Baked Eggplant and Bell Pepper in Ricotta

Do you have a favorite vegetable? I do. Surprising even to me it's not tomatoes, which I do adore. Instead I'm going to go with eggplant, mostly because I love its adaptability. True, you can't eat eggplant raw. But, oh, the dishes you can prepare with them when cooked. Fry them, bake them, roast them, marinate them... the list goes on and on. And you find them in so many cultures around the world, which adds even more to their versatility and the range of flavor profiles you can create. Right now I have peeled and sliced eggplants tossed in salt and draining excess moisture in preparation for my favorite Italian marinated eggplant appetizer that I like to have in my fridge. On my shopping list is my favorite baba ganoush that I buy at Balboa International Market. I often stir fry eggplant with oyster sauce to top on brown rice. I'll cook it in coconut milk with spices to make a curry.

And in my refrigerator is the beautiful Baked Eggplant and Bell Pepper in Ricotta casserole that I made a couple of days ago. I love this dish. It's got some wonderful elements accompanying the sliced, roasted eggplant: roasted, peeled red and yellow peppers; a tomato sauce I had in the freezer, rich with spicy Italian chicken sausage and mushrooms; and lots of garlic mixed into the ricotta, parmesan, egg mixture. Oh, and I don't want to forget the panko mixed with grated parmesan that tops it all off.

All of these ingredients are layered into a deep 9 X 9-inch ceramic baking dish and baked at high heat for about half an hour. It comes out of the oven brown and bubbling from the cheese. Cut into it and you have layers of sublime flavors all complementing each other. Pair it with a salad and serve with a crisp white wine. Make it ahead and freeze before baking or freeze baked slices well wrapped to enjoy later.

Baked Eggplant and Bell Pepper in Ricotta 
(printable recipe)
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil plus about a teaspoon for the baking dish and to drizzle on the casserole
2 large eggplants, sliced lengthwise, about ½ inch thick
3 bell peppers (any color but green, which is too bitter)
15 ounces ricotta
3 eggs
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup grated parmesan cheese plus ¼ cup reserved for topping
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, minced
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 cups marinara sauce
¼ cup panko crumbs

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. Place eggplant slices on two half sheet baking pans and brush lightly on both sides with olive oil. Roast for about 25 minutes, turning slices over halfway. The eggplant slices should be golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside.

3.     While the eggplant is roasting, roast the peppers on your stovetop or alongside the eggplant until all sides are blackened. Remove and place in a brown paper bag with the top rolled up to steam the skins off the peppers. Wait about 10 minutes and remove the peppers and peel the skins off. Slice in half and remove the core and seeds. Then slice into segments and set aside.

4. In a medium bowl mix together the ricotta, eggs, garlic, parmesan cheese, herbs, salt, and pepper. 

5. To put the casserole together, brush an 8-inch baking dish with olive oil. Then layer half of the eggplant on the bottom of the dish. Follow that with half of the marina sauce and a layer of the peppers. Spread with half of the ricotta mixture. Repeat these layers and end with the ricotta mixture. Sprinkle the top with the ¼ cup reserved parmesan cheese and the panko crumbs. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the casserole is bubbling and golden brown. Let cool about 10 minutes before serving.

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Eggplant Onion Gratin

I love eggplant. I love the creamy texture you get when it's cooked that can go anywhere from baba ganoush to eggplant parmesan. I am passionate about an Italian marinated pickled eggplant appetizer I've been making for years.

Recently I've been contemplating making an eggplant gratin. This is kind of a risky dish because eggplants are so mild in flavor that they can simply be overpowered by the other ingredients you pair with them. At first I thought I'd slice the eggplant very thin and stack the layers, alternating with cheese. But ultimately I decided to cube it and toss together the ingredients. Oregano is a great flavor partner with eggplant and I grow it in my garden, so that would be a part of this experiment. So would onions. And garlic. And panko combined with my favorite Trader Joe's grated parmesan romano combo. And goat cheese. That would add the necessary creaminess plus create a little tartness without being too overwhelming. Instead of using butter, I'd use olive oil. I received a sample of olive oils from Baja Olive and decided to use both the natural and garlic flavors for this dish.

All this would go into an 8 1/2-inch oval au gratin dish I have. At just under 2 1/2 cup volume, I figured I'd get about three servings.

The dish is a little time consuming to make but not too labor intensive. I figured the eggplant should be pre-cooked to make sure it had a soft and lush texture by the end. The onions and garlic need to be sauteed to create sweetness. After that you just combine everything and put it in the oven until it's bubbly and brown.

The result was just what I'd imagined--creamy and crunchy, with a bright flavor from the punch of oregano, sweetness from the onion and garlic, tartness from the goat cheese. That distinctive mild eggplantiness came through. I enjoyed the dish with a piece of roasted chicken. And I have leftovers--which will be easy to reheat. In fact, you can make this dish for a dinner party ahead of time and simply reheat it before serving.

Eggplant Onion Gratin
(printable recipe)

Serves 2 to 3 depending on your generosity

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups eggplant, cubed
2 tablespoons olive oil
pinch of salt
1/2 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, minced

1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup goat cheese

For topping:
Goat cheese
1/8 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/8 cup panko crumbs
Drizzle of olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Toss eggplant with 2 teaspoons olive oil and a pinch of salt. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until soft and just becoming brown.

While the eggplant is baking, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil (about a tablespoon or more). Don't brown them. You just want them soft. Add the oregano and cook for another minute. Set aside.

Remove the eggplant from the oven and mix with the onions in a bowl. Add milk and cheeses. Mix well.

Coat the inside of a gratin dish with olive oil. Add the eggplant mixture. Dot with goat cheese. Combine the 1/8 cup parmesan cheese with the panko and evenly spread over the eggplant and goat cheese. Drizzle with olive oil.

Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 25 minutes until brown and bubbly.

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Mama's Bakery: A Quick Course on Hummus 101

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the series of cooking classes being offered through the El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association. I attended one of them recently--the class offered by Mama's Bakery owner Edward Haidar. This means I got to learn how to make their light and tangy Lebanese hummus.

Mama's has been around since 1988, but Haidar took it over from the original owners in 2004. A longtime customer, Haidar actually had no cooking experience--he was a computer guy--but he put in 15-hour days, seven days a week, using cookbooks and the guidance of his five sisters to learn the recipes that have made Mama's a favorite hangout in North Park. Clearly, he's up to speed.

My favorite dish is the fried eggplant wrap, which incorporates fried eggplant, luxuriant baba ganoush, and bright Lebanese pickles in the restaurant's homemade sajj flatbread. Then I alternate squirting on their tingling hot sauce (turns out it's just Louisiana brand Cajun Sauce) with taking big dripping bites until I reach the messy end. I also enjoy their chicken wraps and the crunchy falafel, served with a traditional garlic paste. In fact, Haidar explained how he makes this simple dip--boil potatoes until soft, let them cool and then peel, put in a blender with a lot of garlic cloves, mayonaise, and salt, then puree.

Eight people attended the class, which was held in the tiny house adjoining the restaurant. We squeezed in and Haidar gathered us around a little space where he had laid out his "mise en place."

He had already soaked and prepped dried garbanzo beans so all he needed to do was crush the garlic and add all the ingredients together in the robot coupe to puree the mixture. It took all of about five minutes and we had plates of hummus with warm sajj bread at tables in the restaurant patio. Haidar brought out little samples of the garlic paste for us to taste and big pots of tea with mint. So, a quick class, but fun--and tasty.

Mama's Bakery's Chick Pea Puree
(Hommus bi-Tahineh)
(printable recipe)

Hommus bi-Tahineh is one of the staples of our mezze and is served with a variety of toppings that distinguish our hommus from that of other Middle Eastern countries. In order to get the required smooth ivory mixture, cook the chick peas until very tender and grind them very fine.

Serves 4

1 cup dried chick peas
1 teaspoon baking soda
Scant cup of tahini
Juice of 2 lemons, or to taste
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
Salt to taste
Paprika, Cumin, and olive oil for garnish

The night before:
Put the chick peas to soak in three times their volume of water as they will double in size. Stir in one teaspoon baking soda; this should soften them and therefore help reduce the cooking time.

Preparation:
Rinse the chick peas under cold water. Put them in a saucepan, cover well with cold water, and place over high heat. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to medium, cover the pan and cook for 1 1/2 hours or until very tender.

Drain the chick peas, keeping some of the water in case you need it later to thin the puree. Put the chick peas in a blender or food processor, reserving a few whole peas for the garnish. Process to a smooth puree and transfer to a mixing bowl.

Stir in the tahini. The color of the mixture will become lighter. Add salt to taste and blend well together. Pour in half of the lemon juice and add the rest gradually to reach the desired flavor and level of sourness. Add the crushed garlic and mix again.

If the puree is too thick, add in some of the soaking water to thin it down. The puree should be soft and creamy, but not runny. Taste, adjust the seasonings if necessary, then pour into a shallow round or oval bowl and spread across the dish, raising the puree slightly over the sides. Arrange the reserved chick peas in a little mound in the middle. Sprinkle the raised edges with paprika and cumin and trickle a little olive oil into the dip between the spices and the mound of whole chickpeas.

*Note: since posting this I got a request from a reader for Eddie's Baba Ganoush. He has generously given me the recipe and here it is:

Mama’s Bakery’s Baba Ganoush

(printable recipe)

 

Serves 4

3 large eggplants

3 tablespoons tahini

Juice of 1 lemon

2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

2 tablespoons salt

Prick eggplants in several places with a knife or a fork to stop them from bursting during cooking and cook whole on a hot grill for 30 minutes, turning them to expose all sides.

When cooked the eggplants should have shriveled to about have their size. They should be soft to the touch. You can also microwave them about 6 minutes, or in the oven at high 350 for about 45 minutes. However, if you use microwave, or oven you will not get the smoky charred taste of the open fire cooking.

Cool eggplant under cold running water, peel and discard skin. While they are still hot, put the flesh in a colander to drain for 10 minutes.

Cut off and discard the stalks before putting eggplant in wide mixing bowl and mashing them with a masher or fork.

(If you prefer to use a food processor, be careful not to liquidize the eggplant. That's where lot of people make a mistake. No more than 3 to four turn should be enough to get the right consistency.)

Put tahini and salt in food processor and turn processor. Or add tahini and lemon juice to the eggplant you’ve hand blended. For the food processor, you can add the eggplant at this point. You want to control the blender or food processor to no more than 3 to 4 turns. You want a thick texture with the eggplant seed showing.

Pour the puree in a serving bowl.

To garnish:

Add mint leaves, parsley, or pomegranate seeds.

Add paprika and olive oil.

Serve with pita bread.

 
Mama's Bakery is located at 4237 Alabama St., just south of El Cajon Blvd. To learn more about the series, visit the website. To sign up, contact Beryl Forman at beryl@theboulevard.org.

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