Easy Eggplant / Aubergine Dip Recipe

What to do with eggplant? Or aubergine, if you will.

I have never, ever bought or successfully cooked an eggplant before today. I don't like them. There was one time when a friend gave us some eggplants fresh from the garden, and I turned them into a badly textured curry mush catastrophe.

So I was facing off against an eggplant in the fridge (more like ignoring it) and was lucky to stumble on this recipe from Thug Kitchen. Warning, that is a website absolutely full of expletives! It's also vegan, and this is a vegan eggplant dip recipe, incidentally.

It turned out delicious and it was super easy. I urge you to start with half the lemon juice and work up to the full amount if you are at all unsure whether your eggplant is indeed 'medium' sized. Otherwise, you can't really go wrong, even if you don't like eggplant at all. This is the easiest thing to do with eggplant, guaranteed.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 medium sized eggplant (2.5 lbs or so)
2 tbs lemon juice (the juice of half a lemon)
2 tbs chopped parsley
1/4 tb salt
1-2 tbs chili powder
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tbs olive oil and/or tahini (I didn't have tahini on hand, but I love it and will try it next time)


Start by roasting the eggplant. If you like to grill, you can grill eggplants whole. I heated the oven to 190 C (375F). I smeared a bit of butter on the bottom side of the eggplant and set it on a small baking sheet, then I carefully poked a few holes in it with a fork. It took about 30 minutes for the eggplant to get totally soft, which I tested by nudging it with a wooden spoon.

While the aubergine roasts, you can prep the rest of the ingredients. Chop things finely and mix all the other ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Easy eggplant dip = not complicated. Leave out a sprinkle of parsley and chili powder for garnish later.

When the aubergine is squishy soft (it can't be too soft for this so go long on the roast rather than cut it short) let it cool then cut it in half, lengthwise. I didn't let mine cool because I was impatient, but I managed to cut it in half without burning myself. I used a knife and a spoon to scoop, shovel the eggplant meat out of it's skin and onto a cutting board. I then chopped it up a bit to make it easier to stir into the rest of the dip ingredients.  Mix it all up and you're done!

Alternatively! You can throw everything into a blender or food processor, or use a stab mixer, and create a super creamy eggplant dip that way. I used a fork to mash everything together and I think I prefer the results, but you're the one who'll be eating this so do what you prefer. If you use a machine, leave out the parsley until the very end.

Enjoy on crackers or bread or with pita or tortillas.

Wasn't that easy? And guess what? It makes eggplant edible.

The Easiest Cookie Recipe in the World

And I mean it. For days when you have nothing to bake with but want a delicious, satisfying cookie, this is the one.

The recipe is so simple it's stupid. Easy cookies. But you can't be allergic to peanuts, that's the only thing that'll make this a no-fun recipe, because it is in fact the easiest peanut butter cookie recipe in the world.


Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar (okay, I used 3/4 of a cup because I just couldn't do it)
1 egg

optional: chocolate chips

Instructions:

Heat oven to 375 F or 175 C.

Mix the three ingredients together until smooth. Add chocolate chips or other chunks if desired.

Dollop teaspoon sized dollops onto baking paper on a baking sheet. These will stick, so paper is highly recommended.

Bake for 8 minutes. Remove carefully and let cool on a cooling rack.

I bet you can't find an easier cookie recipe than that.

Quick Couscous Vegetables - New Exotic (and easy) Recipe

My first visit to a Couscouserie happened in the summer of 2010. We were riding from France into Germany along the Saar River and we were desperate to get back to German bike paths and routes. Around lunchtime, when we were very hungry and too lazy to make ourselves lunch, we rolled into a small city. Usually we'd just have a picnic, but when we rolled into town we decided to stop.

The vegetarian option was couscous with a tomato vegetable broth-like soup that we were supposed to ladel over the couscous. Maybe it was the fact that we'd been riding fully loaded touring bikes all morning, but this simple meal was incredibly delicious. Here's my attempt at recreating something... similar. The end result is like a vegetable ragu or red sauce, but slightly more fluid, and you simply pour it over a bowlful of couscous. This is a simple, fast, and exotic dish. Garnish with chopped parsley, or for the full Moroccan experience, chopped mint.


Coucous Vegetables (for 2)

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter or oil of your choice
1 med onion, diced
1 stick celery, including leaves, if you can get them, chopped
1 tsp harissa (optional, this is for spicy lovers - you can add chili flakes if you prefer)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 carrot, thin half moons
1/2 of a zucchini, diced
1 can tomato soup or sauce - or just diced tomatoes (any will do)
1/2 cup water (or thereabouts)

Couscous

Making the couscous is the easy part - you can boil the water in advance and re-heat it just before you make the couscous, but you should probably do the couscous last. On the box will be instructions, something like this: boil water, pour 1 part couscous and 2 parts water into a bowl, cover and let sit for 4 or 5 minutes, or until water has been absorbed. Fluff with a fork and serve.

I recently browned garlic in a lot of butter and added that when I added the hot water. Delicious if you want to try it. Another way to improve on simple couscous is to add a tablespoon of butter once the water is absorbed and mix well.

For the tomato vegetable part:

Prep the veggies.

Over medium heat, saute the onions until slightly soft.

Add the harissa or chili flakes and celery, and stir for about a minute.

Then add the garlic and carrots. Cook, and stir frequently, for about 8 minutes (depending on your preference for crunchy or soft carrots).

Add the zucchini and cook for 3 more minutes.

Once the veggies are at the desired texture, add the tomato sauce, soup, or tomatoes and about half a cup of water. Let cook for about 5-10 minutes - again, depending on whether you prefer slightly crunchy or totally cooked veggies.

You don't want this to be a totally watery meal, but remember that when the couscous soaks up the sauce you get great flavor. Enjoy!

French Onion Soup

I have always loved French Onion Soup, so good with it's crusty cheese bread on the top. Most recipes call for beef stock, but vegetable stock is just as good, if you've got nice vegetable stock. I ran into some organic, vegetarian, french onion soup stock, so I decided to brave making the soup myself. Lucky us!

After reading a few recipes online, I used (mostly) this one. I prefer the longer slices of onion to small chopped onion in this soup, although I'm usually partial to finely chopped onions. And I like my bread in the soup. But you can chop how you like, and serve the bread on the side if you prefer. On the second go-round I added more wine, and I think that made the flavor even better.

Prep should take about 15 minutes, depending on how you chop the onions, and cooking time is about 30 minutes.

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 medium onions, sliced
500ml broth (beef, veg, french onion if you can find it)
1 tbl spoon olive oil
1 tbl spoon butter
1 cup white wine
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped (or 3 teaspoons dried)
1 clove garlic, chopped
shredded cheese to taste - gruyere is best, mozzarella is great, I used an aged, crumbly chedder, which was also delicious.

Prep your broth, so you can put the onions in as soon as they reach perfectly cooked. Slice your onions and then saute them in the butter and olive oil. The lower the heat, the less likely you'll brown the onions, but of course it will take them longer to cook. I like a medium heat, and I stay close to stir often, keeping them cooking without letting them burn. This can take from 10 minutes to 30 minutes, depending on temp. If you can stand there stirring constantly, it'll be fast. So prep that broth! The onions should be cooked, transparent, but not totally gone, because they will cook a little in the broth, as well. I accidentally over cooked the batch in this photo, but the soup was still yummy. So...

Once the onions are done, throw in half the garlic and stir for 30 seconds. This puts a little fry into your garlic flavor, which adds depth. Then add onions and garlic to the broth, also adding the wine and thyme, and the rest of the garlic. Stir and leave on the stove at a medium heat to cook for 15-20 minutes. Don't let the onions dissolve, best way to see if it's done is to taste an onion. If it's delicious, take it off the stove.

While the soup cooks, toast two pieces of bread. Baguette is good, but we had some nutty brown bread so I used that. After it's toasted, sprinkle cheese on top and put it in the oven on broil until the cheese is mostly melted.

To serve I put the soup in bowls, then put a piece of bread on top, adding a bit more cheese and letting that create a bit of a layer on top of the soup in the oven. If you have better bowls than I do, you can probably do this more successfully.

I guarantee that the first time you make this, it'll be delicious. Then, the second time, it'll only get better. It's quite fast, but seems like a fancy dish - great for entertaining, I would say. Now that I know, I'll be making this more often.

Yummmy!

Simple Side Salad - Raspberries

If you don't want to make anything fancy, but like the feel of a fancy salad, you can always get some lettuce mix and throw raspberries on top. This isn't even a recipe, but if you put together the salad dressing posted earlier, it'll feel like something special. And it looks beautiful!

Chipotle and Cheddar Mashed Potatoes

Finally some photos! Exotic and so delicious. I made my own adobo sauce (see below) and the cheese here is amazing. So enjoy this as a side, or alongside some sautéed green beans, like we did. I made a lot of extra, assuming this would be a nice leftover for tomorrow. Potato size is not so important. The important part is that they are cubed into pieces that are all about the same size.

3 large and 2 medium potatoes, cut into cubes
3 cloves garlic, broken by placing them under the flat side of a knife and pushing down until they pop
1 cup grated or crumbled cheddar cheese, the sharper, the better
2 tablespoons chipotles in adobo sauce (or one chile and one tablespoon adobo)
salt and pepper to taste


I like potato skins, so I cut my potatoes into pieces that have nice-sized squares of skin. If you want to skin the potatoes, I recommend cooking them whole, running them under cold water, then peeling them. The skin will almost fall off of cooked potatoes and you don't waste so much. That goes for sweet potatoes, too.

Boil the potatoes and garlic in enough water to cover them for about 30 minutes, or until tender when forked. Drain, add milk and butter, and mash roughly. Return to head and add cheese and chipotles, mashing until desired consistency is reached. Serve 'em up.

This epicurious recipe is nice for mashed potatoes and this recipe. I also liked this recipe.

Note: I like little chunks of cheese rather than grated cheese that's been well blended into the potatoes. If you are like me, wait to add the cheese and chipotles until the potatoes are mashed well. Then stir in the chess and chipotles with a wooden spoon over low heat. Yum.

Simple, Delicious Garlic Green Beans

Sometimes we just eat green beans for dinner, because they are so good. If you can figure out how to get a wok or frying pan hot, and at just the right heat, you can use butter and scald the crap out of some beans and garlic. This is what you want. It took me a long time to figure it out, so I can say from a place of experience: err on the undercooked side. Raw green beans are edible, burnt green beans are not. It all starts with a very hot pan, and if you've got some oil that doesn't burn until a very high heat you're on your way. I use butter and olive oil. I love the olive oil flavor, and the butter raises the burn temperature just enough. If you can be patient and just let your pan heat up, then add the oil/butter for just the minute it takes for it to get really hot, then add the beans, you'll make something really delicious. Good luck!


Serves 2 hungry people:

2 handful of beans, tipped and toed (chop the ends)
2 table spoons butter
1 teaspoon olive oil (as I said, pick your oil as you will)
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely


Heat your pan. And let it get really hot. Add the butter, and it should immediately start to bubble and melt, like true frying butter does. Drisle over your oil, so it mixes with the butter. Once the butter is completely melted, but don't let it brown, add the green beans. Be careful! If they are at all wet the whole thing will sputter and try to burn you with little flecks of very hot oil/butter/water. Ouch. Use the longest handled wooden spoon you've got to stir the beans, but allow them to settle for a minute at a time so they get that wrinkly skin you want. They should cook for less than 10 minutes, more like 5 - depending on the heat you've worked up.

At 3-5 minutes (or 1 minute before they're done) add the chopped garlic, and continuously stir for 30 seconds or 1 minute. Let the garlic brown a bit. A little bit of burnt bean skin is okay. But the brilliant thing about these is that they will stay crispy in a way. Having trouble getting this? Comment and let me know what happened. I'll do my best to help.