Baked Eggplant with Cheddar Cheese

My and eggplant...we have a very complicated story between us, but I keep doing it as much as I can, especially when my hungry imagination is ready to add some spices that may challenge my first (bad) impression about it. 

This time, I wanted to test my new Zwilling, a present from a dear friend, and decided that, among other things that I am planning to prepare, eggplant is the easiest, affordable one. Especially when some spices, courtesy of Spice Kitchen UK, part of their Brand Ambassador Program are added. The result was surprisingly tasty, rich in flavors and made it into a good side dish for a milky-/cheese-based meal. I will only add some fresh cucumber and tomato salad, for a touch of freshness and call it a good meal! 

Ingredients

- 1 medium-sized eggplant
- 3 cloves garlic, finelly minced
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Fenugreek
- 1/2 teaspoon Berbere which are a combination of many spices, such as red chilli, garlic, black peppercorns, cardamom, onion. It also has fenugreek, but I personally wanted a stronger presence of this spice, therefore I added it as a separate ingredient too.
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 slices of Cheddar Cheese - you can also use Edamer Cheese and any other hard cheese variant.

Directions

Roast the eggplant on the stove at 250C, turning it on all sides at least for 45 minutes. Peel it well, careful to clean all the black parts. Slice it and put it into the baking pan. Warm the oven at 250C, at least 10 minutes before starting the baking. Add the lemon zest, the salt, the spices, the garlic. Be sure that you turn the eggplant on both sides to smear the ingredients properly. Add the cheese on the top.

Bake it for around 45 minutes. 

Serve it warm. The spices and the lemon zest add a complex, sweet-sour taste and consistency to the eggplant. 

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: Roasting: 45 minutes. Baking: 45 minutes

Serves: 2

Bon Appétit!

Mozzarella Sandwich with a Special Guest Ingredient

Who doesn't fancy a good fat sandwich, as a post-training treat? Especially if you are longing for the an afternoon healthy yet consistent snack, finding the right combination of ingredients is a challenge I will always answer positively. Especially when it involves combining relatively unusual ingredients, such as fruits with cheese. What do you think, are you in?

I was inspired by the very talented Chanie from Busy in Brooklyn to dare to use the very complex persimmon fruit not only as part of a fruit salad, but also in a savory recipe. It was a right decision to do so.

Ingredients
- 1 fresh hamburger bun, halved
- 250 gr. Mozzarella cheese, sliced
- 2 tablespoons of fresh cheese or 2 tablespoon of goat cheese spread
- 1/2 avocado, sliced
- 1/2 persimmon fruit, sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon of za'atar

Directions

Spread the goat cheese/fresh cheese on the bun. Add a slice of Mozarella, a slice of persimmon, another slice of Mozzarella, the za'atar, the avocado and the other half of the bun. Feel free to make your own combination, but I would keep the Mozzarella and the persimmon in. If you love goat cheese - I personally do - it adds a strong taste to the cheese combination, as it does the za'atar, otherwise you need to find some ingredient which balances the sweetness/neutrality of the taste. Persimmon is moderately sweet therefore it needs some smoothly contrast.

You can also add a slice of tomato, instead of avocado, for instance, or some coriander/parsley leaves. Maybe I just need to continue improving my sandwich preparation skills. It makes it into a great afternoon threat and it is a lot of tasty fun for hungry active children too.

To be served fresh, with a glass of mint lemonade.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Serves: 2 hungry people

Bon Appétit!

2 Cauliflower 'Rice' Recipes to die for

Am I the last one to try cauliflower 'rice'? Recommended as a healthy and calories-free alternative to rice, this invention is making waves in the foodie world for a couple of years already but only last week landed to my kitchen. 

The following two recipes were created from scratch, using a medium sized cauliflower, shredded in the food processor. In each case, it serves 3 hungry people.

Veggies overflow

Ingredients:

- half of the 'rice' of a medium cauliflower

- one medium-sized onion, finelly cut

- 1 teaspoon brown sugar

- 100 gr. fresh shiitake mushrooms, finelly cut

- 150 gr. fresh cottage cheese

- 2 tablespoon corn oil

- 200 gr. fresh canned corn

- 100 gr. Allgäuer Emmental, finelly shredded

- 1 fresh tomato sliced for decoration

- 1 teaspoon za'atar

Directions:

Add the oil, the onions and the brown sugar in a pan, at 250C. Mix and fry until brown. Add the za'atar, 'rice', the 2 sorts of cheese, mushrooms, corn and mix well for around 10 minutes. Serve it with the fresh tomatoes. 

Preparation time

10 minutes

Cooking time

15 minutes

Thai impressions

Ingredients:

- 1/2 'rice' of a medium cauliflower

- 3 tablespoon corn oil

- 2 tablespoons za'atar

- 3 tablespoon cottage cheese

- 2 big garlic cloves, finelly chopped

- 50 gr. Allgäuer Emmentaler shredded

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 100 ml. Wok Sauca - Coconut Lemongrass - which is very spicey

Directions:

Warm the oil in a pan at 250C. Add the ingredients one by one and mix them well. You can accompany it by a a fresh cucumber and tomato salad.

Preparation time

10 minutes

Cooking time

10 minutes

A delicious pistachio sandwich

I am the biggest fan of breakfast and thus, I am trying to be as creative as possible, while keeping up with a busy schedule and a baby too cute to be left on his own any single second. The last week, as I was up early for preparing a very special recipe - details coming up soon - I had some pistachio leftover and decided to try something new for my black bread slice. 

The preparation takes around 5 minutes, which is good timing as you want to do it again and again. As long as you have enough pistachio, why not? You only live once...

Here are the ingredients and the basic directions:

10 pistachio - for the beginning - crushed in the blender

one slice of avocado cream

one drop of olive oil

one slice of yellow cheese

Everything spread on a big black bread slice

Enjoy your breakfast!

Easy recipe: cauliflower soaked in olive oil and lemon juice

I am quite lazy these days, getting ready for some marathon of cooking soon - meaning tomorrow - for Purim seuda and some more work in the kitchen coming up in the next month - because, your guess is right, Pessach is coming. But we still should eat something so tried in less than 30 minutes - 20 minutes to be right - a new very easy recipe, an alteration of the latest cauliflower recipe in the NYTfood edition today.

Ingredients:

1 small cauliflower

3 tablespoon olive oil - it can work with truffle oil too.

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

juice from one lemon

3 garlic gloves, finelly chopped

Serves 2, as an individual meal or in combination with: potatoes, meat or fresh tomatoes or various salads

 Mix the oil, lemon zest, pepper, salt and garlic. Let to rest for around 5 minutes while slowly wisking.

Wash and cut the florets of the cauliflower. Add to the bowl and mix it well for around 5 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oven at 250 Celsius.

Add the ingredients from the bowl on a tray and mix it a bit before leaving in the overn. Turn it on all sides. Bake it for another 10 minutes. If you want it roasted well, you can wait for another 5 minutes or so.
Served at room temperature. If you are in the mood and you are not a big fan of citric juice, why not add one teaspoon of soy sauce too.

Getting used with Chia. One seed at a time

I am not a fashionable person when it comes to foods and I prefer to wait till testing foods or recipes or food trends everyone is recommending. I had and still have my own reserves regarding quinoa - not tasty enough for my preferences - and had some time till I decided to test some chia-based recipes. 

Compared to quinoa, chia is even more difficult to match because it has no taste at all. So, why to pay a lot of money - everywhere the seeds are very expensive and are mostly available at the bio/organic shops - when you cannot get any specific experience? This was the question that kept me quite a long time away from it. 

My first experience with chia was in the form of a coconut blueberry pudding at the Einstein Coffee. Served cold, the black chia bubbles were just part of the decorations, but I love the coconut milk so was not worried about wasting my money. Later on, I decided to try myself through a couple of recipes. 

The tiny tasteless seeds are rich in protein, fiber, calcium, zinc, magnesium, omega-3, B1, B2, phosphors. Quite an impressive line of vitamins. Add to the list the anti-oxidants, with significant anti-aging contribution.

Their preparation is easy. Soak them in cold water twice the quantity of the seeds and wait between 2 and 10 hours. They expand multiple times in size and gives you a feeling of fullness when eaten in various combinations. Till now, I used two tablespoons of chia and 1 cup water, and kept them together for around 2 hours. 

You cannot eat them raw - or you can, but doesn't make too much sense - but in combination to smoothies or puddings. Some may even sprinkle it on some rice dishes. Another idea is to ground them in the machine and use as a powder basis only. This variant I haven't tested yet.

Chia - the Maya word for strength - is recommended as part of various diets as it delivers a massive amount of nutrients with only few calories. Easy to incorporate in any kind of diets, it is considers also as a factor of improving blood markers, decreasing the risk of heart diseases and of the type 2 diabetes, improving the digestive health and possibly fighting against breast and cervical cancer. The combination between Calcium, Phosphorus and Vitamin A contributes to maintaining the dental health. It is compared to sport drinks, as it improve the exercise performance. Sometimes, the energy boost is too much, as it happened when I finished one of the coconut milk puddings in the evening and cut my appetite for sleep - already limited - considerably. 

Recipes

In both cases I used 2 tablespoons of chia - around 140 calories - with 1 cup of water for preparing the seeds. Let to soak for around 2 hours.I added fresh blueberries and slices of bananas, plus 200 ml. coconut milk. Left in the fridge for around 2 hours and served it as breakfast treat. It serves three.

For diversity, the next time I also added some raspberries and was even happier with the result. Some other ideas will be to add some dried apricots, dates, pineapple. Right now, I am thinking about a simple banana coconut pudding. I haven't feel the need to add any sugar, as the fruits do have enough natural sweetness already. 

As for now, I will probably keep trying more recipes. If you keep the seeds in a dry cool place, the long shelf life is guaranteed so I don't have to worry about wasting the money.

Pasta ideas

I am a big fan of pasta, and not only because I can have a very delicious and affordable meal in less than 30 minutes, but also because I can create new recipes each time.

First, there is a great variety of pasta types that you can find nowadays on the market, with various ingredients and shapes. This last aspect is very important for children that may be extremely bothered to see that for the last 3 days they were served only pasta. You can tell them that yesterday it was the shell, today you have the dinos and tomorrow maybe some spirals.

When it comes to the ingredients for the pasta, there are several possibilities.

The simplest one is to add some tomato sauce. As for me, I prefer fresh ingredients, such as cherry tomatoes with basilicum and some olive oil. The pine seeds will change completely the taste of the meal.

You can also think about various sauces:
- spinach, with 2 table spoons of melted butter, garlic, salt, 1/2 spoon of black/or Cayenne pepper;
- pesto, 1 pepperoni, mushrooms, tomatoes, basilicum;
- 250 gr. finely chopped mushrooms, 1 zucchini, 10-15 black or green olives, garlic;
- ricotta cheese, with basilicum, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and 10-15 finelly chopped black olives;
- 50 g almonds, 1/4 tablespoon black pepper, 100 g mushrooms finelly chopped, 2 spoons balsamico;
- 250 g tunna fish, finelly chopped with 1/4 tablespoon black pepper, garlic finelly chopped, 1 tablespoon olive oil.

The list could continue and once you are into the business of preparing pasta you can hardly go out by your own will. Unless you have some serious diet concerns.

Bon Appetit!