Grilled Eggplant with Garlic-Cumin Vinaigrette, Feta & Herbs

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but as a kid I hated eggplant. Like really really detested it. I'd eat the peas that Super G would sit there and howl about having to eat. I'd eat M's celery from the chop suey. But I would not, could not, tolerate eggplant. It is my mom's favorite vegetable so pretty much we had it on a every so often basis. She would saute it up and I would sulk. I would call up Bethany and see if I could come over for dinner. I had have a temper tantrum. I would be downright rotten. And when it came time to sit down to dinner, I took the smallest portion possible. I forced it down with my milk. And I complained LOUDLY the entire time. (I did not have the stamina of M or Super G. who would carry on and make such a scene that prolonged dinner for a good 45 minutes. Picky eaters weren't exactly tolerated. We ate what was on our plates and nobody got up from the table until everyone was finished.)

Now it's a different story. Now those glossy purple vegetables call to me in the grocery. "Look at my smooth and shiny skin. Look at my plump firm curves. You know you want to caress me, to devour me. I'm so versatile." I get completely suckered in. Then I find myself at home with this luscious eggplant staring at me. Now what? I could do Baba Ghanoush. I love Baba Ghanoush. But really can't I do something different? I could make the Lamb and Eggplant Potpie, which is an all time favorite, but I don't have any ground lamb and it's hot. So while picking up noodles for the swimming pool for "family vacation" at Walmart, inspiration struck. I was standing there in the checkout and noticed Grilling Summer 2008 from the lovely people of The Best of Fine Cooking. I actually picked it up to see if they had anything interesting to do with a 1 pound pork tenderloin. But there. On page 88 was the most delicious looking eggplant salad staring me in the face.

I am so proud I restrained myself from going and buying more eggplant.

I made the Grilled Eggplant with Garlic-Cumin Vinaigrette, Feta & Herbs today for dinner. It's every bit as good as the photo. Man do I love eggplant now. And I have to say I'm getting better at the grill too. The Brain is working late so he doesn't get any. He can have leftover bucatoni.

As an aside, I will no longer be posting, or sampling any recipes from Cook's Illustrated, America's Test Kitchen, or Cook's Country. For background, check here and here. My personal viewpoint is this:

Given a list of ingredients cannot be copyrighted. And the method can only be copyrighted providing it uses wording that cannot be said another way, such as family anecdotes or such, not phrases like "bring to a boil." That when a person adapts a recipe, makes the recipe grow and evolve, they change the ingredients and therefore adapt the cooking instructions to those changed recipes, the recipe is therefore a different recipe. I'm not talking changing from a dash of salt to a pinch of salt. I'm talking significantly changing.

As a personal policy, I site the recipe source that I adapt so that you can know my inspiration. I think the people at Cook's Illustrated/ America's Test Kitchen/ Cook's Country acted outside of their copyright and merely resorted to bullying a food blogger because they can. Or they think they can. Shame on you Cook's Illustrated. Shame.

That being said, I copied this recipe almost verbatim. And you can see from my notes in the recipe how easy to adapt this recipe is if you don't have exactly the right ingredients. I strongly encourage you to find and buy this handy magazine. There are some amazing looking recipes in here. And I'm definitely not going to post them all! If all of Fine Cooking recipes are like this, then I may subscribe. And if they ask me to take down my post, I will because I didn't change it at all, but I will be disappointed.

Grilled Eggplant with Garlic-Cumin Vinaigrette, Feta & Herbs

from Fine Cooking

1 small clove garlic

kosher salt

1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (I ran out of lemons, but jarred lemon juice worked just fine)

1 small shallot, very finely diced (I used a baby onion from the garden)

3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds, lightly toasted and pounded in a mortar or ground in a spice grinder (I used 1/2 tsp ground cumin, call me lazy)

Pinch of cayenne, more to taste

1 large globe eggplant (about 1 lb.), trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch thick rounds

3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil; more as needed

Kosher salt

1/4 cup crumbled feta

2 Tbsp coarsely chopped fresh mint

2 Tbsp coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

With a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic and a pinch of salt to a paste, or mince the garlic, sprinkle with salt, and mash into a paste with the side of a chef's knife.

In a small bowl, combine the garlic paste and 1 Tbsp. of the lemon juice and let sit for 10 minutes. Combine the shallot with the remaining 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice and a pinch of salt in another small bowl and let sit for 10 minutes. Whisk the olive oil, cumin, and cayenne into the garlic mixture. Season to taste with salt or cayenne if needed.

Prepare a medium-high charcoal or gas grill fire. Brush both sides of the eggplant slices with olive oil and season with salt. Grill (covered on a gas grill; uncovered on a charcoal grill) until golden-brown grill marks form, 3 to 4 minutes.

Turn the eggplant and grill until tender and well marked on the second sides, another 3 to 4 minutes. The interior should be grayish and soft rather than white and hard.

Top the grilled eggplant slices with the shallots, feta, and herbs. Whisk the garlic-cumin vinaigrette and drizzle it on top. Serve immediately.

Ma'aloobi

Maybe I was craving some food to remind me of home, or maybe I had an eggplant in the fridge and some ground lamb frozen from last time I was in Michigan, I'm not telling. But when I looked in my A Taste of Lebanon cookbook I found the perfect recipe, Ma'aloobi. It's packed full of vegetables and potatoes and then has a wonderful filling of ground lamb and toasted pine nuts. And it's fun to say too! I did tweak the recipe some to make it a little healthier. I promised the Brain that I wouldn't make any dinner that had over 500 calories per serving. I figured this recipe on 4 servings, but really it could have served 6.

What resulted was a warm and delicious meal to cheer Marissa and Tony on Dancing with the Stars. And the leftovers were a great lunch today. Especially because it's darn cold outside and we might get snow. grrr.

I really wish the fighting in the Middle East would stop because I would love someday to visit. I love the warming spices and the beautiful dishes. Perhaps I'm fortunate that I grew up in the Detroit area and was exposed to a lot of Middle Eastern culture. I think it's a terrific and old culture and it really saddens me that on one end it seems no one can get along and that we seem to be messing up the other end.

Ma'aloobi

adapted from A Taste of Lebanon

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/2 pound ground lamb

1 medium onion (half finely chopped)

1 tsp salt (divided)

1/2 tsp pepper (divided)

1 large eggplant

2 large potatoes

2 large tomatoes

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 cup water

Toast pine nuts in skillet until nuts are golden brown. Add meat and chopped onion. Saute until meat changes color. Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Set aside.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel eggplant and potatoes. Cut both into 1/2 inch thick slices. Cut tomatoes 1/4 inch thick. Slice remaining onion 1/4 inch thick. Divide the vegetables into 2 groups.

Layer the first group by alternating the four vegetables in a casserole dish. Sprinkle the meat filling evenly over the vegetables. Layer the remaining vegetables over the filling. Add the remaining salt and pepper, and cinnamon. Mix the tomato paste and water together in a small bowl and pour on top. Cover with lid and bake for 1 hour or until the vegetables are tender.

Approximate nutritional information per serving (4 servings): 432.4 calories, 19.8g fat, 50.3g carbohydrates, 9.6g fiber, 17.2g protein, 3.7g sugar, 767.9mg sodium, 41.2mg cholesterol

Grilled Eggplant and Tomato

Spring has sprung. Finally. And I'm allowed to walk around the block. Hooray! Even though I am a champion race walker (for my age group anyway), it was kind of refreshing to walk slowly (and I really mean slowly) and take everything in. The neighbor on the corner one street over has an amazing forsythia bush. It's huge and bright yellow. Other neighbors had blooming daffodils and one neighbor was grilling. And my knee didn't start hurting until I was almost all the way home. And that may have been because some guy I didn't know kind of creeped me out and I realized I couldn't really just pick up the pace and walk past him. I tried. That may have been a bad idea.

So today I felt like grilling. Unfortunately, rain looks imminent so I settled for broiling. For a nice healthy side with dinner I made Grilled Eggplant and Tomato out of the Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook. I changed it up a bit though. The original recipe called for 3/4 cups of crumbled goat cheese. Walmart does not sell goat cheese. At least not here they don't. And I know what you're thinking, it's Weight Watchers so it's probably "diet" food. (Even though their slogan says they're not a diet, I think of them that way too.) But really this antipasti is pretty darn tasty. The Brain even liked it. I used feta instead of the goat cheese and I think the saltiness of it helps. Also I think next time I will omit the tomatoes. Probably I cooked them too long, but they got mushy.

And now I'm going to attempt walking around the block again. Going slowly. Concentrating on walking without a limp and straightening my leg completely. And trying to avoid uneven pavement. And contain my happiness at being able to mosey around the block.

Grilled Eggplant and Tomato

from Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook

1/2 yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced

1/4 cup chicken broth (it's what I had, the original recipe calls for vegetable broth)

4 tsp olive oil

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 medium eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices

1 tomato, cut into 1/2 inch slices

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil

Preheat the grill (or broiler). In the food processor or blender, combine the bell pepper, broth, oil, vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper; puree. Place the eggplant and tomato on a sheet of wax paper and brush both sides with the broth mixture; discard any remaining broth mixture.

Broil (grill) the eggplant until lightly charred, about 4 minutes on each side. Broil (grill) the tomatoes about 2 minutes on each side.

Arrange the vegetables on a platter. Sprinkle with the cheese and basil.

Per Serving (1/4 of platter) from original recipe with goat cheese and vegetable broth: 161 Cal, 11g Fat, 0g Trans Fat, 17mg Chol, 260mg Sod, 11g Carb, 2g Fib, 7g Prot, 124mg Calc.

4 points.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Spicy Eggplant Sauce

Well the snow has started. It started at about 10am. One full hour earlier than it was supposed to start. Fortunately the MRI people called me when there was a cancellation so I was able to go in 2 hours earlier. That was a relief. The open MRI was also a relief. It was still noisy like a regular MRI, but there wasn't that hideous feeling that rises up in my throat that I am going to get stuck and trapped for the rest of my life. There was no hyperventilating. I didn't need to be drugged. Although, while driving through the snow I couldn't help but think how much I like that quick little bit of Valium. Its just so calming and lovely.

So yeah, the snow has started. We're scheduled to get between 10 and 15 inches and we've got a blizzard warning that starts at 4am and runs until Sunday. I will be shut inside the house just a chilling, maybe making some of that unbelievable Julia Child French Bread. Somebody suggested, and I apologize for not remembering who, making a double batch at the same time to get more bread, same all day affair. Brilliant!

But I digress, while the Brain has been cleaning the house, not because he saw this article, but because he's worried we'll lose power if we have a blizzard, I made dinner. I made this delicious and oh so very easy dinner in way less than half an hour. It's quick. It's easy. AND it's super healthy. There's a mere 1g of fat and 9g of dietary fiber. The best part about it though is that it's really darn good. Even though I made the, oh so common for me mistake, of cooking the entire box of spaghetti instead of just the 8oz. Ooops.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Spicy Eggplant Sauce

from Betty Crocker's a Passion for Pasta

4 servings

8oz. uncooked whole wheat spaghetti

1 small eggplant peeled and cubed (about 3 cups)

1 can (14.5oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can (8oz.) tomato sauce

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

2 tsp parsley flakes

Cook and drain the pasta, reserving some of the cooking water.

Heat the eggplant, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and red pepper in a skillet. Simmer, stirring occasionally until the eggplant is tender, about 12 minutes. Add some of the pasta water if the sauce gets too dry. Stir in parsley flakes. Combine pasta and sauce and garnish with more parsley and some Parmesan cheese.

Per Serving: 265 calories (10 calories from fat); 1g fat (0g saturated); 0mg cholesterol; 630mg sodium; 62g carbohydrate (9g dietary fiber); 11g protein.

I'm adopted!

Now, before I have 120 relatives calling me, I am obviously not really adopted. I am the spitting image of my dad. But in the food blogging world, I have been adopted by the lovely Cynthia at Tastes Like Home. Cynthia is from Guyana and living in Barbados. She has beautiful photos on her blog of all her delicious looking food and will share recipes if you email her. Although I am going to email her and get some recipes for her delicious looking food, I am not going to post about those recipes because they are her recipes and she's writing a book. But I definitely encourage you to look around on her blog and if one of her recipes tickles your fancy, email her and ask her for it. She also has a weekly column that she writes and every time I read it I learn something new. I am really happy to be paired with her in the Adopt a Blogger program started by Dine and Dash!

So OK, I'm not Caribbean, although the Brain and I did honeymoon there. And I don't think I have a snowball's chance in Hell of finding things like fresh sardines up here in Nowhere, Ohio. Where it is currently so cold that it's spitting snow. Little tiny mean snowflakes. Not even enough to cover the ground and make things look pretty. Just a few at a time. Enough so you know it's snowing, but not enough to get excited about. So what could I blog about that would at all make anyone think of the Caribbean?

Well, I made an eggplant, Garam Masala, lentil, and zucchini curry. What? You say. Curry is not Caribbean! But it is. Sort of. Believe it or not, my former sister-in-law, M, is also from Guyana. And she's half Indian. There is apparently a large population of Eastern Indians in Guyana (43% according to Wikipedia). And one of my current sister-in-laws, S, is from Trinidad and she eats curry all the time. And when the Brain and I were in St. Martin, on the Dutch side, I had a chicken curry for lunch with bananas in it. Holy cow was it delicious! So curry it is!

This did start as a recipe I found on Cooking Light, but really I strayed from it so much, it's hardly anywhere close. I liked it over whole wheat couscous. The Brain thought it was tasty too. The nice thing is that this recipe makes a large pot. Leftovers are really good too because the flavors blend nicely overnight.

Vegetable and Lentil Curry

2 tsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 1/2 tsp Garam Masala

1 can petite diced tomatoes

1 tsp ground turmeric

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp freshly grated ginger

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 large eggplant, peeled and chopped

1 cup dried lentils

4 cups water

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 bay leaves

2 cups chopped zucchini (1 large or 2 medium)

Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and Garam Masala. Saute 3 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in tomatoes, turmeric, cayenne, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, garlic and eggplant. Saute for 7 minutes or until eggplant is tender.

Add lentils, water, salt, and bay leaves to pan. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in zucchini and return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 7 minutes or until zucchini is just tender. Discard bay leaves.