I love eggplant and I love peppers, but on a day when I’m in a huge hurry and don’t have time to fry the eggplant (actually, I really don’t even like to fry eggplant because it seems to just eat up oil if you don’t pre-salt it). I usually don’t have time to pre-salt the eggplant either (it takes out excess moisture). So, instead I tend to cube it, and bring out the sliced peppers I have in the freezer. This makes things so much faster, easier and super-deliciousness is not sacrificed.
This is how I make it:
If using frozen peppers, you need to take out any excess water, so what I do is put them in a frying pan on low and keep a keen eye on the pan, making sure all the excess water is evaporated before putting them into the baking dish with the cubed eggplant.
Season with salt, pepper, olive oil and dried parsley.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes- at the 20 minute mark, pull it out and mix it all up to move the oil around and be sure nothing dries up.
After 40 minutes or so, it should look like this.
Our favorite way is to eat it over rice, but you could also serve it with pasta or rustic bread.
Roasted Eggplant & Pepper On Rice
This is such a straightforward, mess-free dish to make.
Makes 4 servings
INGREDIENTS
1 eggplant, half peeled
4 cups sliced peppers- mixed colors or just green ones
Mix the eggplant and peppers so they are thoroughly combined and place them in an oven-safe dish large enough to spread it out so that they’re not too crowded.
It’s only been the last couple of years since I’ve started cooking with white beans (also known as cannellini beans, great northern beans, and habichuelas blancas in Spanish). I’m not sure where it started, but I know that I began making more dishes using them when I lived in Turkiye because they were so widely available.
What I love about them is that they are so soft and smooth and feel light in dishes. Sometimes after eating other beans, I feel heavy or too full, or the texture of the beans seems to be a bit rough, but that’s not the case with white beans; they are so nice in soups and stews and let the meat and other veggies take on the role of giving a rougher texture to your taste buds; this also makes them nice in salads.
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The most fortuitous of all dishes with white beans for me has been in making a hummus out of white beans, rather than the rgw traditional chickpeas. I’m not sure if this is because I have better success and luck with white beans when I make hummus as opposed to chickpeas which, for some reason just seem so much harder for me to make a really fantastic hummus. It also just feels softer on my stomach than chickpeas, but that could just be me. Whatever the actual reason, I’m just so glad I’ve made it and can share this recipe with you.
If using dry beans, be sure to cook them far enough in advance to allow them to cook thoroughly and to cool off well in advance of preparing the hummus.
Drain the beans of any excess liquid. To a blender, add the beans, water, sea salt, garlic clove. Blend on high until the mixture is quite smooth. Add the tahini and blend once again until completely smooth.
Pour the mixture into a serving dish or bowl and garnish with desired toppings such as crushed red pepper, sumach and parsley (fresh or dried).
Serve with pita chips, rustic pita bread or any type of fresh bread that will hold up to this mixture.
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I think eggplant might just be the quintessential Mediterranean vegetable. You find it in every Mediterranean country’s cuisine in such a variety of absolutely delicious ways. My personal favorite is when yogurt is added, which I believe is a particularly eastern Mediterranean way of eating it (i.e. in Greece, Turkiye, and many other similar regions).
I’ve had it so many ways in so many different types of cuisines that I can hardly pin down a ‘favorite dish’ but I do have a preferred flavor profile in terms of how it’s cooked and I think I love the way it’s presented in Turkish cuisine the most because of it’s grilled taste, even when roasting in the oven – as well as the other ways its cooked so often with tomato and garlic, which is very similar to my Sicilian heritage way of making it), and that addition of yogurt is my favorite.
When cooking this way, you barely miss meat in a meal, so it’s a great option for vegans and vegetarians as well as anyone who is skipping out on meat for any particular meal.
Sauteed Eggplant Mezze Recipe (Mediterranean)
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
2-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large eggplant, cubed
2 tomatoes (peeled), roughly chopped
1 small onion, chopped fine
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
Whole milk yogurt (optional)
Crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Directions
To a large saute pan or Dutch oven, add the olive oil and gently warm it. Add the eggplant and brown on each side, about 6-7 minutes. Next, add the tomatoes and onion at the same time. Continue to cook until the juice of the tomatoes has evaporated, stirring continuously as it cooks. Add the sea salt and black pepper, too.
Allow this mixture to cook for about 12 minutes, uncovered. Once all of the ingredients are soft and thoroughly cooked, turn off the heat and cover for about five minutes. Remove the lid and let cool slightly. Serve, as desired, either as-is like this or with a dollop of yogurt, sprinkled with red pepper flakes. You can also add a drizle of olive oil, freshly cut parsley.
Enjoy with some freshly baked pita bread or khubz (Arabic style bread, which is hefty enough to pick up this dish!).
Note: this is also considered a popular “cold” dish, meaning that it doesn’t have to be piping hot to be eaten and it’s also preferred this way a lot of times, as well.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you make a purchase using these links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a commission from qualifying links.This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you make a purchase using these links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a commission from qualifying links.
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Last New Year’s Eve was a quiet affair, and very lovely at that. We decided to stay home and invite friends for something simple, and I offered to do the cooking- a chance to entertain and nourish is something I usually jump on, particularly when I know they’ll appreciate even the smallest of gestures surrounding food. It’s always nice to feel that way. All the recipes I made were such a hit that I promised to share them, but I’m only now getting around to sharing them- sorry! Better late than never, righ?
So, my original plan was to make Sicilian style dishes since eating seafood is traditional on New Year’s Eve. That and maybe a calamari salad. A tuna pasta. Such great dishes, but it just wasn’t going to work. And that turned actually out for the best.
I needed to make vegan food because one of our friends is strictly vegan. I was quite worried about cross-contamination of ingredients so I just decided that everything I made that night would be vegan.
Then, I panicked just a little. I thought about how difficult this might be since I am so accustomed to using dairy in my cooking, especially in pastas (except things with fish and seafood).
I thought it would be best to buy some vegan products for this meal so I intended to look into cashew butter, vegan dairy and anything else that might go with appetizers or pasta-making. Then I ran out of time to do so, but to be honest, the purist in me just doesn’t want to go near that processed stuff – and I certainly didn’t have time to figure out cashew butter making at home. I was a bit lost about all of those substitutes, and after being in the food industry and Halal industry for so long, I’ve learned my fair share about food science and what’s in our food, so I tend to be uber skeptical about everything processed. It takes a lot for me to buy something pre-made or “processed”.
After all of these conversations in my head, I decided to just go for traditional Italian dishes that don’t even have meat or dairy in them to begin with. What I didn’t realize is that there are more traditional dishes that are just naturally vegan than I can even count. All I needed was a little inspiration and memory-jogging, which I got from these two books:
So, I made several things from whatever I already had in the fridge: Bruschetta with Roasted Peppers
Stuffed Zucchini (and Peppers)
Roasted Carrots with Cumin
Mushroom Pasta
Everything was vegan, and very easy to make. I’ll share the other recipes in later posts, but the pasta was the main course, so that’s the one I’d like to share now. Get yourself some fresh Spring mushrooms and make this over the weekend for lunch or dinner. It will be so satisfying, so tasty and so inspiring – and you don’t need to be vegan to try it and love it.
Vegan Mushroom Pasta
Note: It is best to time this dish so that the pasta is just about to finish cooking so that you can use some of the pasta water in the mushrooms; otherwise, simply finish cooking the pasta and drain most of the water, reserving about 1-2 cups of the pasta water for the dish. If cooking and reserving the pasta ahead of time, be sure to drizzle some olive oil on top to keep it from sticking.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 pound egg noodle or Papardelle pasta, cooked al dente.
1/2 bunch fresh flat Italian parsley, roughly chopped
Directions
Prepare the pasta or arrange for it to cook around the time you start cooking the mushrooms.
In a large saute pan, gently heat the olive oil. Add the mushrooms and cook until well-browned on one side and flip all of them over, making sure to cook out any water moisture created in the pan. Next, add the onions and cook until translucent. Add a little more olive oil if and when necessary. Add the garlic, salt, pepper.
Continue to saute the ingredients until well-blended and everything is nicely browned. Ladle about 1/4 cup pasta water into the pan and stir to combine. Add all of the drained noodles into the pan and combine everything well. If it is the consistency that you would like, don’t add any more pasta water; if not, add a little more until it reaches what you like.
And that’s it! We (non-vegans) were going to add some Parmesano or Pecorino cheese to the mix, but it didn’t need it at all. The mushrooms are so rich and meaty that the dish tastes and feels complete just as it is.
Buon Appetito!
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Çoban Salata (Cho-ban Suh-la-ta), also known as Turkish Shepherd’s salad is by far the most well-known Turkish salad outside of Turkiye. You’ll find very similar and versions and some exactly the same being served in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean restaurants because it’s also common in those cuisines, as well- particularly Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. I’ve also seen it in the breakfast buffet at a hotel in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt.
Because it goes well with all meats and fish (or can be a meal on its own, with some crusty bread and fresh cheese), it really is one of the most versatile salad recipes around- and it couldn’t be easier to make.
One variation that is super-interesting and tasty and is common to the Southeastern region of Turkiye is to add pomegranate molasses to it. All the same ingredients, just add about one tablespoon molasses if you’re using the same recipe below.
My version of Çoban Salata, served for lunch at the World Bank Group in Washington, D.C. (May 2023)
This is the most popular Turkish salad, one which you’ll find all over Turkiye, but also very similar versions throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean region. It goes well with all meats and fish or can be a meal on its own, with some crusty bread and fresh cheese, which is what makes it one of the most versatile salad recipes around.
Ingredients
3-4 medium size Persian cucumbers, cut in half lengthwise and roughly chopped
3 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
3 spring onions, finely chopped
One handful of flat leaf or curly parsley, roughly chopped
