Eggplant Dolma

Oh, it's been a week again. Here I was, doing so well posting more than once every week or two, and then the upcoming vector analysis exam needed to be studied for. It's either going to be incredibly difficult, or shockingly easy. We'll see I guess.

Anyway, I'd intended to live in the realm of squash and beans and potatoes and cabbage, but a trip to the farmer's market (where we'd gone to get some of that amazing beef sausage) turned up some adorable little round eggplants, and I needed to have those too. Seeing as squash can last nearly the entire winter, I decided to put it off in favour of the eggplants. Typically we think of dolma as being stuffed grape leaves, but really the word just means "stuffed thing" and can apply to myriad stuffables. These little eggplants really just begged to be filled with yummies. Normally we get the beef sausage from the market, but they were out (which is what you get if you show up 30 minutes before closing time), so instead we picked a nice looking fresh pork polish sausage. I think for this recipe, any fresh sausage will do. I hope you enjoy!

6 ounces fresh sausage, crumbled
1 shallot, finely minced
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
2 garlic cloves, smashed into paste
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons bulgur wheat
1/2 teaspoon each: tumeric, aleppo pepper, marjoram
1/3 reserved eggplant innards, finely chopped
6 small eggplants

1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
pinch salt
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2/3 reserved eggplant innards, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 375F. Make a thin slice on the bottom of each eggplant so it can stand upright. Slice off top, then use a melon baller to hollow them out, leaving some flesh inside each eggplant. Finely chop the eggplant flesh that's been removed from the eggplants, and set aside. Mix together (use your hands) the entire first group of ingredients except the whole eggplants. Stuff this mixture into the eggplants, packing it in tightly. Mix together tomato sauce, salt, remainder of broth and lemon juice. Pour into the bottom of your pan, then stand the eggplants in the pan. Put in the oven for one hour, or until the eggplants are soft and the filling is cooked through. Transfer to plates and spoon sauce over the eggplants. Serves 2.

Pumpkin-Rye Biscuits

You might've thought this was a treat for you, but it's really a treat for your best friend (dog). I got this recipe from the lovely Chile, but I didn't have mesquite or soy flour, and wasn't about to buy any. So we modified it from there to accommodate what I had on hand, and then I added pumpkin too. These smelled pretty good when they were baking, but I didn't try any. I thought it'd be rude to the dog. Hope your dog enjoys!

1 1/2 cups rye flour
1/3-ish cup whole wheat flour (it was probably a little closer to 1/2 cup, but just go w/ it)
2 egg shells, washed and dried then pounded into powder in a mortar (this was fun)
4 tablespoons pumpkin shell puree*, or pumpkin puree
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup + 1/2 tablespoon oil (I used soybean oil, but you could use anything you like)

Preheat oven to 350F. Pulse the dry ingredients together in the food processor. Add the pumpkin and run the processor while pouring in the water and oil. When fully combined, transfer the blob of dough to an ungreased baking sheet. Wet hands (it's very, very sticky) and smooth into a square or round of even thickness. Score with a pizza cutter. Bake until golden and firm (original recipe gives ~20 minutes; for me it took 40 I think), then remove from oven. Let cool 10 minutes, then cut with a pizza cutter and loosen from the baking sheet with a metal spatula. Once cut, you can let them cool immediately, or you can leave in the cooling oven to dry further. If they aren't crispy when cooled, cook them a little longer (but if you let them cool in the cooling oven, they will be for sure). Serves one dog.

* After processing a pumpkin, puree the shell and freeze it, in one tablespoon increments, in an ice cube tray. It's perfect for making dog treats, stirring into the dog's bowl of food, or even adding a touch of extra fibre to your pumpkin people products (say that 5 times fast).

Grilled Cheese and Cabbage Sandwich

I used to eat grilled cheese sandwiches with cabbage in them a lot when I was a kid, and I always loved them. Now I almost never eat grilled cheese, but this week I started craving them. I wanted to make a slightly more "adult" version of the sandwich, so I upgraded the cheese from American to colby jack and havarti, and since I had no red cabbage on hand (the usual type, and honestly my favourite), I used napa this time. I really love the cabbage and pickles in a grilled cheese, because it adds a nice crunch to the sandwich, a little extra nutrition and a slight twist on the usual flavour. Hope you enjoy!

2 slices bread
handful of pickle slices (optional)
1 slice colby jack cheese
1 slice havarti cheese
1/4 - 1/3 cup sliced or shredded cabbage
thin layer of oil or butter

Heat pan or sandwich machine (I use a sandwich machine), or grill. Put a tiny layer of fat on the outside of each piece of bread. Put a slice of cheese on the bread, then top with pickle slices and cabbage. Add second slice of cheese, then second slice of bread. Grill, fry or cook in the usual manner you use at home. Serves 1.

Pomegranate, Mango and Blueberry Smoothies

I found a bunch of frozen fruits on sale, so I snapped them up to make smoothies for P. When the POM juice came, of course I thought it'd be wonderful to use some of it for the smoothies as well. These are a wonderful addition to lunch; relatively low in calories and chock full of nutrients. If you add protein powder, it can even make for a quick meal replacement. Hope you enjoy!

8 ounce pomegranate juice
1 cup frozen mango
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup ice
Up to 1 cup of water, as needed

Blend. Stream in water if needed while the blender runs. Serves 2.

Vanilla Bean Quince Paste

I love the humble quince. I don't care how it's prepared, I still love it. Quince jam, quince tarts, quince everything. But most of all, I love quince paste. Quince paste is like magic to me. Unbelievably delicious in an almost peaceful sort of way. It's sweet, but not to sweet. The rich pectin content of the quince gives it a silky yet gelatinous texture. It's the perfect snack. Good alone as dessert, as a midnight snack, or beautiful with cheese. It can be melted down to use as a glaze or incorporated into dressings. And yet, it's so satisfying that just one square is enough to make you happy.

Because of all this, anytime I see quince at the store I try to buy several so I can make enough paste to last me through the year (though I usually do this in more than one batch). Quince is back in the stores now, and it's a huge source of excitement for me. However, I decided this year to do something a little different with it. Enter vanilla bean. I always figure that vanilla makes nearly everything just a little better than it was on its own, so I thought I'd see if that rule held true for quince paste. For me, it did. This recipe is best made on a chilly, rainy evening when you have nothing else to do but get through a chapter of philosophy homework. I hope you enjoy!

3 quince, peeled and cored, then cut into chunks
1 cup water
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped (I reserve the pod for homemade vanilla extract)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
sugar equal to the volume of the cooked quince

Place the quince in a baking dish and place in the oven. Set the oven to 350 and set the timer for an hour. The quince should be soft at this point. Remove from oven and puree with the cup of water. Measure this mixture, then pour into a saucepan. Add an equal volume of sugar, the lemon juice and the vanilla seeds. Cook over the lowest heat setting on your stove, stirring every 10 or so minutes, until it seems like it's setting up (this will take a couple hours). Heat the oven to 170F or the lowest available setting you have. Grease a pan (or two little ones, like I like to) and pour the paste into the pan(s). Smooth the top, then put it/them in the oven for a couple hours to dry a bit. When it's dried and completely set, you can either leave it in the pan and take out slices as you want them (this is what I do), or you can unmold and cut them into pieces, then wrap with wax paper.