Eggplant cassarole

Ah ! Eggplant again ! How about a different preparation? A lasagne type cassarole this time , prep ahead to be later baked.

Make up a quick batch of dough, eggs , flour and salt pulsed in a food processor, kneaded and let rest.

Peel and slice horizontally the egg plants  (2  medium, )about 1/4 inch thick, sandwich between layers of paper towel after salting o both sides, apply weight and let stand about 30 minutes. Rinse with plain water.

Tomato sauce already prepared. Cook ground beef, also canned red beans to bulk up the cassarole.

My cheese will be the typical store b ought sliced mozzarella

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Ready?   Oops !  roll out the pasta dough also.

Assemble the layer as you see fit to vary the ingredients, on the fly measurements, so amounts will dictate the layers.

Ok , done , to the fridge for baking tomorrow.

Potato and egg

A bit of a light breakfast, some fried diced  potato with onion and garlic seasoned with fennel seed, caraway seed, celery seed and coriander seed. Salt, pepper blend ,and hot pepper flakes. Not shown, orange for fruit

stuffed eggplant

Eggplant is one if those ingredients that can replaced meat or augment it. Usually I prepare one type of eggplant recipe most often, sliced , breaded, and fried, or baked. That  method requires preparation. If you follow the salt and drain routine to remove the moisture from the eggplant this is  more prep time. Occasionally viewing cooking shows on TV gave me the idea to change the routine breaded eggplant recipe.

Stuffed eggplant seemed like a straight forward recipe, remove the eggplant interior  from the eggplant, once sliced in half lengthwise, and return it to the shells after being cooked and mixed with stuffing components and baked.

 

A quick search for Lydia’s stuffed eggplant recipe gave me the starting point for the recipe. Ground chicken thighs would replace the ground beef.  Also I would being using one rather large eggplant.

No breadcrumbs were available so stubborn me, resisting the quick trip to the market to get some, made a quick biscuit recipe. Then when done, further baked  at a low heat to dry it out some what. Finally this was cut to resemble cubes of bread. This biscuit was in the form of one large round biscuit , the dough being pressed into a large diameter cake pan which fit in the microwave/convection oven.

Time wise the stuffing had be be cooled when completed so there was sufficient time to prepare the cubed bread substitute. 

 

The ground chicken was cooked and then added some rice wine, another substitution as I don’t usually have white wine available as an Italian kitchen would. No green bell pepper available either.The Parmesan cheese only measured about 1/2 cup. Now the recipe was coming together, this was along the lines of a meat stuffing one would prepare for a turkey for example.

Didn’t get any pictures when this was done from the oven but the result did remind me of a stuffing for poultry with a filling meatloaf like texture, the biscuit substitute actually better than bread due to the fact it was denser. Cherry tomatoes (we are fortunate to have a small amount of hydroponic cherry tomatoes available, more on that endeavor to be posted) also rounded out the stuffing and thyme instead of parsley, perhaps that accented the the poultry flavor with the ground chicken thighs.

All in all a good meal and as I am partial to cold meatloaf sandwiches, this meal was better the next day un-reheated.

I’m going to rework this recipe as far as the stuffing combination, rice will be used instead of the bread and it most likely will have a more spicy flair.

http://createtv.com/recipe/meat+stuffed+eggplant

 

 

 

sweet & hot rice

with the addition of raisins, and cardamon seeds, and dried hot pepper flakes, this rice give the sweetness and fire at the same time.

amounts are to your preference….
cover the bottom of the cooking vessel  with chopped leeks
add the rice (one cup)
add the liquid (two cups)
consisting of
vegetable broth
ginger garlic paste *
cardamon  seeds, about 5 pods, broken open
a dash of curry powder
a dash of cinnamon
a dash of smoked dried hot peppers.
dual stage microwave cook 10 minutes full, 10 minutes 1/2 power
when complete fluff, and stir in chopped raisins and nuts.

*in a small food processor, fill the bowl with good sized pieces of ginger and garlic, I buy extra to store for future recipes. (of course peel both). I eyeballed about equal amounts of both, add a small amount of vegetable oil. Process and slowly add more oil till the grinding produces a paste. Store in a small mason jar container and refrigerate. I chose the vegetable oil for neutrality versus olive oil. Much more efficient than buying either ginger and/or garlic paste from the market.

 

 

Smoked tabouleh chicken salad

What started as a grille setup to smoke some jalapeño  peppers ended  up as a smoky salad combination for some bulgar wheat and chicken thighs with radicchio and bok choi.

After I finished smoking the jalapenos two chicken thighs were lowered into the smoker about midway from the top grate to the charcoal level. On the top grate some bok choi leaves and two quartered pieces of radicchio were placed and the smoking began with some mesquite pellets added to the charcoal. Meanwhile a box of tabouleh mix (wheat salad) was prepared. As I like bulgar wheat this is the only product I could find at the superstore that is bulgar wheat sold under the Near East brand. As they have couscous in many styles, bulgar wheat is not readily available alone by name.Once the chicken was sufficiently cooked and the radicchio and bok choi was wilted  and smoked they were cut to salad size. Reserving the bok choi leaves. The whites of the bok choi was still crunchy and sliced.

Added to the mix was chopped tomato, and cucumber. The leaves of the bok choi are spread on the serving plate, then the rest of the chopped mixture added.

Now top with the tabouleh and sliced chicken, also feta cheese was added as garnish.

A different taste with a smoky blend of ingredients.

shopping

Summer co ntinues, mostly with light salad type meals

BBQ ll

a day to sit back an fire up the smoker , this time some beef ribs. not a large amount, 2 short sections that easily fit on the grille/smoker.

First here is the rub of 2016 ran out of last years batch BBQing the cornish hen.

I used a 4 pepper blend , thyme vs oregano and dried ancho pepper

Blend in a food processor

Apply the rub, and smoke. these only took about 2 hours, at about 325.

The result a bit overdone, but a good bark and hot flavor, serve with a dipping sauce, a hot BBq sauce is my preference. Also pork ribs are better suited for this as they have more meat on the bone if using country style ribs.