Eggplant and Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes

 While I miss having a CSA to rely on, I do visit the Farmers Market every chance I get.  This past weekend, I got the first of the eggplant for the season.  Unfortunately, there was only one small one!  So, last night, I decided to make a quiche out of it with some beautiful heirloom cherry tomatoes.  It is important I decided to do this last night because as always, when you want to put fresh vegetables into a quiche, you must do what you can to reduce the extra liquid added to the dish.  Instead of only doiing 20 - 40 minutes with the salt, I decided to slice the eggplant last night, salt it and let it rest in the refrigerator over night, to get as much liquid out as I could.  I didn't, however, remove the liquid from the tomatoes, even though I roasted them until they burst, so I am fully expecting liquid around the quiche.  But it smells so good while it is cooking!!!

Roasted Eggplant & Heirloom Cherry Tomato Crustless Quiche

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 small eggplant*, sliced lengthwise into ¼ inch slices

2 cups mixed heirloom cherry tomatoes*

1 head garlic*

Cooking spray

6 large farm fresh eggs*

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 ½ Cups Milk (I used 1% organic milk)

1 oz crumbled goat cheese

1 up shredded Swiss & Gruyere cheese

Directions:

1.      Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Slice the eggplant and lay in a single layer on sheet.  Sprinkle with salt.  Allow to rest 1 – 8 hours (refrigerate if over 1 hour).  This will draw excess liquid from the eggplant.

2.      Preheat oven to 400F.  Pat the eggplant slices to absorb excess moisture.  Line a large cookie sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.  Lay eggplant slices evenly over the cookie sheet.  Spread tomatoes between the slices.  Cut the top and bottom off garlic head and place head in middle of cookie sheet.  Spray all with cooking spray.  Roast for 20 minutes, turning pan halfway through cooking.  When done cooking, reduce oven to 375F.

3.      Remove garlic to cutting board to cool.  Place tomatoes in a colander to drain excess liquid.  Pat dry the eggplant.

4.      In a medium mixing bowl, crack eggs and season with salt and pepper.  Beat eggs until uniform in color.  Slowly add milk and beat until a light lemon yellow.

5.      To assemble: Spray baking dish with cooking spray.  Place one layer of eggplant in the bottom of the dish.  Add burst tomatoes.  Peel cloves of garlic and spread throughout the tomato layer.  Place a second layer of eggplant over tomatoes.  Sprinkle with goat cheese.  Slowly pour eggs over vegetables, then sprinkle Swiss/Gruyere over top.

6.      Bake at 375F for 40 minutes, or until toothpick, inserted into center, comes out clean.  Allow to sit for 5-7 minutes before serving. 

* Farmer's market items.

Instant Pot Red Wine Short Ribs

 Well, it is official, I am ready for the farmer's market to open again  I thawed the last batches of local short ribs and decided to make ragu.  And I just happened to have a package of potato gnocchi I needed to use.

Instant Pot Red Wine Short Ribs

adapted from: https://www.lifasastrwberry.com/instant-pot-short-ribs

2 lbs boneless beef short ribs

salt & pepper to taste

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 medium sweet onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

12 oz baby portobello mushrooms, sliced

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 1/2 cups red wine (I used a red blend)

3 cups homemade roasted tomato marinara

Instructions:

1) Generously salt and pepper all sides of your short ribs

2) Set Instant Pot to saute setting and add olive oil.  When pot is hot, add short ribs and sear for 3-5 minutes per side until golden brown. 

3) Remove short ribs from pot and set aside. 

4) Add onions and mushrooms to pot and stir to combine.  Cook until all water from mushrooms is evaporated.  Add garlic, cook a minute until it becomes fragrant.

5) Add balsamic vinegar and red wine to pot to deglaze.  Make sure to scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pan with your spoon or spatula.  Bring to a simmer.

6) Press "cancel" button to turn off saute setting.

7) Add short ribs back to the pot, nestling them in with the onions and mushrooms.  Pour tomato sauce over the ribs (do not stir).

8) Lock the Instant Pot lid in place, move the valve to "sealing" and set the cook time to 65 minutes on high (if you are using boneless ribs, cooke at 50 minutes)

9) When cook time has finished, let the pressure release naturally for 15 mintues, then do a quick release of any remaining pressure by carefully moving the valve to venting. Let the pot vent until the pin drops.  Then carefully remove the lid away from you to avoid steam.

10) Remove the cooked ribs to a plate to cool.  

11) Add the gnocchi to the pot and stir.  Place lid back into place and move the valve to "sealing".  Press cancel to turn off "Keep warm".  The set the cook time to 6 minutes on high.

12) While the gnocchi are cooking, remove the beef from the bones and fat.  

13) When the cooking time is over, do a quick release by carefully moving the valve to "venting"

14) Once the pin drops, carefully open the lid away from you.  Stir the shredded ribs back into the pot.  Let the mixuter cook for about 5-10 minutes more to thicken a bit.

 

Summer Staple - Ratatouille Quiche

 The thing that I love the most about summer is the ability to get all of the ingredients for Ratatouille.  It is one of my two favorite dishes to eat.  I make a big batch and then use it in other dishes.  Today, I used it in my quiche.  The most common recipe I use for my ratatouille is very wet, as I like to use it for a pasta sauce, so I have to remove as much moisture as I can before using it in the quiche.  It has been quite a journey to find the best material to use to do that.  Today, I tried a linen napkin, with pretty good results.  But the weave might be just a bit tight, so the experimentation continues.

Ratatouille Quiche with Goat Cheese

2 cups Ratatouille

1 cup goat cheese crumbles

8 basil leaves, chiffonade

8 large eggs

2 cups milk (I used 2%)

salt & pepper

1 1/2 cups Swiss cheese, shredded

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375 F.  Using cheese cloth or a linen towel, squeeze as much moisture as possible from the ratatouille.  Place ratatouille in a prepared casserole dish.

2) Sprinkle vegetables with goat cheese crumble.  Chiffonade the basil and sprinkle over the vegetables and goat cheese.

3) In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, milk and salt & pepper until well mixed. Pour over the vegetables.  Sprinkle with Swiss cheese.

4) Bake for 40 minutes or until center is set.  Allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Note: the recipe for my ratatouille is linked above.

 

Catching up - Eggplant day!

 I was just reminded by an old friend that there was a reason I started this blog.  While I am not subscribed to a CSA this summer, I am making regular trips to the farmers market and my garden is starting to produce.  So, today I have been cooking with eggplant all day.  So, first, here are some pictures of my garden this year;

I have a LOT of basil, but I truly believe you can never have enough basil!  

Today I picked my second Rosa Bianca Eggplant.  I turned the first one into eggplant pizza, but today I decided to make a lasagna.  Who knew a softball sized lasagna would make such a large lasagna!

Eggplant Lasagna

1 small Rosa Bianca (or globe) eggplant

salt

1 lb ground turkey

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 small sweet onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

24 oz. spaghetti sauce (I used Classico roasted garlic sauce this time)

8 basil leaves, chiffonaded

16 oz whole milk ricotta

1 large egg

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 1/2 cups Mozzarella, shredded

Instructions:

1. Slice the eggplant lengthwise into 1/8 inch slices.  Lay slices on double layers of paper towels.  Sprinkle with salt and allow to sit for 20 minutes until.  This is to remove the moisture from the eggplant.  Using another double layer of paper towels, sop up the moisture that results and brush excess salt off slices.  Set aside.

2. In a large skillet over med-high heat, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil.  Cook the onions over med-high heat until they start to become translucent.  Add ground turkey and cook until no longer pink.  Add garlic and cook and stir for about a minute more.  Drain this mixture.  

3. In a prepared casserole dish,, pour in about 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce. Pour remaining sauce into meat mixture and mix well.  Cook for about 2 minutes and then add basil and mix well.  Cook for about 10 minutes to thicken sauce.

4. Meanwhile, stir together ricotta, egg, and parmesan cheese until well mixed. 

5. To assemble, place about 6 slices of eggplant into casserole over sauce.  Spoon about half of the ricotta mixture over eggplant and spread evenly.  Spoon 1/3 of sauce over ricotta and sprinkle with 1/3 of the mozzarella.  Repeat those layers once.  Then layer on remaining slices of eggplant and sauce and top with the remaining mozzarella.  Cover and bake at 375 for 30 minutes.  Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes or until the cheese is browned.

Note: The eggplant was a bit al dente in this initial run.  I would suggest cooking the slices for a short while before layering them in the casserole.  Or you could increase the covered cooking time to 40 minutes.

Farmers Market Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Casserole

My colleague gave me a heads-up about being able to pick up a box of goods from a local farmers market.  I decided it was worth a 45 minute drive to get some fresh ingredients and in that box was ground been and a large head of cabbage.  I decided a perfect thing to do with that was to make a cabbage roll casserole.  I love stuffed cabbage, but I have a tiny kitchen, so it is hard to find the space to actually do the rolls.  So, instead, I decided to do an "unstuffed" casserole.  I also decided to try it in my Instant Pot, which makes life so easy because I can cook while I am working during this stay-at-home time.

Instant Pot Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Casserole

Adapted from https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/instant-pot-cabbage-roll-casserole/

1 lb ground beef
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
6 cups shredded cabbage (I used fresh, but you could likely use coleslaw mix)
1 cup quinoa (will also work with rice or brown rice)
1 1/2 cup beef stock
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes (I used fire-roasted)
1 cup sharp cheddar, shredded

Turn on your Instant Pot to Saute.  Add beef and break up.  Sprinkle with onion and garlic powders and cook until no longer pink.  Remove beef to plate lined with paper towels and pour off excess fat.  Return beef to instant pot and turn off Saute.  Add 1/2 of the stock and scrape brown bits from bowl.  Layer on the cabbage and then sprinkle with quinoa (or rice).  Pour remaining stock over the quinoa.  Then pour tomato sauce and tomatoes over all.  Place lid onto Instant Pot and make sure steam valve is closed.  Cook on High pressure for 8 minutes.  Allow to naturally off-steam for 10 minutes and then do a quick release (use a spoon or other utensil to open steam valve).  Then open lid, stir casserole to mix thoroughly and then sprinkle with cheese.  Replace lid and allow cheese to melt for 10 minutes.  Serve!

This could also be done in a slow cooker.  While cooking, you would need to monitor the level of liquid, but this should work as written.  However, stir ingredients before putting on lid for cooking in a slow cooker.  Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or HIGH 3-4 hours.  Add cheese at end and allow to melt before serving.

This recipe makes about 16 servings and is 3 points per serving on WW purple.

Sweet Corn & Chorizo

It has been SO long since I have blogged here.  I am not really sure why, other than the fact that my life has been in such a flux for the past couple years.  But I am finally settled for a little while, so I figured it was time to post a new recipe.  Our CSA started back up about a month ago.  I have been traveling so much that I have not managed to cook for a while, but tonight I needed to use up some corn.  I had already put up 12 ears a couple weeks ago, so I didn't want to freeze this batch.  So I decided it was time to give my slow cooker a workout too and make some chowder.  As I was putting it all together, I remembered that I had a beautiful Spanish chorizo, so I diced some of it and used it to flavor the chowder.

Corn & Chorizo Chowder

5 ears of corn*, kernels cut off
5 small red skin* potatoes
1 small candy onion*, chopped
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
4 oz Spanish chorizo, diced
1 cup evaporated milk or heavy cream

1. Cut corn kernels from the cob.  Set aside 1 cup kernels.  Add all ingredients into crock of slow-cooker.  Cover and cook on LOW until potatoes are cooked.

2. Remove half of the chowder to a blender.  Allow to cool slightly, then puree until smooth.  Return puree to crockpot and add evaporated milk or cream.  Cook on LOW until heated through.  Garnish with fresh corn, if desired.

*CSA ingredients

Mini-Quiches Lorraine

I promised that I would post the recipe for the mini quiches from Home Chef from a couple weeks ago and because of travel and then the beginning of the school year, I never got around to posting.  So, here is the recipe:

Mini-Quiches Lorraine
Adapted from: Home Chef recipe

• 4 fl. oz. Liquid Egg (or 2 whole eggs)
• 3 bacon strips
• 1 shallot (or small onion)
• 4 puff pastry dough squares (frozen foods)
• 2 fl oz milk
• 1 1/2 oz shredded Swiss cheese
• Salt & Pepper

 Preheat oven to 400F.  Prepare a 6-well muffin pan (or a 12-well if that is all you have) with cooking spray.  Dice the bacon into 1/2 inch dice.  Mince the shallot (or finely dice the onion).  Thaw the puff pastry.
In a medium skillet, place bacon over medium heat.  Cook 5-8 minutes, stirring occassionally, or until crisp.  Remove pieces to a towel lined plate.  Separate the pastry squares and place each square in the muffin tin.  Lightly lift and press the dough into the cups.  The dough should cover the bottoms and sides, with the corners of each dough sticking over the edges.  Refrigerate tin while preparing remaining ingredients. 
Drain most of the bacon drippings from the skillet (leaving about 2 tsp) and a place over medium heat.  Add the shallots and saute, until the shallots have softened and started to brown.  Remove from heat and set aside.  
Mix the liquid egg (eggs), milk, shallots, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper in a mixing bowl.  Remove the muffin tin from the refrigerator.  Divide the bacon and cheese between the cups, then fill cups 2/3 full with egg mixture.  Roll and crimp quiche edges and place the muffin tin on a prepared baking sheet (in case they overflow while cooking).  Bake 20-25 minutes or until dough browns and filling is set (doesn't jiggle when pan is tapped).  Rest quiches 5 minutes before carefully removing from muffin tin.