Eggplant Lentil Stew with Pomegranate Molasses
Eggplant Lentil Stew with Pomegranate Molasses Recipes
A few weeks ago I was wondering what to do with the end-of-season eggplants, tomatoes, and chiles from our garden and stumbled across this recipe from Food and Wine, which also calls for pomegranate molasses. The recipe comes from the coastal town of Antakya, Turkey. The ingredients are layered and not stirred, so the flavors of the different ingredients stay distinct. The stew is best when made ahead and allowed to mellow for a few hours before serving. I thought it needed just a touch of honey, which I will probably add next time.
One 1 1/2-pound eggplant (or enough eggplants for 1 1/2 pounds)
Salt
1/2 cup lentils
Water
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 long green chiles, such as Anaheims—stemmed, seeded and coarsely chopped
2 Tbsp chopped mint leaves
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 cup pomegranate molasses
1 Partially peel the eggplant so it has lengthwise stripes, then cut it lengthwise into 4 slices. Score each slice on 1 side in a crosshatch pattern. Cut each slice crosswise into 3 pieces and set on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt. Let stand for 1 hour.
2 In a small saucepan, cover the lentils with 2 inches of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to moderate and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain the lentils.
3 Coat a small (3-quart) enameled cast-iron casserole with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. In a bowl, toss the onion with the garlic, tomatoes, green chiles, mint, tomato paste, crushed red pepper and 2 teaspoons of salt.
4 Rinse the eggplant and pat dry. Spread 1/2 cup of the vegetable mixture in the casserole and top with half of the eggplant. Cover with half of the lentils and half of the remaining vegetable mixture. Top with the remaining eggplant, lentils and vegetables. Pour the remaining olive oil around the side and over the vegetables, then drizzle with the pomegranate molasses.
5 Bring the stew to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat until the eggplant is very tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.
Serves 6
Chicken Marsala with Pancetta and Cream
Chicken marsala is one of those Italian American dishes. It consists of flour-coated thin chicken breast cutlets, cooked with a Marsala wine reduction and usually mushrooms as well. It doesn’t use mushrooms, though you could certainly include them, and gets much of its flavor from pancetta, an Italian version of bacon, that is salt-cured not smoked. It takes all of maybe 30 minutes to prepare, so it’s perfect for a midweek dinner.
Here is the recipes. Enjoy
1 Coat a large skillet lightly with olive oil and set it over medium high heat. Add the pancetta and cook until just crip and lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat in the pan, and set aside. Add the onions to the pan and cook until translucent and slightly browned, 5-10 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat in the pan, and set aside.
2 Put the flour on a plate. Pat the cutlets dry. Season them on both sides lightly with salt and amply with pepper. Heat the skillet with the pancetta fat over medium high. Add more olive oil, if needed, to get about 2 Tbsp of fat in the pan.
3 When the fat is hot, dredge a cutlet through the flour on both sides. Shake off the excess flour and immediately put the cutlet in the pan. Do the same with as many cutlets as will fit in the pan without touching. Sauté the cutlets, turning once, until browned on both sides. If thin, they should cook through in just a few minutes total. Transfer the cooked cutlets to a plate and continue sauteíng the rest, adding more oil if necessary. Transfer these to the plate as well.
4 Pour off the excess fat. With the pan over med-high heat, add the Marsala and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until the Marsala is reduced by about a quarter. Stir in the cream and boil until you get a nicely thickened sauce.
Return the chicken, onions, and pancetta to the pan and turn the cutlets over to coat. Let them reheat for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Serve with the sauce and a sprinkling of parsley.
Serves 3-4.
Crab Bisque Recipe
Crab Bisque Recipe
Like all seafood, crab tastes best when it is as fresh as possible. When buying crab, ask the guy or gal behind the counter when they got the shipment in. The answer you want to hear is “this morning”. If the crab came in that morning, or even the day before, it should be good. If it is 3 or 4 days, I would wait until the next shipment. Make sure that you get a crab that is at least 2 lbs. If they don’t have any that big displayed, ask if they have any more in the back. Have them clean the crabs and crack them.
To make this creamy, flavorful crab bisque, you will need to make some homemade shellfish stock, so it pays to keep your leftover shells and freeze them until you have the occasion to make the stock. Making stock isn’t hard, like making chicken stock, it just takes time. You can freeze it in advance of using it.
Stock ingredients:
4-6 cups crab shells
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 large yellow onion, sliced or chopped
1 carrot, roughly sliced or chopped
1 celery stalk, roughly sliced or chopped
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 sprigs of thyme
Several sprigs parsley
1 bay leaf
10-15 whole peppercorns
2 teaspoons salt
Soup ingredients:
2 Tbsp butter, unsalted
1/3 cup shallots, chopped
3/4 cup dry white wine
4 cups of shellfish stock
¼ cup white rice
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 ¼ lb or more of cooked crabmeat
1 ¼ cup heavy cream
½ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Making the stock
Before making the bisque, you’ll need to make the shellfish stock (see these instructions for details and photos).
1 Break crab shells into smaller pieces by putting in a sealed, thick plastic bag and either rolling with a rolling pin or hitting with a meat hammer to crush. Don’t crush too small. You can even skip this step if you want, if your shell pieces are already well broken up. Put in a large stock pot and cover with an inch (but no more than an inch) of water.
2 Put the stove temperature on medium high and slowly heat the shells in the water. As soon as you see that little bubbles are starting to come up to the surface, reduce the heat to medium. Do not let it boil. You want to maintain the temperature at just below a simmer, where the bubbles just occasionally come up to the surface. Do not stir the shells. Stirring will muddy up the stock. As the bubbles come up to the surface a film of foam will develop on the surface. Use a large slotted spoon to skim away this foam. Let the shells cook like this for about an hour; skim the foam every few minutes. The foam comes from shells releasing impurities as their temperature increases.
3 Put the thyme, bay leaves, and parsley in cheese cloth. Secure with kitchen string to make a bouquet garni.
4 Once the stock has stopped releasing foam, you can add the wine, onions, carrots, celery, tomato paste, herb bouquet garni, and peppercorns. Bring to a low simmer and reduce heat so that the stock continues to simmer, but not boil, for 30 minutes. If more foam comes to the surface, skim it off. Add salt and remove from heat.
5 Dampen a few layers of cheesecloth and place over a large, fine mesh strainer, over a large pot or bowl. Pour the stock into the strainer. Discard the solids. Either use the stock right away, or cool for future use. If you aren’t going to use in a couple of days, freeze (remember to leave some head room at the top of your freezer container for the liquid to expand as it freezes.)
Makes 2-3 quarts. Reserve 4 cups for the crab bisque, refrigerate or freeze the rest.
Making the bisque
Now on to the bisque…
6 In a large, 4 or 6 quart saucepan, melt butter on medium heat, add the shallots and cook gently until translucent, about 5 minutes.
7 Add the wine, stock, white rice, and tomato paste. Raise the heat and bring to a simmer; reduce heat to continue to simmer until rice is completely cooked, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for several minutes.
8 Add about two thirds of the crab meat to the soup. Working in batches, ladle the soup into a blender and purée until completely smooth. Return puréed soup back to soup pan.
9 Add cream and gently heat soup until it is hot enough for serving. Add the remaining one third of the crab meat. Add salt and cayenne pepper to taste (about ½ teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne).
Serves 4
Crab Cakes Recipe
Crab Cakes Recipe
Tips: Make sure you can buy fresh crabs.
1 lb lump crabmeat (Starting with two 2 lb crabs from Whole Foods, we cracked them and got about 1 1/4 lb of lump crab meet)
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon of paprika
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp prepared tartar sauce
2 slices firm white sandwich bread torn into small pieces
6 Tbsp fresh bread crumbs
1 Pick over the crabmeat to remove any bits of shell and cartilage, being careful not to break up the lumps of crab.
2 Cook the onion and 1/2 of the teaspoon of salt in 1 Tbsp of butter in a small skillet, over medium high heat, until the onion is softened. Let it cool.
3 Whisk together the eggs, Worcestershire sauce, remaining salt, paprika, pepper, tartar sauce, and onion mixture. Gently fold in the crabmeat and torn bread. Note that the mixture will be very wet. Gently form the mixture into six cakes, each about 3 1/2 inches across and 3/4 inches thick. Line a tray with a piece of wax paper just large enough to hold the cakes and sprinkle it with half of the bread crumbs. Set the crab cakes in one layer on the top of the paper and sprinkle with the remaining bread crumbs. Cover the crab cakes loosely with another sheet of wax paper and chill for one hour.
4 Melt the remaning 3 Tbsp of butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat until the foam subsides. Cook the crab cakes until golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side.
Makes 6 crab cakes.
Crab Dip Recipe
Crab Dip Recipe
Tips: Make sure you buy fresh crabs.
A lovely crab pasta salad recipes. Yum!
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 cup cooked crab meat
- 2 Tbsp minced shallots (or green onions or red onions)
- 1/2 teaspoon dried dill or 1 1/2 teaspoon fresh dill
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar or 1 1/2 teaspoons of dry white wine
- 1/2 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
- Salt and pepper
Combine mayonnaise, sour cream, shallots, dill, lemon zest, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl. Fold in the crab meat. Salt and pepper to taste. Chill for 2 hours or overnight. Serve with crackers or carrots and celery.
