dish. I prefer to use a smaller one so I can get more layers in.

First put a thin coating of sauce on the bottom so nothing sticks, then add a layer of the eggplant rounds. Put more sauce on top of the eggplant, followed with a layer of mozzarella. The key to this is to make thin layers, if you put too much sauce or mozzarella the whole thing will come out too watery. Add another layer of eggplant, then sauce, then mozzarella until you run out of eggplant. Add the parmesan to the last layer of mozzarella. Put the whole thing back in the 400 degree oven, uncovered for about 45 minutes. Do not take it out before all the cheese on top is dark brown and bubbly. You could eat it earlier, but trust me, the crust is worth the wait. Also, the longer baking time makes the eggplant skin more tender. It can be really bitter and tough to cut, but if you cook it long enough it is soft and delicious. Here is what mine looked like:

Next, slice and serve! I cut this one into 6 squares. My husband and I both ate two squares for dinner and I had the leftover two for lunch the next day. This is really, really good leftover.

Mediterranean Salad

I haven't been cooking anything very exciting lately since I've been pretty busy, but I had some friends over for brunch last weekend and I thought I'd share this salad I concocted for the occasion. It isn't terribly seasonal, but it is delicious, and *gasp* vegetarian. I thought I might never post any vegetarian recipes on this blog, but I guess the time has come. 

Overall, this is ridiculously simple. I had some bocconcini in my fridge and wasn't sure what to do with them, but my first thought was Caprese salad. That didn't seem all that interesting so I added whatever other Mediterranean ingredients I could think of to get a wider range of flavors and textures. Over all I used 

3 cups of bocconicini, halved

2 pints of cherry tomatoes, halved (I used about one pint red and one pint heirloom variety)

1 cucumber, peeled and diced

1 can of artichoke hearts packed in water, drained and halved

1/2 cup Kalamata olives, halved

I dressed the salad with the juice of two lemons mixed with about 1/2 cup of olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin, cayenne, and about 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped basil. 

This salad is great leftover. After serving it for brunch on Saturday my husband and I ate it as a side with steak that night, and I've had it for lunch today and yesterday. For lunches I served it over some baby spinach, as pictured above.

I've never been crazy about olives, but I'm glad I put them in here. They add a nice salty kick and I think they are something I could definitely learn to like in small doses. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of cooking for a little while, but I don't know how hopeful to be. We are going on vacation in less than two weeks and for some reason travel always sucks away my ambition. We will see. 

Garden Update!

I am new to gardening, and when I started out about six weeks ago I had no clue whether or not I'd be able to grow anything, especially since I decided I wanted to start pretty much at the end of the growing season.

Well, it turns out that I'm doing ok! I've been able to keep almost everything alive. Nothing is growing like crazy, but like I said, it's alive. I'm counting that as a success for now.

So far the most problematic thing has been basil. I just can't seem it keep any alive. I tried in the pot out on the balcony, and in my kitchen window because I thought it might be too cold outside. I don't know if it's the temperature, or the sunlight level, or what but it just shrivels up and dies. Maybe I'll have better luck in the spring. Also I think that my husband's aunt may have bought us an AeroGarden for Christmas, so I'll keep my fingers crossed for that.

My biggest success has been the garlic. I had a bulb that I guess I had been holding on to a little too long and the cloves had begun to sprout. Instead of throwing it away I decided to stick it in the dirt and see if anything happened. I really wanted this to work because we eat a LOT of garlic, and because buying garlic from seed suppliers is really expensive. Well, it did work! All the cloves sprouted and now have really tall leaves. I'm so excited!

Anyway, here are some photos:

First is my cilantro and parsley. They have grown a bit, but don't produce as much as I'd like to eat. The basil was in the middle but I took it out. The little green shoot there is garlic.

sorry for the sideways picture

Next is the pot with rosemary, oregano, and thyme. The oregano and thyme are doing great. I really wish the rosemary would grow more quickly. I've almost just gone to get a bigger plant a couple of times now. In front of the rosemary is a bunch or garlic that is just going crazy.

The last pot has kale and lettuce. Neither of them has really done much, I think the container might be too small. I'm thinking about moving them into something bigger.

The compost is still going. I filled the bucket up a bit quickly, so I'm waiting for it to break down more before I add more scraps. So far it doesn't smell bad or anything.

My next move is to get some holders for these boxes so I can put them on the railing. I also want to buy or make some larger containers and start to prepare for spring planing. I should probably start thinking about ordering seeds as well. I'm excited and overwhelmed all at the same time. This tiny garden has been easy, but I don't want to fail when I try something bigger or more involved. I guess I still have a few months to figure it all out. 

Spaghetti Squash

Hello, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We roasted a duck and it was delicious. I used the leftovers to make a duck stock, and used that to make cassoulet. Not at all primal, but still delicious and a great holiday splurge.

Anyway, I still have some back-logged recipes to blog about. Another of my recent vegetable discoveries is spaghetti squash. I've never been a huge pasta fan, but I do really like some pasta sauces. Luckily this squash is a perfect vehicle for delicious sauce. I also wanted to write about this meal because I used leftover sauce and the rest of the sausage I bought for my mozzarella stuffed meatballs. I know meal planning is a challenge for a lot of people, especially two person households, because it's hard to think of ways to reuse the leftover ingredients so nothing goes to waste. This worked out to be a perfect way to use up what I had hanging out in my fridge.

Spaghetti Squash with Meat Sauce
1 medium spaghetti squash
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 C of carrots, chopped
1 link of hot Italian sausage
1/2 lb of ground beef
Red pepper flake, salt, pepper to taste
Left over tomato sauce (or 1 can of crushed tomatoes)
2 sprigs fresh oregano
Fresh basil and parmesan cheese to garnish

First, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Bake the squash for about 40 minutes. When it is done use a fork to separate the squash into strands that look like spaghetti. I did this part the night before because I knew I would be a little short on time the night I planned to eat this.

For the sauce, saute the garlic and carrots in olive oil over medium heat. Remove the sausage from the casing and add it in, along with the ground beef. Brown the meat and add the salt, pepper, and red pepper flake. Next add the leftover sauce (or crushed tomatoes) and let the sauce simmer for about 15-20 minutes. After the sauce is done just add the squash, mix it all together, and serve with parmesan cheese and basil.

The texture is different than spaghetti, but it is still delicious. I also find that the leftovers keep pretty well and make a delicious lunch the next day.

Thanksgiving Shopping

This weekend I went to the farmer's market with the goal of getting as much as possible of what I needed to cook Thanksgiving dinner later this week. It's just me and my husband this year, but we still plan on making plenty of food. So far here's our menu:

Butternut squash soup
Duck with pan sauce
Green Beans
Sweet potato casserole
Corn bread dressing (for my husband, I'm not a dressing fan)
Roasted potatoes
Pumpkin pie

I was able to get the squash, green beans, both kinds of potatoes, an onion for the dressing, and a sugar pumpkin pie at the farmer's market.

I also got some more delicious honey crisp apples, cauliflower to make a cauliflower puree for my husband's office Thanksgiving potluck, and some huge parsnips. This was the first time I've seen parsnips there and I was so excited, I love parsnips so much. So far there has still been a pretty good variety at the market, I hope in continues through winter. I've never tried this seasonal eating thing before and I'm afraid I'll get tired of the same old stuff by about the end of January. Hopefully it won't be a problem though.

Eggplant Enchiladas

I've been a bit lax about blogging recently, but I don't have to work this week so hopefully I'll have a chance to catch up.

As I've said before, after going primal I've missed Mexican food. I've looked for substitutes for tortillas before so I could make enchiladas again, but all the recipes I found used egg crepes instead of tortillas. I don't really like eggs, so that didn't work for me. I've always been a fan of eggplant parmesan and one day it occurred to me that if eggplant could work in place of pasta, why not in place of tortillas? So I tried it out and as far as I'm concerned, the eggplant works great.

Eggplant Enchiladas:
1 large eggplant, sliced
3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 cups chicken stock
2 TBS tomato paste
1 TSP each cumin, coriander, paprika, chili powder, cayenne
2 TBS chopped cilantro
1 14oz can tomato sauce
1 clove of garlic, chopped
dash of cinnamon
2 cups of shredded cheddar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Slice the eggplant into disks, lay them on foiled cookie sheets, drizzle both sides with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. They should look like this:

Bake the eggplant for about 15 minutes until it's browned and soft enough to be pliable. When it's done it should look like this:

While the eggplant is in the oven cook the chicken and the sauce. Put the thighs in a pot with the stock and simmer at medium heat until the chicken is cooked through (around 15 minutes). When it's done shred the meat with two forks and mix in a bowl with the tomato paste, cilantro, and spices. Add a little of the cooking liquid to keep the chicken moist.

For the sauce sautee the garlic in a pan with a little olive oil. When it's browned add the tomato sauce and season with salt, pepper, and the cinnamon. Simmer until everything else is done and you're ready to assemble the enchiladas.

To make the enchiladas first spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a casserole dish to keep everything from sticking. Then take a slice of eggplant and place 1-2 tablespoons of chicken in the center, roll the eggplant and place it in the pan seam side down. Keep lining up the enchiladas until the pan is full. Here is my dish about halfway full:

When the pan is full pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas. Top the sauce with the shredded cheese. Put it all back in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly.

Enjoy!

I was so excited about eating I forgot to take a picture before I served myself.

Jambalaya

I love jambalaya and a box of Zataran's used to be dinner on nights I didn't feel like doing much. I loved pretty much all of the boxed rice mix type things. Turns out those aren't very good for you, too processed and so much rice. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with rice, I just don't want to eat so many carbohydrates in one sitting. So, like the fried rice I posted about before, I substitute shredded cauliflower for rice in this recipe. It is really delicious and it's easy to feel good about eating it because it is almost all vegetable.

Cauliflower Jambalaya
3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into bite sized pieces
2 (about a pound) links of smoked sausage (I used kielbasa, but this would be great with andouille) cut into  bite sized pieces
1 small green pepper
2 cloves garlic
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
4 springs of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
Cayenne pepper, to taste
1 head of cauliflower, grated in the food processor
Half a bottle of beer
2 C of chicken stock

First, dice the pepper and garlic and saute in some olive oil (if you want to add onions or celery you should do so now). After they have softened and become aromatic, add the chicken and sausage and let them brown for about 5 minutes. Next add the tomatoes, bay leaf, cayenne, thyme, and salt and pepper. Let that come to a simmer and add the shredded cauliflower. Put in the beer and chicken stock. The liquid should come to just the top of the cauliflower. After it all comes to a simmer just put a lid on it and wait for about 10-15 minutes and then it's ready. Overall, this is much quicker than normal jambalaya because the cauliflower cooks much more quickly than rice. It ends up a little more soupy, but it's still delicious.