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.

Tomatoes & Beef

I love productive days.  Today it was productive because I managed to get caught up on most of my school work.  But I also got a bunch of cooking and baking done.

So, lets start with the cooking.  I am from a Sicilian/Irish family (with some other UK islands mixed in there).  Because of that, Italian was a staple in our house.  But since my gastric surgery, I don't really eat pasta, so Italian is rather non-existent.  I did, however, have a couple pounds of ground beef to use up and really had a taste for my mom's meat sauce, so I recreated it in my new crockpot.

Meaty Mushroom Spaghetti Sauce

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 8 oz sliced button mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1 Tbsp mince garlic
• 2 lbs ground beef
• 1 (28-oz) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 (28-oz) can whole tomatoes, broken up
• 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.  Add onions and cook until just translucent.  Add mushrooms and continue cooking until moisture is evaporated.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant.  Pour into crockpot.

Return pan to heat and saute beef, breaking up as cooking, until no longer pink.  Add this to the crock pot.  Add the tomatoes, seasonings and cheese.  Cover and cook for 6-8 hours on LOW.

Super Bowl, CSA Style

Two things about this Super Bowl: First, it's just me this year, so I'm going light on the food. Second, does anyone care about this matchup, really? My friends at work do a pool that I have benefitted quite nicely from for the last 3 years. So, there is my reason for watching: to see if I win anything again.

 That said, you do kind of have to make something to enjoy during the game. This year, I had everything I needed to make spaghetti sauce with Italian sausage. And since I did that and had a pizza crust in my freezer (from the CSA, of course), I decided on sausage mushroom pizza. Here, I must add a shootout to Clark Pope. If you'll remember, we got Berkshire ribs in the last share and I prepared them in the oven using BBQ sauce from Clark Pope. Today, I used another of his products, roasted cherry tomatoes in fig oil. I have used these before, in an eggplant and roasted pepper (also a Clark Pope product) sauce. I cannot express just how much I like these products. It makes me happy that I will continue with the summer CSA, so I can, hopefully, enjoy more of these wonderful products!

Crockpot Italian Sausage Sauce

• 2 jars Roasted cherry tomatoes in fig oil*
• 1 (28-oz) can whole plum tomatoes
• 1 medium yellow onion,* diced 
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb Italian sausage

Heat olive oil in a medium skillet. Add onions and saute until onions are translucent.Transfer to Crockpot. Add remaining ingredients and cook, covered, 6-8 hours on Low.

Superbowl Sausage Mushroom Pizza

• 1 ball seasoned pizza dough*
• 1/4 cup sauce (see above)
• 1 Italian sausage link* sliced
• 1 (4-oz) can sliced Mushrooms
• 4 oz fresh mozzarella*

Preheat oven to 450°F. Stretch dough to a 12-inch circle.Spoon sauce into center of dough and spread, leaving a 1/4-inch margin. Distribute sausage and mushrooms evenly over pizza. Sprinkle with mozzarella.Ideally, bake directly on a pizza stone for a crisp crust. Alternatively, bake on a prepared pizza sheet. Crust will be softer. Bake 10-12 minutes or until cheese is brown and bubbly.

* CSA ingredients

Zucchini and tomatoes

Last week, I ended up with a lot of tomatoes, zucchini and summer squash.  I needed a quick way to use some of it up and thought; "Why not put it in the crockpot?".  My husband had also brought me a pound of ground buffalo when he came down to visit last weekend.  For some reason, we were not able to find time to cook it up, and it needed to be cooked, so that will be my protein.  Since I am part Italian, I tend to default to a basil/oregano based sauce, but I would imagine you could season this any way you prefer.

Slow Cooker Buffalo Garden Vegetable Sauce

• 1 lb ground buffalo
• 1 lg cloves garlic, minced*
• 3 lg tomatoes*
• 2 small summer squash*
• 1 med zucchini*
• 1 (11.5 oz) can low-sodium V8
• 1.5 tbsp dried basil (you may use fresh, I just didn't have any)
• 1 tsp dried oregano (this may be fresh too)
• salt & pepper to taste

Heat a skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic and buffalo; saute until buffalo is no longer pink; drain.  Wash squash and tomatoes.  Cut each squash in half legthwise and then slice into 1/4 inch slices; place in crock.  Cut each tomato in half and then into thin wedges; add to crock.  Pour buffalo and garlic over the vegetables.  Sprinkle with basil and oregano.  Pour V8 over entire mixture.  Cover and cook 6-8 hours on LOW.  Adjust seasoning and serve over pasta (not included in calories below). Makes about 8 servings.

This is served over garlic-chive pasta* from Ohio City Pasta Company.

*CSA ingredients

Calories         122.8
Total fat             6.6g
  Sat fat              2.8g
  Poly fat            0.4g
  Mono fat         2.5g
Cholesterol      35.3mg
Sodium            58.9mg
Potassium      449.5mg
Total Carbs       4.6g
  Dietary fiber    1.2g
  Sugars             2.3g
Protein             11.1g