Israeli Casserole

This is another recipe from Jewish vegetarian Cooking by, Rose Friedman.


You Will Need:

1 aubergine
Salt/pepper
2 onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
Vegetable oil for frying
4 medium potatoes parboiled in their skin, then peeeled and diced
1 1/3 (1/2 pt) (285 ml) cups vegetable stock (heated)
6-8 ripe medium tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Peel the aubergine removing as little flesh as possible (easier said than done, I know). Cut the aubergine into thick slices and layer in a colander salting each layer lightly with coarse salt. Leave them at least an hour. The recipe says 30 minutes, but trust me on this-an hour. Wash the slices well, and pat dry. Cut into small dice.

Saute the onion, pepper and garlic in a bit of oil until soft-about 5 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (180 degrees C) .

Add the aubergine and potatoes and cook until softened and beginning to brown. Transfer to a casserole dish with a lid. Pour the stock, tomatoes, and parsley into the casserole. Adjust seasonings. Cover and bake 30-45 minutes or until potatoes are tender. The casserole is quite liquid when served.

Two Recipes From Bali, Gourmet, October 1973

I also made a dessert from the same issue, which I'll post later.


I had to adapt the one recipe for vegetarians, so I exchanged fried tofu for the pork. I also used fresh mushrooms, but treated them like rehydrated dried ones. The biggest issue really was trying to locate the spices. While fish sauce is a bit more common these days, Ketjap Manis is not. I consulted Google, and put together a pretty decent version myself.

I knew the eggplant recipe was good from watching Danny tuck in. I'm sure the coconut cream didn't hurt any (yeah, that will bring most eggplant haters around) but he generally likes eggplant, and curries, so this was familiar territory. Mr. ETB ate his, though he didn't seem quite as enthusiastic as Danny.

The same page in the magazine had a recipe for cabbage cooked in coconut milk with cumin seeds. I really wanted to make it, but I'd already prepared more food than the boys can consume in a couple nights, so I'll save that one for next time. I still have half a tin of coconut milk left, so I guess coconut caramels are on tomorrow's list.


The Ketjap recipe makes about a quart. It keeps well (for months, I'm told) so bottle it up and try using it in place of soy sauce in recipes. I'm interested to try making baked tofu with it.

For The Ketjap Manis:

1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup water

1 cup soy sauce
7 tablespoons blackstrap molasses (or the darkest you can find of the unsulphured stuff)
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

In a sauce pan, combine the brown sugar and water. Cook, stirring over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high, and cook to 200 degrees F. It goes quick, so watch it. Reduce heat to simmer, add the remaining ingredients and simmer about five minutes. Remove from heat, transfer to a sterilised jar, and keep in the fridge.

For The Vegetarian Bahmie Goreng:

1 pint mushrooms (fresh) trimmed and chopped
1 block extra firm tofu, pressed dry, and cut into 1 inch cubes
Oil for frying
1 tablespoon ketjap (see above)
1 tablespoon brown sugar (the recipe called for palm sugar, not available here)
1 pound noodles (I used Spaghetti)
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped cabbage
1/4 cup celery
A handful of snow peas, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (the recipe called for dicing chillies, but I just don't go there. The rooster sauce would work here too)
1/8 cup soy sauce+ 1/8 cup water (the recipe called for 1/4, but this was PLENTY)
5 tablespoons oil (the recipe suggest peanut, I used soybean)
1/2 cup chopped scallions
Fish sauce

In a small suacepan, cook the mushrooms until they give off water (about 5 minutes over medium heat), and strain into a bowl. When cooled, squeeze dry in a dishcloth. Place in a large casserole dish. Prepare the tofu by frying in a small bit of oil until golden on all sides. Add to the dish with the mushrooms. Combine the ketjap and brown sugar. Mix with tofu and mushrooms. Set aside, or chill until needed.

Meanwhile, cook the noodles with 1 tablespoon oil in the water (yeah, I thought that too, but I did it anyway, and they came out fine). Drain. While noodles are cooking, heat 5 tablespoons oil in a wok over medium heat and cook the onion, cabbage, celery, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes until softened. Add the drained noodles, and the tofu/mushroom mixture. Add the soy sauce and and 1/2 teaspoon (more or less to taste) fish sauce. Mix well, and cook a few minutes to re-heat. Serve topped with chopped scallions.


For The Eggplant in Coconut Cream:

I used coconut milk, not cream. I did skim most of what I used from the top of the tin where the fattiest part tends to collect. I don't use coconut cream, and I couldn't see buying it for one recipe. I also omitted the fresh chilies in favour of dried, and completely skipped the 1/8 teaspoon shrimp paste.

2 medium eggplants
Oil for cooking
2 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon chili flakes
1/2 cup coconut milk


Peel and cut 2 medium eggplants into rounds 1 inch thick. Place in a colander, sprinkle with coarse salt and layer. Weight with a plate and a jar filled with water (or whatever you have) and let sit 1 hour. Rinse, dry well with towels, and cut them into 1 inch dice.

In a wok, heat 1/4 cup oil and fry the eggplant until browned and soft. Add the onions, garlic, chili and fry until onions are soft. Add coconut milks, and cook until thickened and warmed through. Serve hot over rice.

Baba Ganoush

I'm slowly convincing my eggplant hating family that there are other uses for eggplant than tossing it in the dustbin.

You Will Need:

2 small, or 1 large eggplant
3 large cloves garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper
2-3 tablespoons thick plain yoghurt (I drained mine through cheesecloth to get rid of the excess liquid)

In a 400 degree F. over roast the eggplants after pricking them all over with a fork. This should take about 40 minutes, but possibly more-it should pretty much collapse into a shriveled blob. Like my ass. You probably haven't seen my ass, but you get the idea.

Cut the eggplants open, scrape out the pulp with a spoon and transfer to a bowl. Cool slightly. Add other ingredients except youghurt and mash well. Transfer to a blender and process until smooth. Stir in youghurt. Adjust salt and pepper and chill before serving Top with sliced black olives if you like.

French Lentils with Eggplant and Vegetables

I served this with cornbread* as a main dish. The only change I made was substituting red peppers for the cherry tomatoes. The whole thing took about an hour and a half, but was pretty simple to throw together.

I'm looking forward to serving it cold over lettuce for lunch tomorrow.

The recipe may be found HERE.

*Yes, I did bake parsley atop my cornbread-doesn't everyone?

Eggplant Salad

I followed THIS recipe exactly, except for the sesame seeds, which I replaced with black sesame seeds. It was tasty enough, and salting and draining the eggplant kept it from getting that astringent taste eggplant can get. Would I make it again? Probably not. It was simple to do, and there wasn't really anything wrong with it except that it was kind of bland for our tastes. I imagine it would go over well with people that like Asian style cookery.

Passover Eggplant Parmesan

The best part of this dinner is how little it cost. I stopped by the Warehouse Surplus and bought cherry tomatoes for .25 cents, and an eggplant for .50 cents. The rest, I improvised from what I had on hand at home.

I suspected eggplant would take well to being breaded with matzoh meal, given how coarse it is. I didn't bother making a layer of actual matzo in it to mimic pasta because I don't make my year-round eggplant Parmesan that way. You could, but this is already a pretty hearty meal-though I'm sure it would be a spiffy sandwich next day between two slices of matzoh. I think I just invented an eggplant parm matzo sub. I should copyright that-it would sell well in Boston. I made my own sauce and am giving the recipe here, but you could do anything really, or open a jar. I won't rat you out.

Anyhoo, you can probably imagine how great this smells. I'd totally invite you over for dinner. I would. There's more than enough for company.

You Will Need:

1 eggplant
Kosher salt
2 cups matzo meal
2 eggs, beaten
1-pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small tin of tomato sauce
½ tin tomato paste
¼ cup chopped black olives
1 large bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon chopped, fresh rosemary
8 button mushrooms, chopped
1 large, sweet onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 large carrot, finely diced
Water
Olive oil for sautéing
1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
1 cup pecorino Romano cheese, grated
Oil for frying


Peel and slice the eggplant lengthwise. Layer in a colander sprinkling with kosher salt between layers. Let stand 30 minutes to drain. Rinse well and pat dry before coating and frying. While you wait for the eggplant, make the sauce.

In a large frying pan, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil and sauté the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, rosemary and olives until soft. Add the mushrooms and cook a few minutes more. Stir in the dried herbs.

In a large pot, combine the cherry tomatoes, the sauce and paste. Add the sautéed vegetables and stir well to combine. Depending on the brand of tomato sauce/paste, you may need salt-test at this point. The matzo meal breading for the eggplant is not salted (though the eggplant will retain some from soaking, so take that into account when adding salt. Cheese can also add quite a bit, depending on the type you may need to add water if the sauce is too thick at this point, but remember the cherry tomatoes will give off water as they cook. Cook, covered until cherry tomatoes are soft –about 25 minutes.

Place matzo meal on a large plate. In a large bowl, beat the two eggs. Dip the eggplant first in egg and then in matzoh meal. Transfer to a plate. When all are coated, return to fridge for a few minutes as oil heats. This will help the crumbs adhere better.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Begin heating frying oil in a heavy pot or pan. Grease a baking dish.

When oil is hot, fry eggplant taking care to drain the slices well. When all pieces are fried, begin assembling.

In the bottom of the dish, place a ladle of sauce. Top with eggplant, more sauce, and cheese. Make the second layer being sure to end with a cheese layer (it won't matter if you forget, it just looks nicer when browned.

Bake the casserole for 25-30 minutes or until nicely browned and bubbling. Let stand 10-15 minutes before serving.

Caponata

I seem to be taken with cooking things I cannot eat. Today's offering on the list of food guaranteed to send your pancreas into spasms is a caponata from The Best Of Food And Wine, 1995.

My husband bought me something like a decade's worth of these books at the thrift store and I'm really enjoying them. Food and Wine magazine does an excellent job of offering detailed instructions, and even though the caponata had multiple steps, it was easy to follow.

My husband just had some for lunch and really enjoyed it. Danny is still trying to decide how he feels about eggplant, though he's pleased enough with the capers and olives.

The recipe did not call for salting the eggplant and letting it drain, but I did so anyway. Cut the cubes and place in a colander with a tablespoon of salt tossed throughout. Let drain for about 40 minutes. Rise and use as the recipe calls for.

You Will Need:

3/4 plus 2 tablespoons olive oil

2 medium onions, thinly sliced

Sea Salt

2 red bell peppers, sliced lengthwise

3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 16 ounce tin crushed tomatoes in sauce

Several parsley stems

a few fresh thyme leaves

6 stalks of celery from the heart, with leaves, thinly sliced crosswise

1 medium eggplant (I used 4 Japanese style ones) peeled and cut into cubes

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup green olives, pitted

1/2 cup capers, rinsed

salt and pepper

Prepare the eggplant as above and set aside.

In a large, deep pot combine 1/4 cup of the olive oil with the onions and a pinch of salt. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally until soft and translucent-about 5 minutes. Add the peppers and and cover cooking until softened-about another 5 minutes.

Add the garlic and cook until fragrant-about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, parsley stems and thyme sprigs. Cover and simmer gently, stirring occasionally until the onions are tender-about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, heat the 2 tablespoons of oil and add the celery. Cook over moderate heat until they begin to soften-about 8 minutes. Transfer celery to a bowl. In the same pan, add the 1/2 cup oil and add the rinsed and dried eggplant, cooking over medium heat until lightly browned-about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer the eggplant and celery to the pot with the tomatoes and onions. Cover and simmer until all the vegetables are soft-about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the sugar into the red wine and stir to dissolve. Add the capers and olives to vinegar.

When vegetables are cooked, stir in the vinegar, capers and olives. Re-warm about two minutes.

Serve caponata warm or at room temperature. Can be kept in fridge two days, but return to room temperature before serving.