Eggplant tips from Just Food

Eggplants are versatile and delicious. When cooked, they become tender and have a rich, complex flavor. They work wonderfully as meat substitutes in vegetarian recipes and are staples in Asian and Mediterranean cuisines. Here are some fun dishes to try this summer. 

A perfect picnic food for hot August days, this grilled eggplant and chickpea salad recipe is minty and refreshing.

 

Or dress up a simple green salad with eggplant with mushrooms like in this recipe.

 

Want an alternative to hummus and salsa for your next party? Try this creamy dip of eggplant and caramelized onions. 

 

If you like Indian food, you'll love making this curry with a coconut milk base.

 

Here's a vegetarian eggplant quesadilla that makes for a fun and easy weeknight dinner. 

 

Finally, these lentil, spinach, eggplant patties will make a great vegan option at your next barbecue. 

If you've kept your eggplants in the fridge for a bit, they may have gotten bitter. Counteract this by slicing, salting, rinsing, and then pressing them between paper towels before cooking or grilling.

Eggplant of the Maharajas...

Well, almost. Pretty close. My maharaja liked it, anyway! We all believe what we believe for the reasons we believe, and I absolutely believe that I spent at least one lifetime on the Indian subcontinent. Though I've not yet visited India in this lifetime, I am filled with a sort of hiraeth whenever my nose catches the scent of black cardamom or I pass a sari shop. From my first bite of saag paneer when I was in college, I've been hooked on the rich and infinitely varied culinary traditions of Indian cuisine. I have books. Oh, I have lots of books. Some better than others, and thanks to the goodness of the internet, I now have one particularly AWESOME BOOK. And in this awesome book, Cooking Delights of the Maharajas: Exotic dishes from the princely house of Sailana on page 153 there is a recipe for the humble eggplant or "brinjal" as it is referred to in this book. And it rocks! I've made some tweaks, baking instead of frying and whatnot, but the basis is there and it's so so so so delicious! And eggplant is not really my bag. So here goes. The ingredients have been somewhat modified and converted from grams, so you won't need to convert them. Don't tell Prince Digvijaya Singh.

Baked Baghare Baingan

Things you will need:

A blender, preferably one that fits a mason jar. (Yep, you read that right!)
One or two oven safe baking dishes

Ingredients:
Approximately 3-4lbs Eggplant
1/3 Cup Grated Coconut (unsweetened)
2 tbsp Tahini OR Sesame seeds
1 and 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
1 and 1/2 tsp Molasses
1 and 1/2 tbsp peanut butter
a pinch of salt
2 small dried red chili peppers
1 and 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp tumeric
1 black cardamom pod
Approximately 2 inch piece of fresh or frozen ginger
4 cloves of garlic
2 tsp Yellow split chickpeas/Chana Dal
A sprinkle of garam masala powder
Water
1/4 cup olive oil (vegan) or ghee (non-vegan)
Tamarind sauce (3 tbsp or to taste)


Step 1: Wash the eggplants and split them in quarters, leaving the stem intact. They should appear whole, but with deep cuts.

Step 2: Place the coconut, tahini, cumin, molasses, peanut butter, pinch of salt, dried red chilies, coriander, tumeric, black cardamom, ginger, garlic, yellow split chickpeas/Chana Dal, the sprinkle of garam masala and a bit of water, maybe 1/4 cup, in the jar of a blender, or in a mason jar that fits your blender.

Blend until smooooooooth!

Step 3: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Stuff the eggplants and place them in an oven safe cooking vessel.

(At this point in the process, I realized I had way more stuffing than tiny eggplants, but, you know, it's that time of year, so I had more in my fridge and got it ready. I adjusted the quantity of eggplant accordingly in the list of ingredients. I used little roulade holder thingies to keep the larger eggplants together. You could also use string. )


Step 4: Once all the eggplants are filled and arranged in the oven safe dishes, put any remaining stuffing over the eggplants. Then, put the olive oil, tamarind sauce and enough water in the jar to release the sticky left over stuffing goodness, and shake it up. Pour this mixture over the eggplant.

Step 5: Bake in 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly and fragrant. You'll know when it's done, because your whole kitchen will smell amazing and your salivary glands will be going crazy. Allow to cool slightly and serve hot with naan, rice, yogurt, or whatever your imagination deems a worthy accompaniment.

 Enjoy!

From Kirk's Kitchen

You can find variations of this easy summer squash soup around the internet that add herbs like thyme or basil, but I kept mine pretty simple, and it still came out delicious. I used a couple of the massive squash we get for this, and it makes a lot of soup!

1 onion

4 garlic cloves

2 large squash

4 cups broth

1 lemon

olive oil

hot sauce

Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil. Add chopped squash, and saute some more. Add broth, and simmer for 20-25 minutes or so. You can vary the amount of squash/broth to desired thickness. Transfer to blender. Bring back to pot. Add juice of 1 lemon and bit of hot sauce. Enjoy warm or cold.

More CSA Member recipes

If you want amusing, sassy, well-written blog entries, then beg our member Terina Westmeyer to write more often.

This is purely utilitarian, passing along 4 delectable recipes that satiated the palate CSA member Lisa Gomez.

1) Quinoa tabbouleh recipe that puts all those cucumbers to good use: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/quinoa-tabbouleh-2

2) Buffalo Cauliflower, made from two week's worth of Zaid's heirloom, organic, possibly orange crop, and described by Lisa as "AMAZING!": http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Buffalo-Cauliflower/Detail.aspx?evt19=1&referringHubId=2436

3) Jamaican-style cabbage, because let's face it we all need ideas about how to use one head of cabbage per week (mostly so my own family doesn't have to eat slowly sautéed cabbage with bacon or coleslaw for the rest of the summer!): http://www.sweetjamaica.co.uk/jamaican-steamed-cabbage-recipe/

4) Summer Vegetable Tian- squash the piles of squash in your fridge.  Lisa has yet to try this so let us know how it is in the comments section: http://www.budgetbytes.com/2011/08/summer-vegetable-tian/

And one more from me while I am at it...

5) Cauliflower Say Cheese- I have never seen Good Eats, but definitely have a man-crush on Alton Brown.  I added stewed organic chicken and a can of low-sodium cream of mushroom soup to this recipe and served it over noodles (the girls demand pasta several nights a week; only occasionally can I trick them into eating vegetables!): http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/cauliflower-say-cheese-recipe.html


I find recipe ideas enormously helpful to enjoy our weekly CSA veggies.  Share yours via the Google Group email or submit them for blog posting!
-Nick Napolitano

Fennel Gratin, A.K.A. "Why I will swap you for fennel 6 days a week and twice on Sunday."

In response to multitudinous fennel queries, I present here to anyone interested, my fennel obsession.

Full disclosure: I write this well-knowing I may be acting against my own self interest. Such is my love for you, soon to be fennel appreciators. When you realize how simple and delicious this method of preparing our bulbous anise scented friend is, I will surely have a harder time convincing you to relinquish to me your fennel for a mere pair of bell peppers. But, my joy in sharing the good news of tasty fennel outweighs my loss.

Things you will need:

2 and 1/2 to 3 medium sized Fennel bulbs
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea Salt
1 Lemon
A pot of Water
Approximately 3/4 cup freshly Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
A broiler safe shallow baking dish

Fill a medium to large pot with water and add to it the juice of one lemon and a pinch of sea salt. Bring it to a boil.

While the water is heating up, slice off the end and fronds of the fennel bulb and toss them into your stock bag for later use in vegetable stock. (Or put them in the compost, but that's a crime in my kitchen!!!) Then, slice the fennel bulb in quarters, and then in eighths, taking care to cut out any large bits of hard pithy core, but leaving enough intact to keep the layers securely together.

(Image below is my stock bag. It lives in my freezer.)

When the water has achieved a rolling boil, add the fennel pieces. Allow them to cook until just fork tender, probably around five minutes, but I'm not one for watching the clock.

Pour about three tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in your broiler safe shallow baking dish. (Mine is vintage Descoware, shout out, hey Descoware Fan Page!!) When the fennel is fork tender, remove the fennel pieces and arrange them in the baking dish.

Pour an additional 3 tablespoons of olive oil over the fennel pieces and cover with the freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Turn on your broiler to high and place the dish under the broiler until the cheese is golden and bubbly. Alternatively, if you are already cooking something in your oven at 375 degrees, just toss the fennel gratin in the oven along with it until the cheese is golden brown and bubbly.

Drool. Allow to cool slightly. Serve warm, if it even makes it to the table. Enjoy!!!!

When life gives you cucumbers, make Kimchi!

Six pounds of cucumbers is a daunting responsibility, but life is ultimately about how you use what you've got. Last Thursday, conversation around the cucumber bin inevitably turned to the topic on all of our minds: What to do with all of these cukes?! Someone mentioned cucumber kimchi and a plan was hatched. Lizz and I, with the moral support of Dan and baby Irie, had our first kimchi play date! We gathered in her ample kitchen to prepare both cucumbers and cabbage for the traditional Korean fermentation process, which in the 90+ degree heat will likely happen rather quickly. We used recipes from the book: Kimchi: A Natural Health Food slightly modified to accommodate our shrimp allergic needs. We subbed in kelp knots run through a blender and hydrated in a bit of water for any fermented shrimp requirements. So far, so good. Several important lessons were learned, however. The first lesson, never ever ever grind red peppers in a blender completely dry. Especially not with a fan running. Thanks to Lizz's quick thinking, no eyesight was lost, no lungs caught on capsicum fire, and no one died, but it was a close call.  Coughing and weepy eyes did ensue, but airborne red pepper powder is no match for a mother's instinct and almond milk. Whew! The second lesson learned, is that kimchi making is an activity conducive to bonding and allowing. While we chatted in the kitchen, forging new layers of friendship, baby Irie and her papi had some quality bonding time, and even got to go to the park together by themselves, while mom allowed herself to trust that everything would be just fine. The third, and possibly greatest lesson learned is that cucumber kimchi is friggin' delicious!