Eggplant Rollatini

This makes a delicious vegetarian entree or a filling side dish. You all know how to make risotto now - remember my risotto post? For this recipe, however, instead of making a saffron type risotto, I make it with a little tomato paste and very light beef broth. You can certainly use vegetable broth if you want to keep it a vegetarian dish. This dish is great because you can make it in the morning, or even the day before, refrigerate it and bring it to room temperature before baking.

There is a lot of debate with cooks about whether to salt eggplant or not. Some people claim that salting the eggplant before cooking helps get rid of any bitterness. Salt does help suppress bitterness in foods, this is true, but most people rinse off the salt before cooking. Actually, the main reason to salt eggplant is to help with the amount of oil the eggplant soaks up during cooking. If you have ever cooked eggplant, you know it can absorb an unbelievable amount of oil. That is because eggplant is full of tiny air pockets. It is actually just like a sponge. When you slice eggplant and then salt it before cooking, the salt draws out the moisture and helps collapse the air pockets, so it takes on a lot less oil. It is worth doing.

Eggplant Rolatini

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This recipe makes 5 rollatini.

Ingredients:

For the Risotto:

• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 cup arborio or carnaroli rice
• 4 cups light beef broth (or vegetable broth), heated
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan

for the eggplant:

• 1 large eggplant
• oilve oil
• marinara sauce

Instructions:

Heat a little olive oil in a heavy saucepan. Add the garlic and saute gently for one minute. Add the tomato paste and cook for one minute. Add the rice and cook for about a minute more.

Start adding the warm broth and stir the risotto. Every time the rice absorbs the liquid, add a couple more ladles. Keep stirring for about 25 to 30 minutes. Take the risotto off the heat and add the cheese. Transfer to a bowl and let cool before assembling rollatini.

Slice the very ends off the eggplant. Slice the eggplant into 1/4 inch slices. You should have 5 slices for a large eggplant. Salt the slices heavily and place in a colander for about one hour. Rinse the salt off the eggplant and press with paper towels to dry.

Heat a grill or grill pan on the stove. Make sure it's hot before beginning. Brush the eggplant slices on both sides with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill on both sides until you have nice grill marks and the eggplant is pliable.

Place a little marinara sauce in the bottom of a small baking dish. Place some risotto all along the eggplant slices and roll up and place seam side down in baking dish. Top with marinara sauce. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes covered. Remove cover and bake an additional 10 minutes. Serve with grated parmesan cheese.

Farro Salad

This is one of my favorite dishes. Sometimes I make a big batch of this and then have it for lunch for a few days. It's easy and a very healthy dish. Farro has become quite popular now and can be found on a lot of menus at good Italian restaurants. It is an ancient grain that has been eaten in Italy for eons. It's very similar to spelt. In fact, some people claim they are the same thing and some people say they are different. They are very close. I have cooked both and I believe spelt is a little harder and takes a little longer to cook. If you can't find farro, just use spelt. I can only buy farro when I travel out of town and can pick some up.

At our farmer's market last year, there was a family selling ground spelt flour. I asked the lady if I could buy some whole and she was mystified - she couldn't understand why I would want to eat it whole.   I bugged her every week and finally one week she remembered to bring a bag of unground spelt and she happily gave it to me and would not charge me. It was delicious in this salad.

Farro Salad

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Ingredients:

• 1 cup farro or spelt
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 medium red onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 Tablespoon fresh thyme
• 1 Tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
• olive oil

 

Instructions:

Place farro in small saucepan. Simmer for about 20 minutes. If using spelt, simmer for about 35 minutes. When it's tender, it's done. Drain.

Chop peppers and onions. Mince garlic. Spread out on a baking sheet, drizzle with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and toss and then roast at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Stir halfway through cooking time.

In large bowl, toss farro with vegetables and fresh herbs. Drizzle olive oil over and season generously with salt and pepper.

Stuffed Peppers

I love stuffing vegetables. I love to stuff tomatoes, peppers and zucchini. When you bake peppers like this, you can make a stuffing out of a lot of things - a rice pilaf, risotto, any kind of tiny pasta or even quinoa. These are stuffed with Israeli Couscous, sometimes called pearl pasta. And that's exactly what it is - little pasta. They are fairly bland, so you have to give them a little saute first and deliver some flavor to them before you stuff and bake. Did you know red bell peppers have more Vitamin C than orange juice?

 

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Ingredients:

• 4 bell peppers, two red, two yellow
• 1 cup Israeli Couscous
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 cup wine
• chopped parsley
• Grated Parmesan Cheese

Instructions:

Cut the peppers in half. Clean the insides, removing all seeds. Lay the peppers in a baking dish, cut side up. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook the pasta according to directions on the package. Drain.

In a large skillet, heat about two tablespoons of olive oil. Saute the red onion for a few minutes and then add the garlic and saute for one minute. Add the wine and let this cook off. Add the chicken stock and let this cook off. Turn off the heat. Add some chopped parsley and grated cheese. Stuff peppers with mixture.

Cover baking dish with foil tightly. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, until the peppers are easily pierced with a sharp knife. Grate extra cheese on top and chopped parsley.