perfect summer side

orzo = love. roasted veg = love. so why not combine them? that's exactly what i did in my roasted vegetable orzo salad. nothing too exciting, but with good, basic flavours. you really can't go wrong. this is a very versatile recipe that can be made with an array of veggies (mushrooms, asparagus, tomatoes, onions, etc), you can any add fresh herbs and it can be served warm or cold! soooo many options!

what you need:
1 globe eggplant, cut in cubes
1 zucchini, sliced
2 bell peppers of any colour (i used red and yellow)
1/4 cup of sun dried tomatoes
1.5 cups orzo (whole wheat if you can)
nice hunk of feta cheese
juice of 1 lemon
olive oil
salt + pepper

step 1:
preheat oven to 400. i like to cut and salt my eggplant for ~30 minutes, but you don't have to. next, go ahead and chop all veggies in bite sized pieces, toss on baking trays with some olive oil and roast till caramelized, approximately 40 minutes, turning once.
step 2:
while your veggies are roasting, cook the orzo according to package instructions, drain, and put into a large bowl. cut your sun dried tomatoes into small pieces, and add to the bowl.
step 3:
once your veggies are done cooking, add them to the bowl along with the orzo. add a squeeze of lemon juice, a little olive oil, salt and pepper and toss.
step 4: 
when ready to serve, crumble some feta cheese over the top, and voila!


makes ~5 servings
i've eaten this alone for dinner, but would be great along with some grilled souvlaki and tzatziki! 

ingredient of the week: eggplant

ok folks! blog is seriously up and running again with a new installment of ingredient of the week! this time its eggplant. oh glorious, tender, buttery eggplant! i must admit, i wasn't a big fan of eggplant until quite recently. same with a lot of things though, which is good i guess! olives are still off the list of edible food in my mind though, and i'm positive they will stay there for a very, very long time. yuck. anyways, yes, back to eggplant. i really think it's one of the most attractive, yummy, i-want-to-eat-you-right-meow vegetable/fruit things out there. it helps that i love love love love the colour purple, especially aubergine!

before we get started on some health benefits, lets talk about a random fact. eggplant, as everyone knows, is quite bitter due to the little seeds. why? because - who woulda thought - eggplant is a close relative of tobacco, and the seeds contain nicotine! ... kind of gross!aaanyways, health stuff! yes! that's why we're here! eggplants are full of vitamins and minerals, such as potassium, manganese, copper, folate, niacin, vitamin B1 and B6, as well as having a high dose of good ol' dietary fiber. yum yum! it's also super low in calories, approximately 27 per cup! all that goodness in so little calories? oh count me in!

oooooh preeetttyyyyyy

on the larger scale, eggplant play a key role in living a healthy life. first off, it's great for your cardiovascular health. basically, compounds in eggplant lower the amount of cholesterol in the artery walls, allowing them to relax. this means better blood flow to the heart and to the body. and, as you may have guessed from it's colour, eggplant has lots and lots of antioxidants and phytonutrients, specifically nasunin, which is found in the skin of the fruit. this is a potent free-radical scavenger and protects cells from damage, as well as having antiangiogenic properties (YOU MUST WATCH THIS TEDTALK). basically, that means it can slow down/prevent cancer tumor growth by cutting off angiogenesis (the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones)

earlier this week i made a slightly edited version of my yiayia's lebanese eggplant stew, called menazzaleh. her version was very simple, and i wanted to add a few more spices to give it some depth. i also have decided to change a few things in the recipe since making it. anyways, this is what i came up with!
(sidenote: i must apologize for the crap photos. the lighting in my basement apartment isn't very good. i swear, most of the stuff i post from now on will taste better than it looks!)

looks crap, tastes delicious!

what you need:
3 medium eggplant (dark purple variety)
1 can of chickpeas + some liquid
5 tomatoes (you can use canned as well)
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 onion, sliced thin
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon (even if you don't like cinnamon in savory food, just put a little sprinkle. it adds so much depth to the dish!)
pinch of nutmeg
2.5 cups chicken stock

step 1:
preheat oven to 300. cut eggplant into bite sized chunks. my yiayia cut them in rounds, but it made the cooking process so long that bite sized is definitely easier. lay on a sieve and sprinkle on some salt. add paper towel between the layers to soak up extra liquid. leave for 15 - 30 mins.
step 2:
while waiting for your eggplant, slice your onion thin and start sauteing in a large pan with some olive oil. i like my onion very caramelized, but you can take it as far as you like. by this point, you can wash off your eggplant, put them in an oven safe dish with a little olive oil and bake for ~30 minutes, depending on the size.
step 3:
once your onions are done, add in your chopped garlic and saute until fragrant, then add your tomatoes, stock and chickpea liquid. cook this down for ~10 minutes. add in your chickpeas, turmeric, nutmeg, paprika and cumin, and stir everything to combine and cook for another 15 minutes.
step 4: 
once your eggplant is done, add into the pan with the other ingredients and sprinkle your cinnamon on top. at this point, i layered eggplant, then chickpea mix into an oven safe dish to bake, buuut forgot to buy some kefalotyri so it was pointless. you can just leave it in the pan to finish stewing for another 20 minutes or until chickpeas are tender. then you're done! serve with brown rice.

yum yum yum

chili weather, aussi

mhmm last week i defs had a limited pantry and decided it would be smart to just buy a few things and make a meal that would last a long time. this way, when my famjam came over for a couple of days i didn't have to worry about veggies going wrinkly. i got this recipe for a chilli bake-moussaka type thing from my friend the english girl in bc. it looked really yummy, so i decided to try it out myself. i made a couple of changes, but nothing big. it was reaaalllyy nommy!

what you need:
1 eggplant
1 medium zucchini
1/2 a large onion
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 medium package of lean ground beef
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chilli flakes
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup grated cheese
salt

step 1:
pre-heat oven to 375. cut up your eggplant and zucchini into slices (around 0.5 inches thick) and lay in a sieve. lightly salt both and lay out for 15-20 minutes. by then, you will see large drops of liquid sitting on top of the veggies. to get out as much water as possible, i decided to lay out the veggies on a couple sheets of paper towel.

the towel will soak up lots of extra liquid

step 2:
chop up your onion and garlic. saute in a large pan with olive oil till translucent. then add in your ground beef and cook. since i used an eggplant and a zucchini, i had leftovers of both. so i took the extra slices and finely diced them up.
step 3: 
once your beef is brown, drain the fat - you want to have as little liquid in the mix as possible. add in the tomatoes (sans liquid), diced up eggplant and zucchini, cumin, chilli flakes, paprika and chilli powder. simmer for a few minutes until there's less liquid in the mix. i scooped some of it out with a spoon just to make sure it wasn't so watery when i went to put it in the dish.
step 4:
put your first layer of veggies down in a oven-proof dish. spoon in your first layer of meat mix on top, and if you have enough cheese, you can put some on the top of this layer. then repeat as many times as you like. on the very top layer, add extra cheese. it makes it uber gooey!

just starting the second layer of nommy-ness

step 5:
lay some tin foil on the dish and put in the oven for ~40 minutes. take the foil off in the last 10 minutes so the cheese gets all nice and brown and bubbly. then you're ready to eat!

the finished product!

this was a really, really yummy and filling meal. it over all didn't cost too much and it ended up lasting me a good 4 days! next time i may try it with some of the veggie stuff that looks like ground beef, and maybe add some more veggies in. possibly some strips of whole wheat lasagna too?