Stuffed Eggplants (Karni Yarik) with Tomato Rice

 

I've been too lazy on the blog front recently, but I was too busy cooking for the bachelor viewing party this week (and then cleaning up after it). Have you guys seen it? SPOILER ALERT...I can tell you right now that I was in complete shock that Catherine won! I have been rooting for Lindsay all along. Despite her squeaky voice, I thought she was a great fit for Sean. Oh well, another reality show over, off to find a new one!

I'm not here to talk about the Asian feast I cooked up Monday night, since I was running around like a crazy person trying to get everything done and had no time to take pictures, but I’ll give you a quick run down of the menu. There were miso glazed sea bass with eggplant, ginger fried rice, beef negimaki, thai larb lettuce wraps, and crab cakes. I'm sure all of those recipes will find their way around to the blog pretty soon.

Today I want to talk about one of my favorite dishes from home: eggplants stuffed with ground meat. This is a traditional Turkish recipe, karni yarik actually means split belly. The eggplant gets really tender and creamy from baking slowly, and develops an amazing sauce. The tomato rice is the perfect accompaniment to soak up the sauce and balance the heaviness of the meat. Enjoy!

 

Stuffed Eggplants (Karni Yarik)

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
1/2 pound ground beef (you can substitute ground chicken or turkey)
4 baby eggplants (Japanese or any other small variety)
Salt and pepper for seasoning
1 tomato, sliced
1 tbsp tomato paste
Canola oil, for frying, around 2 cups depending on the size and shape of your pot

Directions

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet. Cook the onions until they are translucent. Add the ground beef, and saute until the meat is no longer pink. As you are cooking it, make sure you are breaking the meat apart with a wooden spoon. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside.

Peel the eggplants in stripes lenghtwise (peel one long line with a vegetable peeler, leave the skin on the next section, peel the other, etc. You should be leaving stripes of skin). Wash and dry the eggplant well. Pierce with a fork in a few places so that the eggplant doesn't explode during cooking. Heat canola oil in a deep pot until it's very hot. Eggplants are like sponges, and they soak up any excess liquid, so make sure the oil is really hot. Fry the eggplants, about 1-2 minutes per side, until they are nicely browned. Remove and place on paper towels to drain.

Preheat your oven to 375 F. Place the eggplants on a baking dish. Make a slit in the eggplant lenghtwise, leaving the ends intact. You can use the back of a spoon to do this. Stuff with the ground beef mixture. Place one slice of tomato on top.

Bring 1 cup of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Whisk in 1 tablespoon tomato paste until it is incorporated. Pour over the eggplants, and cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes, and then remove the foil. Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until the top is browned. Make sure there is still enough liquid in the pan so that the eggplants don't burn.

Tomato Rice

Ingredients:

1 cup long grain rice (such as basmati)
1 tablespoon olive oil or canola oil
Salt to taste
4 medium tomatoes
1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

Place rice in a bowl. Add 1 teaspoon salt and cover with warm water (bring water to a boil in a kettle and wait for 1 min until it is no longer bubbling). Stir and allow to cool for about 30 minutes. Drain and wash throughly.

Grate the tomatoes with a box grater. Heat the olive oil in a large pot. Saute the tomatoes until most of the liquid has evoparted.
Add one cup of water to the pot with the tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Once the water is boil, add rice, salt, and 1 tablespoon of butter. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes, until all the liquid has evoparted.  Turn down to heat to very low, and leave on the stove for an additonal 5 minutes to toast the rice. Serve warm. If you are feeling fancy, and want to mold the rice like I did, place in small bowls for a few minutes and invert onto a plate.

Sweet Potato, Brussels Sprout & Sausage Hash

I've been in love with Corned Beef Hash ever since I've tried it at a little cafe called Black-Eyed Susan's in Nantucket. I never would have thought to order it until I saw someone eating it at the next table, and I knew I was craving that meat the second I saw it. The corned beef there is homemade, and it is out of this world. I'm never up to baking corned beef from scratch just for breakfast, so I haven't had it ever since (sigh! to be in Nantucket right now). As soon as I saw this sweet potato hash on the web the other day, there was no excuse not to make it. I've had some Brussels sprouts in the fridge so there they went into the hash. I was too lazy to roast the potatoes, and sauteing them worked perfectly (less clean-up yay!). Add a mini Challah roll and you are good to go for breakfast.

 

Sweet Potato, Brussels Sprout & Sausage Hash

Inspired by this dish

Ingredients

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
1/2 onion, diced
2 sausage links ( I used one spicy, one sweet Italian)
1/2 cup shredded Brussels sprouts
1 garlic clove, minced
Hot sauce ( I like Cholula Hot Sauce), to taste ( I used 3-4 drops)
Salt + pepper to taste
2 eggs
To serve; any kind of bread you like ( I like mini Challah rolls)

Directions

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sweet potato and cook for 5 minutes. They should have a good caramelization on the outside.

Add the onion, and cook for a minute. Remove the sausage links from their casings, and drop pieces to the pan. Break them into small pieces with a wooden spoon.

Add the Brussels sprouts and garlic. Cook for an additional 3-4 minutes, until the sausage is cooked through and the Brussels sprouts have softened. Add the hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste, and stir.

Turn down to heat to medium-low. Make two wells in the center of the pan, and crack the eggs. They are done when the whites have cooked completely, but the yolk is still runny.

Oscars Party Round-up

Red Carpet is about to start woohooo! Are you ready for the Oscars party? Who do you think is going to win best pic? To round-up- here are the nominees:

1) Beasts of the Southern Wild (Fried Oysters with Spicy Remoulade)
2) Life of Pi (Yellowtail Carpaccio with Mango, Pomegranate, and Ponzu Sauce)
3) Argo (Middle Eastern Appetizers)
4) Zero Dark Thirty (Middle Eastern Appetizers)

5) Django Unchained (Mini Mississippi Mud Pies with Bourbon Whipped Cream)

6) Lincoln (Old Abe Cocktail)

7) Amour (Mini Puff Pastry Cheese Pies)

8) Les Miserables (Mini Puff Pastry Cheese Pies)

9) Silver Linings Playbook (Philly Cheesesteak Crostinis)

Oscars Party: "Silver Linings Playbook" Inspired Philly Cheesesteak Crostinis

If you thought Bradley Cooper was just a pretty face, then he has definitely proven you wrong in Silver Linings Playbook. I always thought he was good in comedies, not because he was particularly funny, he was always the guy that partnered well with other people who were funny and ridiculous. He was always in control, the cool and reserved guy, that was in funny situations because of the people who he hung out with. In Silver Linings Playbook, he completely lets go of his inhibitions, and is not afraid to look vulnerable. He plays a recently released from mental institution Philadelphian, who is battling with bi-polar disease, and is looking for a silver-lining. He meets the equally troubled Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), whose performance is so real and enduring. My mom called me right after she watched this movie, and said it changed her whole outlook on life. I agree in the sense that this movie shows you the happy ending we all seek in real life is not always perfect, and it never happens as it should. You always have to make the best of what you have.

Oscars Party: "Amour" and "Les Miserables" Inspired Mini Puff Pastry Cheese Pies

French food gets a bad rap for being hard to make, having a long list of ingredients, and overall being time consuming. These mini cheese pies are super easy to make, have only 3 ingredients, and take less than 30 minutes from start to finish. And the best part is 20 minutes of that is in the oven, and it will take you under 10 minutes to put them together. This means that by the time Anne Hathaway has finished singing "I dreamed a dream" you had done all the necessary work (if Russell Crowe is singing, you may want to take your time). Les Miserables and Amour are both movies that have profound sadness in them, so I wanted to keep these appetizers light and fun.