Vegetable Stew

I hadn't made this recipe in probably ten years and then suddenly woke up one morning with a craving for it. I don't know what vital nutrient I'm lacking that would account for such an atypically healthy craving. I just labeled it a happy anomaly and went with it. I have to stay, it was a nice change of pace not to feel guilty for indulging myself. And after a walk to the farmer's market (where I was delighted to find every vegetable on my list), I came home and whipped up a batch of this hearty stew that totally hit the spot. Really, I swear (again, I can't explain it).

VEGETABLE STEW

Yield: 6 large servings

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (or 5 tablespoons olive oil)

2 medium onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 medium potatoes, cut into small chunks

1 eggplant, diced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 stalk broccoli, cut into tiny florets

3 carrots, sliced
3/4 cup burgundy (or other red wine)
2 medium-small zucchini, cut into chunks
2 large (or 3 medium) ripe tomatoes, diced
¼ lb. sliced white or cremini mushrooms
6 oz. tomato paste
¼ cup molasses (unsulfured)
1 teaspoon dried dill weed

sour cream (optional)

freshly chopped parsley (optional)

1.      Melt the butter or oil in a large stew pot.  Add the onions, garlic, potatoes and eggplant and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Sauté until potatoes begin to get tender.

2.      Stir in the celery, broccoli, carrots and wine. Cover the pot and steam until all vegetables begin to get tender, stirring occasionally.

3.      Add zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms, tomato paste, molasses and dill. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender (stirring occasionally). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4.      Serve hot, topped with sour cream and freshly chopped parsley.

slightly adapted from Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen

onions, garlic, potatoes and eggplant in pot

starting to get tender

adding celery, carrots, broccoli and wine

added vegetables getting tender

adding zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms,
tomato paste, molasses and dill

mixed

about 25 minutes later...vegetable stew

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Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant parmesan is one of my favorite all-time dishes...when it's done right. I've had some truly terrible ones. Sometimes it's the sauce that's horrible. (Don't get me started on Italian restaurants that don't have a decent sauce. I mean, come on, it's in like half the dishes. If the sauce sucks, so does practically everything there.) But more often it's the eggplant itself. There's the undercooked eggplant, which is totally inedible (the texture is nasty). There's the super oily eggplant, which is just gross. I've even had dried out eggplant that resembles shoe leather. So I think if you have a good sauce and you cook your eggplant correctly, your eggplant parm will be decent. If you want to go the extra mile, spring for really good quality cheese and add some fresh basil...then you might pass decent and make it all the way to excellent.

 EGGPLANT PARMESAN

Yield: 8 servings

2 to 3 medium eggplants (about 2 ¼ lb.), sliced ½” thick

2 cups all purpose flour (lightly seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper)

4 large eggs, beaten with 1-2 tablespoons water

3 cups plain breadcrumbs (lightly seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper)

extra-virgin olive oil as needed for frying

1 ½ quarts homemade Rao's marinara sauce

1 ½ lb. shredded (or thinly sliced) mozzarella (preferably buffalo mozzarella from Italy)

16 basil leaves

1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano

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1.      Place eggplant slices in a large colander and sprinkle generously with kosher salt. Toss and let sit for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 ½ hours. Rinse well with cold water to remove the salt and drain. You can skip this entire step, but I think it improves the texture and removes some bitterness.

2.      Heat roughly 1/4” oil in a large, heavy skillet. Dredge the sliced eggplant slices in the flour, shaking off the excess. Dip in egg mixture, then breadcrumbs. Fry the eggplant until golden brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels.

3.      Heat oven to 350º F.

4.      Coat the bottom of a deep 9- x 13-inch baking pan with about 1/3 of the marinara sauce. Add a single layer of eggplant. Sprinkle with half the parmigiano-reggiano, half the basil (tearing the leaves as you go) and 1/3 of the mozzarella. Repeat the layering process (starting with more sauce). Top with the remaining sauce and mozzarella.

5.      Cover and bake for 20 minutes until cheese is melted. Let sit for 5 minutes. Serve hot.

eggplants

salted eggplant slices

dipping in flour

dipping in egg

dipping in breadcrumbs

frying

Make sure the oil is nice and hot (the eggplant should sizzle
when it hits the pan). Otherwise the eggplant just sits there
soaking up oil. That's how you get greasy eggplant parmesan.

eggplant layered over marinara sauce

I had enough slices that I could tear
up a few and fill in some of the gaps

sprinkled with parmigiano-reggiano and basil

topped with mozzarella
(I prefer buffalo mozzarella, but you can use regular.)

I continued layering, but forgot to take a
photo of the uncooked finished product...

...but here's the baked eggplant parmesan

sliced, in the pan

I also forgot to take a photo of a piece on a plate,
but I found a photo from the last time I made this,
so that's what's up at the top of the page.

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Baingan Bharta (Roasted Eggplant Salad)

I'm not surprised they call this baingan bharta because it's totally bangin'. It might not look pretty (at least not this particular photo), but it's scrumptious - creamy, spicy and smoky. I can't help but compare it to baba ganoush and sorry baba g., but baingan bharta wins, hands down. If you make it for a party, be sure to have enough because you'll want to pull yourself up to the bowl and keep it all to yourself. It's so good, you'll find yourself craving eggplant (when was the last time you said that).

BAINGAN BHARTA
(ROASTED EGGPLANT SALAD)

Yield: 4 servings

2 large eggplants

1 tablespoon sesame oil (or peanut oil), plus more for eggplant

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (or peanut oil)

1 medium white onion, finely diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 small serrano pepper, seeded (if you want less heat) and minced

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves and soft stems, minced (plus more leaves for garnish)

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin, plus more for sprinkling

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cups Greek yogurt, beaten until smooth

1.      Heat oven to 500º F.

2.      Line a baking sheet with foil. Make 3 slashes in each eggplant, from top to tail, equally distanced around the eggplant. Rub the eggplants with a little sesame oil. Sit them on the baking sheet and roast until soft all the way to the center and the skin is brown, about 45 to 60 minutes, rotating the pan and flipping the eggplants halfway through. Remove from the oven and cool.

3.      Once cool, skin the eggplant. Chop the flesh until it's relatively smooth but not mushy.

4.      In a large skillet, warm the sesame oil and vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the onion and saute until it turns golden brown. Add the eggplant flesh, garlic, chile and cilantro leaves. Cook 2 minutes. Add a splash of water if it begins to stick.

5.      Add the turmeric, cumin, and 2 teaspoons of salt. Stir and cook another 5 minutes.

6.      Turn off the heat. Add the yogurt and stir to combine. Taste for seasoning, and garnish with cilantro leaves and a sprinkle of ground cumin. Serve either warm or slightly chilled.

barely adapted from Aarti Sequeira

raw eggplants

roasted eggplants

roasted eggplants (skins removed)

chopped roasted eggplant

raw onion

golden brown onion

adding eggplant, garlic, chile and cilantro

mixed

adding the yogurt (spices already mixed in)

baingan bharta

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Mediterranean Eggplant and Barley Salad

For those of you with a green thumb (mine is usually more of a dull black & blue), this is a great recipe to use all that bounty overflowing from your garden. It must be a challenge to use all those fresh vegetables, which are probably all maturing at the same time, before they go bad. I'm assuming this because people with gardens are always giving away their crops with a big smile that smacks of desperation. They don't want to see their harvest wasted, but if they have to eat one more zucchini, they'll lose it. So this recipe is also for the family, friends and neighbors of those gardeners...do them a solid and turn their crops into a nice, hearty vegetable salad (of course if you do, they just keep bringing you more). I guess you can always buy them a canning set for their birthday and see if they take the hint.

MEDITERRANEAN EGGPLANT AND BARLEY SALAD

Makes 5-6 (main course) or 8-10 (side dish) servings

1 1/2 lb. eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

3/4 lb. zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

10 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup chopped scallion (from 1 bunch)

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne (to taste)

1 1/4 cups pearl barley (8 oz)

2 ½ cups (20 oz.) reduced-sodium chicken broth

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1/2 lb. cherry tomatoes, quartered

1/3 cup Kalamata or other brine-cured black olives, pitted and halved

1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion, rinsed and drained if desired

1 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
6 oz. block feta cheese, crumbled into medium chunks

Roast eggplant and zucchini:
Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat to 425° F.

Toss eggplant and zucchini with 5 tablespoons oil, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 3/4 teaspoon pepper in a bowl, then spread in 2 oiled large shallow (1-inch-deep) baking pans. Roast vegetables in oven, stirring occasionally and switching position of pans halfway through baking, until vegetables are golden brown and tender, 20 to 25 minutes total. Combine vegetables in 1 pan and cool, reserving other pan for cooling barley.

Cook barley:
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 3- to 4-quart heavy pot over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then cook scallion, cumin, coriander, and cayenne, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add barley and cook, stirring until well coated with oil, 2 minutes more. Add broth and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until all of liquid is absorbed and barley is tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, 5 minutes. Transfer to reserved shallow baking pan and spread to quickly cool, uncovered, to room temperature, about 20 minutes.

Make dressing and assemble salad:
Whisk together lemon juice, garlic, sugar, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and 3 tablespoons oil in a large bowl. Add barley, roasted vegetables, and remaining ingredients (except the cheese) to bowl with dressing and toss until combined well. Toss in the cheese.

Cooks' note: Salad can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Return to room temperature before serving.

barely adapted from Gourmet, September 2006

eggplant and zucchini

chopped eggplant and zucchini drizzled
with oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper

before roasting

roasted

chopping scallions

scallions and spices

adding barley

adding water and broth

cooked barley

barley cooling

dressing ingredients

dressing whisked

everything but the cheese

mixed with dressing

feta

Mediterranean Eggplant and Barley Salad

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