Cooking Eggplant Stelios @ Shoprite!

I never imagined that I'd be doing a cooking class with the lovely Nicole Hallissey, the dietitian at Shoprite of Oakland. But, when I went to see her for my cholesterol problem(there I go again!) we ended up planning to cook Greek together.

I suggested my deliciously healthy Eggplant Stelios(guess who?) and she rounded up the meal with a yogurt based hummus and a Greek Salad.

Here's how it went:

Chop parsley, onion, garlic and eggplant. Saute onion, garlic, add parsley tomatoes and eggplant.(see full recipe below.)

Add a 32oz. can of tomatoes

Nicole's Greek salad. Yum!

Chickpeas, garlic, fat free Greek yogurt and a little olive oil!

Greek Hummus!

 

 

 It's not Greek until you pour on the olive oil!

 

The finished product. Yummy, eggplant, tomato stew! Trust me, you'll love it!
Think caponata, but better!

Three of our participants!

Nicole and I

 

Thank you, Nicole, I had a blast!

 

Eggplant Imam (Stelios’s recipe)
serves 4 as a main dish

2 lbs eggplant, cut into 1-inch cubes

2 large onions, minced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup of minced parsley

1 large can of crushed tomatoes

1 soupspoon of corn oil

¼ cup of olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Brown the onions and garlic in a thick-bottomed pot with the vegetable oil. Add the tomato puree, the olive oil, parsley, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and add the eggplant to the pot. Bring to a boil stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon (scrape the bottom of the pot with the spoon to prevent sticking and burning of the ingredients, especially if the bottom is not thick enough; avoid crushing the eggplant). Simmer until eggplant is soft (about 30 min). Let the pot stand for a while (in the fridge, if longer than a few hours) and reheat before serving.

Note: The dish gets better after a day or two. Eggplant is best served over rice or bulgur pilaf and plain yogurt.

 Enjoy!

 

Maria

 

Garbanzo Beans over Fresh Mesclun Salad- Bounty from my Garden

I was raised in Cyprus at a time when people grew a lot of their food. My family grew their own olives, oranges, tangerines, lemons, plums, almonds, walnuts, herbs, chickens, my grandma had a donkey and a goat(we never ate the donkey, we rode him and grandma milked the goat). They baked their own breads, made their own halloumi cheese (you haven't lived until you eat freshly made, still warm hallouni cheese.)

They also preserved a lot of their crops. We gathered the olives, loaded them on dad's VW beetle  and took them to the mill for olive oil. Mom made walnut preserves, orange rind preserves, orangeade, lemonade, watermelon rind preserves, cherry preserves. She dried her herbs and kept them in jars for the winter. What can I say? I grew up eating a lot of preserves and olive oil and I love them!

But, I don't live in a Mediterranean climate so I only have a few things growing in my garden. Yet, those formative early years have made me a person who loves to garden and bake.

This week, it's lunch with salad greens from my garden:. I picked them, double washed them, dried them and ate them!

Serves 2
1 can garbanzo(chickpeas)beans drained
1 tablespoon chopped onion
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
juice of one lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups mesclun greens
1 orange  peeled and cut into 8 pieces
4 tablespoons sautéed wild mushrooms
4 anchovy fillets

Place the garbanzo beans in a bowl. Add the onion, parsley, lemon juice and olive oil. Mix.
Divide the mesclun greens between two plates.
Top with half each garbanzo mixture. To that add half each of the sautéed mushrooms. Divide orange pieces between the two plates. Place two anchovies on each plate on top.
Grind some fresh pepper and sea salt, drizzle with good Greek extra virgin olive oil (I use Kalamata from Trader Joe's) and serve with some hearty multigrain bread.

 

Kali Orexi as they say in Greece and Cyprus!
Enjoy!
Maria