Lentil-Rice Pilaf and Vegetable Stew

Good morning (and good rainy morning, if you're in the Twin Cities).

If you're feeling chilly and want some cozy comfort food, this will do the trick. Both recipes are easy to prepare and delicious (and can be made simultaneously). I (Emily) am not feeling very wordy at the moment (rain makes me sleepy), so I think I'll just start typing up the recipes now. As usual, feel free to change up the veggies and proportions. Enjoy, all!


Lentil-Rice Pilaf
Ingredients

• 1/2 cup lentils, rinsed
  
• 2 TBS oil (olive or canola) or butter
  
• 1-2 minced cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds (or you can sub some ground cumin, but the seeds are great)
• 1 cup brown rice
• 2 cups veggie broth (or water, if you don't have any)
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

• Heat the butter or oil in a medium pot over low heat
• Add the cumin seeds, turning the heat up briefly, and sizzle until they blacken (about a minute).
  
• Turn back down to low and add the garlic, cooking for a minute more
• Add the lentils and rice and stir until coated
• Still in the broth and the salt and pepper, bring to a boil, cover, and cook as you would rice until all the water is absorbed. (I forgot to take a picture. Sorry!)
  

Vegetable Stew
Ingredients

• oil for the pan
  
• one medium onion, diced (I used half a red and half a white because that's what we had, but use whatever you like)
  
• one large carrot, chopped
• one 15 oz. can chickpeas (or the equivalent amount of dried chickpeas, soaked overnight)
• half of a large eggplant, or a whole small eggplant, sliced into rounds and then chopped
• a handful or two of frozen peas
• one handful parsley, chopped
  
• 1 cup veggie broth
• 1 TBS tomato paste
• 1 clove garlic, sliced thinly or minced
  
• a pinch of hyssop (can be omitted if you don't have any)
• dash cinnamon
• dash lemon juice
• 1 TBS butter, to thicken
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• chopped almonds, to garnish

Procedure

• Prep the eggplant: Stewing the eggplant along with everything else would likely work, but I find baked eggplant to be less chancy. So chop as directed (or however you like, really) and place on an oiled baking tray. Turn the eggplant pieces to coat in the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil for a minute or two a side, until nicely browned. Watch them very carefully or you will have a load of pitch-black charred eggplant on your hands.
• Oil a medium-large skillet and heat.
  
• Add the onion and cook over medium-low heat for a few minutes until softened before adding the carrot and turning up to medium.
  
• When the carrots are getting soft, add the parsley and chickpeas, along with the garlic. Stir for a moment, then add the broth. Allow to simmer for a few minutes, adding the tomato paste and other spices.
  
• After a few minutes, stir in the peas. As the stew bubbles and the broth is absorbed, gradually stir in little pieces of butter to thicken. When the stew is bubbly and gooey but not exactly soupy, it's done!
  

Scoop some pilaf into a plate or bowl and top with stew. Garnish with almonds and serve warm. Mmm-mmm.

Curried Eggplant-Lentil Soup

I know I (Emily) just posted, but I have to get this online quickly before I forget how I made it. Anyway, the day before departing for my spring break travels, I realized that I had an eggplant. Now, this is never a bad thing. I love eggplant and rank it among my at least top three favorite vegetables. However, since I was about to leave for over a week, I didn't trust the eggplant's chances of survival. Eggplant pasta and stuffed eggplant are always nice, but I was in a soupy mood so I decided to experiment. The surprisingly delicious results follow.

Curried Eggplant-Lentil Soup

Ingredients

• 1 eggplant, diced, salted, and roasted, with olive oil, salt, and pepper, for 10 minutes at 500°F. (For further instruction on how to do all that, look at this.)
• 2 c. dry lentils
  
• 5-7 cups water, broth, or a mixture
• 2 tsp. hot curry powder-- (if you don't have this, add regular curry powder plus cayenne or another pepper)
  
• dash canola or olive oil
  
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 1/2 green pepper, sliced (we had half a pepper. If you have a whole one, put it in)
  
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced or minced
• 1/2 tsp. salt (or to taste)
  
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds, plus powder for later
• 3 TBS sesame seeds
• handful fresh spinach, chopped
• dash lemon juice
• ground pepper and feta cheese (optional) to serve
  

Procedure

• Boil the lentils for about 20 minutes in water and/or broth.
• Meanwhile, heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat and saute the cumin seed, sesame seed, salt, and onion. Add the carrot a few minutes later, then stir in the pepper, garlic and hot curry powder. Saute until the onions are translucent and the veggies are beginning to soften.
  
• Pour the vegetable mixture into the lentil mixture, adding the rest of the stock/broth.
• Allow to simmer for at least half an hour, until the veggies and lentils are soft. Add the spinach, roasted eggplant, and lemon juice about twenty-five minutes in.
  
• Adjust spice as needed, ladle, and serve--preferably with some homemade bread.
  

Greek-Stuffed Eggplant

So this dish came strictly from necessity; I had an eggplant in my possession the night before returning to Georgia for Christmas and knew that it wasn't going to last the break. I decided to bake it, thinking that it'd be easy enough to make it into eggplant pasta or something, but then I realized that I had half a red onion and some feta too and started just kinda experimenting. The results were far superior to what I'd anticipated. Amounts are approximate, and I'm sure this could be easily doubled.

Greek-Stuffed Eggplant

Ingredients

• 1 medium eggplant(or any size, really), sliced in half lengthways and salted(if you don't know how to salt an eggplant, see my post on eggplant pasta from the summer)
• A few TBS olive oil
• 1/2 red onion, sliced thinly
• a generous slosh of lemon juice
• 2-4 TBS tahini (which can be easily home-made, it turns out!!)
• 1 huge clove garlic (or a couple little ones)
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1-2 handfuls of parsley, chopped or ripped into little bits
• 1/4-1/3 cup feta cheese crumbles
• salt and black pepper to taste

Procedure

• Heat the oven to 400°F
• Put the salted eggplant onto a well-oiled baking sheet and coat both sides in more oil. You don't have to go overboard, but make sure the eggplant doesn't stay dry. Bake the eggplant until it's brown and slightly crispy on the edges-- 30-45 minutes. You'll probably want to flip the eggplant once.
• Heat olive oil in a skillet and saute the onion and oregano over medium heat until they're soft. The slower you do this, the better it'll probably taste. (This was the point in my evening when I was going "Oh geez, I have a lot of stuff to use up. Umm...let's get this side dish going and figure out what to do with the eggplant when it's done," so I was stalling for time a bit). Add the garlic, lemon juice, and parsley, and stir in the tahini.
• Once the eggplant comes out of the oven, wait a minute for it to be cool enough to handle, and then scoop out the innards. Do this carefully, so you don't go right through the skin. I used a spoon to get out most of it, then pulled out the rest with a butter knife, but whatever works for you. Throw the pulp into the skillet with everything else and mix it in well, chopping it into smaller pieces with a spoon.
• When everything's nicely incorporated, and you've thrown in some salt and pepper and whatever other seasonings you like to taste, scoop the whole mix back into the eggplant shells. Sprinkle the tops with the feta crumbles and more tahini (if you like) and then let it bake at 350°F for about 10-15 minutes, then broil for 2-3 minutes more (broiling is scary, so watch it carefully or it'll burn!)
• I ate mine just as it was, but I'm sure a spinach salad with kalamata olives would have made it even better.
  

Happy New Year, all!

Another Simple Pasta Supper (and bonus brownies!!)

Ok, so I know my last post concerned pesto, but, especially in the summer, simple pasta dishes are just great. They're easy, relatively fast, and total comfort food. Plus, there are endless possibilities.

So for dinner a couple nights ago, I decided I wanted eggplant. This is mostly because I love eggplant and Iain's not a big fan, so since he's out of town I decided to capitalize on my chance to indulge as much as possible. I do not understand this dislike of eggplant, because eggplant is amazing, but, then, this is also the boy who doesn't like cheese. So sad....

A few notes on eggplant:

This is fairly common knowledge, but just in case-- it's a good idea to salt eggplant before you cook with it. Eggplants carry a lot of bitter juices, so about 20 minutes before you start cooking, cut the eggplant into slices and sprinkle salt onto them. This will cause the eggplant to release the juices. When there's liquid beading on the top of the eggplant slices, rinse them off and pat them dry with a paper towel. Well, at least that's how I do it. I know some people advocate sticking the pieces in a colander after you put the salt on. But just doing it on the counter works for me.

Personally, I don't much like to fry up eggplant. I mean, eggplant parm every once in a while is pretty awesome, but generally I find that broiling leaves in a lot more flavor and awesome texture. Plus it's super fast.

Also, I almost never peel eggplant. I really like the texture. And it's nutritious, I'm sure. But I know a lot of people who do like to peel their eggplant, so whatever works for you...


Anyway, I'll call this "Eggplant, Sun-Dried Tomato, and Basil Pasta" (creative, I know)



Ingredients

• half an eggplant, sliced thickly
  
• a few sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil, cut into small pieces
  
• 1-3 cloves garlic, minced (as a rule, I tend to like lots of garlic, but if you like less, by all means stick to a clove)
  
• a handful of basil leaves, chopped into bite size bits
  
• olive oil. You'll need at least a tablespoon or two for the garlic. Use more at your discretion.
  
• a pinch of dried oregano
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• pasta of whatever variety you like. I found that about half a box of pasta was appropriate for the amount of sauce I made, but I'm sure everything could be easily doubled if you want to do a whole box.
  

Preparation

1. Brush a tray with olive oil and brush the top of each slice of eggplant with additional oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, if desired. Broil five minutes a side, or until golden-brown and soft. Cut the pieces into strips.

2. Meanwhile, get some water boiling for the pasta. I used whole wheat penne, which in my opinion complemented the relatively light sauce well, adding more texture.

3. About five minutes before the pasta's done, heat the olive oil in a skillet and add the oregano, stirring. Add the garlic and turn down the heat so that it cooks relatively slowly, releasing flavor. You don't want the garlic to brown.

4. A couple of minutes before the pasta's done, add to the oil and garlic the pieces of sun-dried tomato and salt and pepper to taste and cook over low heat. Add the eggplant and basil just before draining the pasta, so it incorporates.

5. Serve with parmesan cheese, if you like. You may also need to add more oil to get the sauce to come together, but it's up to you really.

And....Bonus Brownies!

(adapted from a recipe I found online. I am so sorry that I didn't bookmark it so I can link you all directly, but I did mess with it slightly in 'baking adventure' fashion, so it wouldn't have been exactly the same anyway)

For the record, I do not believe in "the perfect brownie." I think that cakey and chewy both have their place, and although I generally prefer the latter, I do not think that it is inherently better. Generally, I go for recipes that have fewer than four eggs and use real chocolate (rather than cocoa powder exclusively). These, however, are awesome brownies. They're not so so sweet, so you really taste the chocolate, and the almond extract adds an awesome kick of extra flavor. My housemates seemed to like them too, as evidenced by the fact that this is the closest I have to a picture.

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter
  
• 4 oz unsweetened chocolate
  
• 1.5 cups of sugar
  
• 1/4 tsp. salt
  
• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 a tsp almond extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 2 TBS cocoa powder
• 1/3 bag chocolate chips-- I used semi-sweet, and the 1/3 bag is an estimate. Basically, throw some in if you got 'em.

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and butter a pan. I used a 9in round pan. Probably an 8x8 would work well too.

2. In a double boiler, if you're fortunate enough to have one (if not, use a pot in a pan or skillet), melt the chocolate and butter together. For those who've never done this before, basically you want hot (not boiling) water in the bottom of the two containers. In the top one you want just the things your melting. Let them melt and when the chocolate is shiny, stir them together.

3. Remove from heat and cool slightly, then add the sugar, salt, extracts, and eggs (one at a time). As a side note, feel free to experiment with the extracts. Almond is my new favorite, but I'm sure mint or orange or something could be excellent too.

4. Stir in the flour and cocoa powder. The batter should be stiff at this point, so don't worry if it's a bit difficult to stir. Then add the chocolate chips.

5. Dump the batter into the prepared pan. The batter should be seriously thick at this point. Do not think slightly-lumpy-but-still-liquidy cake mix brownie batter. If that's the consistency you've done something...well...I won't say wrong, but certainly different, and you'll need to have a baking adventure all your own!

6. Bake until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs sticking to it and cook slightly. I highly recommend serving with milk. Also, these are super rich and clearly dessert brownies--- not "I just got home from work and want a snack" brownies. I learned this the hard way yesterday and wasn't hungry for dinner until a while after I'd planned to start cooking.