Tag Archives: eggplant

Roasted Eggplant Terrine with Tomatoes and Radish Greens

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An individual-sized portion, this vegetable terrine is as delectable as it is elegant. Well, as classy as a parmigiania can be, anyway.

For a few weeks this past August I wrote a number of posts celebrating summer’s bounty, challenging you to find something new at your own local market and get creative. (Purple scallions, or diva cucumber, anyone?) Inspired, our culinary journey began with simple grilled vegetables, which were then used in a show-stopping Mediterranean-style vegetable sandwich with pesto and two cheeses and an Italian vegetable parmigiania.

Happily, summer favorites like tomatoes, basil, and eggplant will be around for another month or so here in New England. Today’s dish revisits many of the same flavors as my parmigiania but it’s put together in a single-serving presentation that’s elegant enough for company. No need to wait for guests, however: this splendid dinner bursting with Italian flavors is also a perfect weeknight supper. Don’t forget to make a few extra, though, whether for the fridge or freezer. You’ll be glad you did.

Set the oven to 450F degrees, and let’s get cooking.

1. Roast or grill the vegetables after seasoning with EVOO, black pepper, and a touch of sea or kosher salt. Turn the vegetables half-way through cooking, then turn the oven down to 400F.

2. Build the terrine. Spread each eggplant with chèvre and top with tomato sauce or marinara. Build the bottom layer with a tomato slice and a layer of greens that have been sautéed with EVOO, crushed garlic, and a touch of salt and black pepper. (Don’t waste your radish greens! Use them here! Spinach, kale, or chard also work.) Fresh herbs such as basil or parsley are a nice addition, and the cheese can be omitted for vegan variants.

3. Assemble the terrine. Place a slice of fresh mozzarella on the greens, sprinkle with parnigiania or romano cheese, toss on a bit more sauce, and set the final eggplant atop the terrine. Add a slice or two of fresh mozzarella and a final sprinkle of hard cheese, if desired. (Seriously, doesn’t that look divine?) 

4. Bake around 20 minutes, until the cheese is melted and browned in places and begins oozing tantalizingly out the side. Let the terrine set 5 minutes before serving.

I love this dish so much that I often eat it alone for dinner, as pictured at the beginning, paired with a side salad. However, it can also be served with whole wheat pasta tossed with EVOO, garlic, and herbs for a heartier meal.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, this dish is obviously just a variation on eggplant parmigiania. So why am I calling it a terrine, you ask? It’s because I’ve made this dish a number of times without the sauce, which makes an even cleaner presentation that lets the vegetables sing. I just happened to have leftover sauce in the fridge this particular occasion. This is the long way of saying that you can omit the tomato sauce and just go with roasted vegetables, herbs, and a whisper of goat cheese for a gorgeous dinner-party appetizer or light supper when paired with a side salad or pasta. I’ll throw a photo up here next time I make that version.

In any case, putting vegetables center stage is always the way to go in the creation of healthy eating habits for life.

P.K. NewbyDr. P. K. Newby is a nutrition scientist and educator with expertise in the prevention of obesity and chronic diseases through diet and the relations between agriculture, food production, and public health. She brings together her passions for food, cooking, science, and sustainability through her writing and videos to help people eat their way towards better health, one delectable bite at a time. If you like what you see here at The Nutrition Doctor is In the Kitchen, please subscribe to my blog from the home page, become a fan on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, check out my food porn on Pinterest, watch my cooking videos on YouTube, and peruse my recipe page for soups, salads, seafood, sweets, and more. Thanks for reading!

Farm to Fork Finale: Starring Squash and Whole Grains

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My Contribution: A Savory Tart with Roasted Squash, Braised Beet Greens, Cranberries, Leeks, and Chèvre.

I was just thinking yesterday, “So much squash, so little time.”  (And, yes, I really did say that to myself.)  I’m through almost all of the produce I bought on Black Tuesday at the Copley Square Market but several varieties of squash remained on my counter and I was trying to decide what to create for our final class of “From Farm to Fork: Why What You Eat Matters.” The evening was designed to be a festive ending to the course where students would prepare a healthy meal following nutritional guidelines and adhering to principles of sustainability - their final project – to present and share with the class for a potluck dinner.

What to make? Of course, soup is often the first thing that comes to my mind, but there’s also butternut squash risotto, Moroccan squash stew, stuffed acorn squash, and squash purée as a backdrop for seared fish or other delights. And a salad of roasted squash and other autumn vegetables garnished with toasted seeds and stilton is a remarkably satisfying dinner.  I finally decided on a rustic savory tart of roasted butternut squash, braised beet greens, cranberries, leeks, and chèvre, following inspiration from a similar dish I had in a London pub in October.  It was a free form tart that also included fresh parsley, sage, and thyme and was cut into small pieces for everyone to sample (above). The crust was made using white whole wheat flour, once again giving excellent results and yielding a crust that was both tender and flaky but sturdy enough to hold up to the filling and successfully act as finger food. (I also made an individual tart for my husband’s dinner, which I’ll post along with the recipe sometime soon. I’m getting a bit behind on my blogging with sundry end of semester activities, I’m afraid.)

Clearly I’m not the only butternut squash lover, as the majority of the cooking groups tonight celebrated this nutritional powerhouse, a versatile fall favorite that deserves its starring role. Whole grains also featured prominently in the dishes, including whole wheat tortillas and whole wheat pizza dough (both home made!), brown rice, and barley, as did black beans, white beans, and lentils. Meals were happily plant-centered, which is the major way of improving your personal health and preventing disease while simultaneously protecting the planet.

Following are a few pictures from the evening that I’d like to share with you. Thanks to all of the groups for their enthusiasm, creativity, and hard work in creating such absolutely delicious meals! I also hope my regular readers find this a fun post that stimulates some great ideas in your own kitchens. Happy Cooking!

No, these are not squash brownies – dark chocolate chunk with maple buttercream.  A special  treat I made to celebrate the end of the semester.

Eggplant, Part 2: Metamorphosis

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EggplantSoup_UpdateI love leftovers!  I really do. In fact, I specifically cook most things to have remaining portions, which I either freeze or eat for dinner on subsequent evenings. Plus, as much as I adore cooking I only have so much time, like all of us. I need some of my regular dishes to stretch a few days.

All that said, I had eaten baingan bharta on several evenings since I was at the theatre and had no time to cook. Delicious, yes, but could I find something creative to do with that one remaining serving? And could I perhaps even extend it into several more meals?

Certainly you must have guessed that I would make soup, much like I did when I syphoned some of my fresh tomato sauce to make a velvety tomato soup. Sure, the dishes start with the same ingredients and spices, but it’s a great way to put a fresh twist on a dinner you enjoyed less the fourth time than you did the first.  In other words, it prevents leftover burnout.

Making Roasted Eggplant Soup

Set the stove to medium heat and add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil (or canola, if you prefer) to a pot. When it’s hot, add 1 medium diced onion, season it with a bit of freshly ground pepper and salt if you like (1/2 tsp, perhaps), and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes or so.  If you like things spicy, feel free to add some minced hot pepper of your choice at this time as well. Don’t forget to use gloves when handling hot peppers. No, I’m not kidding. Sometimes it’s fine but other times you can seriously burn your fingers, along with whatever else you touch.

Next, add 1-2 chopped garlic cloves and stir until fragrant, about 45 seconds.  Mix in 2 large diced tomatoes and a handful of chopped cilantro (aka, fresh coriander), then add about 1/2 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp cumin, and 1 tsp garam masala or curry powder. Let the flavors come together for 7 minutes or so. It will start to look and smell like an Indian-style tomato sauce. Stir periodically.

In the meanwhile, get out some vegetable stock from your freezer or pantry. Store-bought stock from a can, carton, or bouillon is fine but I recommend using a no- or low-sodium brand in that case; more nutritional information about vegetable stocks can be found here. You’ll also need some vegetable or tomato juice.  Again, if you don’t have homemade that’s fine but the same note about sodium pertains, and here’s another post with additional nutrient information about vegetable juices.

To the onion/tomato/spice mixture add your leftover baingan bharta; I had about 2 cups. Stir together and let the flavors develop for another 5 minutes at medium heat.  To this mixture add your stock and vegetable juice. This really isn’t exact. How much liquid you use will depend upon the size of the tomatoes and amount of leftover eggplant curry you had on hand.  Start with about 2 cups of juice and 2 cups of stock or so and see how it looks. (More liquid=thinner soup, less liquid=thicker soup, as you might guess.) Check out my tomato soup video if you like, as the general approach is the same.

Stir in the liquids, raise the heat to high, bring up to a boil, and then turn down to a simmer. I generally tend to let my soups stew for awhile. In this case, however, much of the flavors had already come together in the original dish, so I only gave it an additional 20 minutes. Give it a taste. Readjusting the seasoning could be necessary depending on your initial baingan bharta flavors, the sodium content and flavor of your stocks and juices, and your own palate. At this point I often add more black pepper, cumin, and garam masala. Add a bit more of whatever you think it needs 1/2 tsp at a time to avoid over seasoning, then stir and taste again. Continue with this process until you say “Mmmmmm…” and find yourself reaching for a bowl.

By the way, this is real life, not the Food Network, where everyone usually exclaims “It’s just perfect! It’s doesn’t need a thing!”  Personally, I find that somewhat annoying.  Sure, sometimes that happens for me, too, but more often than not I spend some time in this phase readjusting to get things exactly right – and sipping spoonfuls of soup in so doing. Remember, I make these recipes up, and I’m sharing with you what I’ve done, but you’ll want to adjust to your own tastes. This is why cooking is an art, and so much fun.

It also explains why I’m rarely hungry once I sit down to eat.

Anyway, soup’s on!  And let me tell you that it was absolutely wonderful. I have made many a curry-based soup (red lentil, butternut squash, and Thai coconut curry all come to mind) but never have I made a roasted eggplant and tomato soup. This was a hearty, chunky soup with hunks of eggplant and diced tomatoes. Yum.  Although fabulous on its own, I garnished mine with a dollop of plain yogurt, a traditional Indian accompaniment, and a sprinkle of chopped scallions.  Feel free to omit either, but you might especially appreciate the yogurt if your soup was spicy.

So here’s my final note on the eggplant soup. Guess what motivated this recipe? You’ll never guess, so I’ll just tell you: Au Bon Pain. They have a fairly extensive soup bar, and they had roasted eggplant soup on that particular day. It just so happened that I had been munching on baingan bharta all week long and it inspired me to morph my leftovers into my own variant. I make tons of soup, but I have never begun with leftover Indian food.

You just never know when and where inspiration will strike!

P.K. NewbyDr. P. K. Newby is a nutrition scientist and educator with expertise in the prevention of obesity and chronic diseases through diet and the relations between agriculture, food production, and public health. She brings together her passions for food, cooking, science, and sustainability through her writing and videos to help people eat their way towards better health, one delectable bite at a time. If you like what you see here at The Nutrition Doctor is In the Kitchen, please subscribe to my blog from the home page, become a fan on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, check out my food porn on Pinterest, watch my videos on YouTube, and peruse my recipe page for soups, salads, seafood, sweets, and more. Thank you for reading!

Eggplant, Part 1: Baingan Bharta

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Nothing not to love about eggplant, in my opinion, especially given its glossy purple skin and spongy flesh that can take on a variety of flavors and textures.

Baingan Bharta: Roasted Eggplant, Indian Style

A member of the nightshade family, it’s quite a versatile vegetable and very low in calories. There are lots of things I like to make with it: eggplant terrine with tomato, basil, and goat cheese; grilled eggplant drizzled with balsamic vinegar; eggplant and red pepper purée with whole wheat pita chips; eggplant and lentil salad with toasted walnuts; and grilled vegetable parmagiana with eggplant, zucchini, portabello mushrooms, and buffalo mozzarella all come to mind. I occasionally also add some to tomato sauce when I’m in the mood for a heartier variant.  I love all of these dishes, and have made them many times, but the days of farm-market-fresh eggplant were quickly waning: I wanted to try something new.

Enter baingan bharta, one of my favorite North Indian dishes. I adore Indian food and have made lots of it in my time, but I had never made baingan bharta. No better time than the present, right?

As this was my first time making it, I simply googled “baingan bharta” to peruse what was out there and eventually employed a variant of this recipe.  I began by roasting two big eggplants and two large tomatoes; I also added some mustard seeds during preparation. The big difference is that I could not bear (she says, dramatically) to throw out the nutrient-rich skins of both eggplants. I do think that a good portion of the eggplant needs to be mashed to retain the authenticity and flavors of the dish, so one skin had to go. However, I decided to chop the second eggplant into large bite-sized chunks and add them unmashed, peel and all. This provided alluring color, as you could then see some purple peeking through the dish (above, left).  Retaining chunks and peels also added lovely texture and increased the nutrient content.  Finally, because the eggplant hunks required more mastication (chewing) than mashed eggplant, my version of the dish takes more time to eat. Combining the increased chewing time and extra fiber helps you to feel fuller on fewer calories, which are both great strategies to manage weight. (I recently added a new page to my blog “On Weight” so check it out if you haven’t seen it yet.)

Raita: Indian Yogurt Sauce

I was delighted with the way this dish turned out, and it worked beautifully served with brown jasmine rice and raita.

To Peel, or Not to Peel: That is the Question

(Groan. Work with me here, I’m desperately trying to find something amusing to say about eggplant, but it’s been a long couple of weeks and I’ve got nothing. Clearly.)

The skins of vegetables are loaded in nutrients and fiber. Remember that it’s the deep colors of vegetables that often indicate valuable phytonutrients (i.e., bioactive, health promoting chemicals found in vegetables). This is one reason why consuming a variety of brightly colored vegetables and fruits is so important to health.  In addition to other beneficial nutrients, eggplant skin contains an anthocyanin known as nasunin, which is a powerful antioxidant with a deep purple hue. Some skins are incredibly fibrous and can’t easily be consumed or digested by humans, but I think a lot of people peel vegetables out of habit, or from what they experienced as a kid. I encourage you to rethink this strategy. I never peel carrots, for example. And potatoes? I eat them infrequently, but if I use chopped potatoes like thin-skinned yukon gold in a soup or, say, aloo gobe, l don’t peel them. Eggplant and other vegetables have fiber inside as well as out, but you’ll get more if you keep the skins on. As well, there are many different types of fibers (soluble and insoluble, for starters), and consuming both the skin and flesh ensures you are getting the most nutrition out of your vegetables.  We all need more fiber, which is associated with less cardiovascular disease and some cancers, and antioxidants are important in fighting off our daily oxidative insults that are associated with aging and some cancers.

One caveat is because the skins are what came into contact with the earth and/or whatever chemicals were used to grow them, it’s important to wash your vegetables really well before using them. (Water works just fine.)  It is always better to choose organic produce if you are able in order to reduce your pesticide exposure, but if you can’t find it, can’t afford it, or whatever, the health benefits of eating any vegetables and fruits far outweighs whatever risks you incur from consuming non-organically grown produce. More on this topic is coming very soon!

Shakespeare AND eggplant, all in one post? (“To thine own self be true” is one of my favorite lines from Hamlet, by the way.) Herein lies the beauty of writing: you never quite know where exactly things will go. Nevertheless, I hope you’ve found a little inspiration somewhere in here today at week’s end, whether via eggplant, Indian food, or the Bard.

And don’t forget to check back soon for eggplant, part 2, where I’ll tell you what I did with some of my leftover baingan bharta…

(So Shakespeare walks into a farmers’ market…)

P.K. NewbyDr. P. K. Newby is a nutrition scientist and educator with expertise in the prevention of obesity and chronic diseases through diet and the relations between agriculture, food production, and public health. She brings together her passions for food, cooking, science, and sustainability through her writing and videos to help people eat their way towards better health, one delectable bite at a time. If you like what you see here at The Nutrition Doctor is In the Kitchen, please subscribe to my blog from the home page, become a fan on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, check out my food porn on Pinterest, watch my videos on YouTube, and peruse my recipe page for soups, salads, seafood, sweets, and more. Thanks for reading!

Holiday Cooking Has Begun! (Indian Food Included)

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No, I haven’t made Christmas cookies yet, and I’m only vaguely considering what to bring for Thanksgiving dinner, which I am not hosting this year, alas. I actually just found a bag of a Christmas sugar cookies from last year hidden in the depths of my freezer. (Notes to self: Bake fewer cookies this year and/or give more away. Also, discard last year’s cookies that now likely have freezer burn.)

My holiday baking began with last Monday’s impromptu Halloween pumpkin whoopie pies with maple buttercream – recipe still to come, I promise – and culminated in the weekend’s brownie making to bring to a Diwali celebration. Diwali, the Festival of Lights, is a major holiday in India; I was specifically asked to bring brownies to add to the dessert table’s array of mostly Indian sweets; usually, I’d make something a bit more enthralling.

I actually rarely prepare brownies from scratch. (See above note.) I bake many trays twice yearly for our shows, like the hilarious farce Lend Me a Tenor opening this week on Friday, November 11. I make several pans per performance, however, so I don’t do that by hand. Too time consuming, and too expensive. Why am I telling you this, you ask? It’s no big secret; I never take credit for things I haven’t done, so I simply say, when people oooh and aaah over the brownies – and boy do they – that they can simply buy a box of Ghiradelli triple chocolate chunk brownies and they, too, will have warm gooey brownies oozing with chocolate chunks. There are a number of really stellar brownie mixes on the shelves, which is very helpful in these situations.

That said, if I’m making something for my home or a party, clearly I’m going to make it from scratch. I used Martha Stewart’s recipe and it did not disappoint. These were intensely chocolately brownies that I have no doubt would satisfy the most discerning of palates. I thought they were outstanding, but couldn’t find the exact recipe online as mine was hardcopy from one of the magazines this year. When I tried to find it, there were way too many variants from which to choose – including one where she bakes brownies with Snoop Dogg (insert obvious references here, or check out the article and YouTube video and see for yourself). I added about a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter, which used mainly dark chocolate (70% cacao). I also used white whole wheat flour, which worked splendidly and had no deleterious effect on taste and texture whatsoever. I would tell you, trust me; I take my baking very seriously and there are times when only white flour will do. (No, the substitution of 100% whole wheat flour for white flour for does not make brownies a health food.)

Baingan Bharta (Indian Roasted Eggplant Curry)

Brownies aside, I had already been thinking that it’s been awhile since I’ve made Indian food, so, inspired by Saturday’s Diwali feast, I got a few dishes underway on Sunday. I made baingan bharta (right), which is roasted eggplant, as well as aloo gobi (below right, cauliflower and potato). Both are North Indian curries that perhaps some of you have had before. I also made some raita (below, left) and jasmine brown rice to accompany the curries. I prepared extra, as I don’t have a lot of time to cook this week and I wanted to have food on hand for those late post-theatre evenings.

Aloo Gobi (Cauliflower, Potatoes, and Peas Masala)

Between the Indian dishes, my copious salad ingredients, and a night or two of take out, I will be set for the week. Getting my salad greens prepped and some cooking done on the weekends to have food on hand for the week is really critical for me: it’s a strategy that keeps me healthy, happy, and enjoying fresh meals even when I don’t have time to cook. I also made enough food such that I’ll put a container of each Indian dish into the freezer for future consumption.

Raita (Indian Yogurt-Cucumber Sauce)

As we move into the cooler months, you will see that cooking ethnic foods from the Eastern world is a big part of my repertoire, including Indian and Thai in particular but also Japanese and Chinese. I had so much fun taking a cooking class when I visited Thailand a few years back, where I learned to make such staples as pad thai, vegetable green curry, and chicken lemongrass soup, among others.

Anyhow, I agree that it feels a bit early to get into all the holiday hullabaloo already, but the lights are coming up along the streets, travel plans are in development, and a slew of seasonal films are arriving in the theaters. Thanksgiving is just about two weeks away, and visions of bourbon pecan pie dance in my head, alongside pumpin bread pudding with homemade vanilla bean ice cream and caramel sauce. (The latter is one of the top desserts I made last year, hands down, and I will definitely be making that again. Perhaps this year I’ll try it with caramel ice cream or crème anglaise…)

Plus, this year the holidays will take on a discernibly different twist, as I’ll be sharing them with you, my readers – and I very much look forward to that.

P.K. NewbyDr. P. K. Newby is a nutrition scientist and educator with expertise in the prevention of obesity and chronic diseases through diet and the relations between agriculture, food production, and public health. She brings together her passions for food, cooking, science, and sustainability through her writing and videos to help people eat their way towards better health, one delectable bite at a time. If you like what you see here at The Nutrition Doctor is In the Kitchen, please subscribe to my blog from the home page, become a fan on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, check out my food porn on Pinterest, watch my videos on YouTube, and peruse my recipe page for soups, salads, seafood, sweets, and more. Thanks for reading!