Category: Lunch

Roasted Eggplant Parmesan with Feta

I always wondered about the name for the dish eggplant parmesan. Parmesan isn’t exactly the prominent ingredient, it’s not even called for in some recipes. Most eggplant parmesan recipes consist of breaded slices of eggplant that have been fried, smothered in tomato sauce and covered in melted cheese. Parmesan or not, it’s definitely one of my favorite dairy dishes, but having just finished the Chanukah fry-fest, I decided to come up with a healthier version.

Last year, I posted this recipe for roasted eggplants stuffed with Israeli salad, roasted chickpeas and techina. It’s one of my favorite ways to enjoy eggplants! I eat it pretty often though, so I decided to invent a new roasted eggplant dish. That’s how this Middle Eastern twist on eggplant parmesan came about. I broil the eggplants for delicious smokey flavor and stuff them with marinara, tomatoes, a little breadcrumbs and finish it off with light feta cheese. Although it tastes nothing like the original, it’s a delicious light and healthy lunch that’s a perfect start for the New Year!

Looking for more healthy recipes? Check out the Shine Supper Club. They’re sharing healthy recipes to get your New Year off to a fresh start!

Roasted Eggplant Parmesan with Feta

1 eggplant, sliced in half vertically
olive oil
salt
1/3 cup marinara sauce
1 plum tomato, sliced
flavored bread crumbs
parmesan cheese, optional
feta cheese
parsley, for garnish

Method:

Sprinkle the eggplants with salt and place flesh side down on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and broil on high for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and spread some marinara sauce over eggplants. Place tomato slices over sauce and sprinkle on some bread crumbs and parmesan cheese, if desired. Drizzle with olive oil and top with feta cheese crumbles. Bake at 400 degrees until bread crumbs are toasted and feta cheese has melted (it will still hold it’s form and will only melt slightly). Garnish with chopped parsley.

VARIATION: For a more traditional roasted eggplant parmesan, top the eggplants with marinara and sprinkle with shredded mozzarella. Bake until cheese is melted and browned.

1 year ago: green guacamole
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Gluten Free Butternut Squash Latkes

Latkes. We can’t seem to get enough of their crispy, fried goodness! I don’t know about you, but I can eat latkes all Chanukah long. As long as I switch up the flavors, I’m good. Butternut squash latkes has become a family favorite in our home. They’re light, mildly sweet, and lend themselves well to all sorts of seasonings. We like them best straight up – good old butternut squash, onion, egg and some simple salt seasoning, but feel free to spruce them up with curry, paprika, cumin, or your favorites.

Because I prefer to prepare these gluten free latkes with simple flavors, I spice up the garnishes instead. Ginger applesauce and curried sour cream are the perfect complements to the butternut squash. Top them off with some scallions for latke perfection on a plate.

What are some of your favorite latke varieties? I’d love to hear! Share them in the comments below!

Butternut Squash Latkes

1 2 lb. butternut squash, peeled and grated (about 6 cups)
1 medium onion, grated (about 1 cup)
3 eggs
salt and pepper, to taste
oil, for frying
ginger applesauce, for garnish (recipe below)
curried sour cream, for garnish (recipe below)
scallions, for garnish

Method:

Add grated squash, onion, eggs, salt and pepper to a bowl and mix well. Heat up oil in a frying pan and place spoonfuls of mixture into hot oil. Fry until golden and crispy on each side. Serve with applesauce and sour cream.

NOTE: If the mixture starts to get wet and soggy, use gloves to form patties and squeeze out moisture before frying.

Ginger Applesauce

8 honeycrisp apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
1 cup apple juice or water
juice of 1 lemon
1 2″ piece fresh ginger, peeled
2 cinnamon sticks
3-4 tbsp honey or maple syrup

Method:

Add all ingredients to a pot and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove ginger and serve.

NOTE: If you find the applesauce too chunky, mash it with a fork.

Curried Sour Cream

1 cup sour cream
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp curry powder

Method:

Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix to incorporate. Serve over latkes with applesauce.

1 year ago: cheese latkes with raspberry sauce
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UnEGGSpected Egg Salad

If this week has made me realize anything, it’s that life is unexpected. When I wrote my last blog post, I never imagined that Hurricane Sandy would reach such catastrophic proportions. Even with all the warnings and precautions that were being taken, I thought they were overdoing it.

At first, the destruction and devastation didn’t sink in. I was busy with my kids, trying to keep house and home without my cleaning help and dealing with a strep-ridden toddler. Still, I couldn’t ignore the pictures, the posts and the pain all around me. The unfathomable loss and despair in the aftermath of the storm was inescapable.

As the stories of pain and loss began to emerge, I couldn’t imagine putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and writing a blog post. How could I be so trivial at such a desperate time? How could I go on blogging about recipes when people were without power, and many had lost their homes?

“Food makes people feel good,” I reasoned to myself. “It’ll take their mind off of things,” I rationalized. “I’d better dream up some real comfort food,” I challenged myself. Instead, here I am talking about eggs.

In Judaism, so much of what we do revolves around symbolism. Even the foods that we eat. On Rosh Hashanah, we dip apples in honey for a sweet new year and eat pomegranates so that our merits should be abundant like their seeds. On Chanukah we eat fried foods like donuts and latkes, reminiscent of the miracle of the oil. Purim is notorious for hamantaschen, a reminder of Haman’s 3-cornered hat. You get the idea.

What am I getting at? Well, when a Jew sits shiva, (seven days of formal mourning for the dead), it is customary to eat foods that are round like eggs, bread and lentils. They symbolize the cyclical nature of life – death and birth. On a deeper level, the circular foods are meant to impress upon the mourner that although things seem at their worst, life has it’s cycle. Just as there is loss and pain, there is also joy and happiness, and there will be again. Eggs are also eaten to symbolize that just as they are round without a “mouth”, we are also without words at a time of loss.

The unexpected horrors that occurred this week are truly beyond words. Seeing houses sink under rising flood waters, watching neighborhoods go dark without power, cars crushed under fallen trees, chaos at every gas station in town. It almost feels as if life was turned on it’s head. And yet, just like the round egg, life edges forward. We pick ourselves up, we soldier on, and we rebuild. Such is the power of the human spirit.

And so, without further adieu, I present my UnEGGSpected Egg Salad, a delicious recipe with an unEGGSpected ingredient. Make some for your family, or better yet, prepare sandwiches for a friend who is stranded without power, a relative who has lost their home, or the volunteers at your local firehouse.

If you’d like to volunteer in the relief effort for Hurricane Sandy Victims, visit the UJA site or Occupy Sandy website for opportunities. You can also donate to synagogues, Chabad houses and other organizations that are helping with the relief effort.

UnEGGSpected Egg Salad

5 hard-boiled eggs (how to make perfect hard-boiled eggs)
2 tbsp mayo
1-2 tbsp horseradish sauce
1/2 tsp paprika
1 scallion (green parts only) or 3 chives, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Chop or mash eggs (depending how you like it). Add mayo, horseradish sauce, paprika and scallions. Season with salt and pepper.

Variation: If horseradish sauce is too strong for your taste, substitute with spicy or regular mustard.

1 year ago: persimmon yogurt smoothie

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Black Quinoa Salad with Garlic Scape Pesto & Dried Cherries

I don’t know if you follow my friend Melinda over at Kichen-Tested, but if you do, you’ll know why I decided to guest post this recipe on her blog. Melinda is all about being adventurous in the kitchen. She loves to pair odd ingredients (like her cinnabon onion and squash cookies or her feta shortbread cookies) and experiment with spices (like her jalapeno chocolate chip cookies or her jamaican hot pepper jelly). There is no ingredient that she won’t try at least once (beef bacon is a regular ingredient in her recipes!). But that’s not all. Not only is this talented cook and baker an amazing photographer and blogger, she also sells her gourmet pareve caramels from home. Visit kitchen-tested.com for more about Melinda and her adventures in the kitchen.

For recipe and step by step photos, visit my guest post on Kitchen-Tested.

1 year ago: peanut butter fudge ice cream pie

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Grilled Cheese with Figs & Honey

I spend all summer waiting for figs to come in season. When they finally turned up at the market, I could not resist putting some sweet, fresh figs onto my grilled cheese sandwich. The best thing about this “recipe” is that it’s not a recipe at all. You can use any bread you like, any soft or creamy cheese, and you can slice, mince, or grill up the figs before adding them to your sandwich (fig jam also works really well).

I don’t have a panini press, but if you do, feel free to grill up your sandwich to get those beautiful grill marks. Alternatively, you can just press your sandwich down over a grill pan for a toasted and crunchy bite!

For a low carb option, hold the bread and just grill up a whole wheel of brie or Camembert and top with figs and generous drizzle of honey.

This post is part of the Kosher Recipe Linkup for the month of August, featuring GRILLED recipes. Scroll down for more!

 

Grilled Fig & Cheese Sandwich

2 slices wholegrain bread or 1 baguette
2-3 tbsp creamy cheese, such as ricotta, farmer’s or goat OR a few slices of soft cheese such as brie or camembert
3 fresh figs, sliced
drizzle of honey
pinch of cinnamon
1 tbsp butter

Method:

Spread cheese on bread and top with figs. Drizzle honey over figs and sprinkle a dash of cinnamon. Heat up butter in a grill pan and grill the sandwich until browned and toasted.

1 year ago: honey roasted figs

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