Varietal Veggies — Chow Bella

I got the urge the other night to make this amazing eggplant dish that I’d had at my friend, Amy’s when she hosted our Book Club. I usually like to the traditional pairing of eggplant - that with tomato. Either baked together or as part of a Pasta alla Norma but there’s something about this Corona thing that has me craving more salty, intensely umami flavored dishes. This eggplant dish fit the bill nicely. I wasn’t sure what I wanted for dinner that night but I wanted vegetables in all different variations so I decided to make cauliflower steaks, carrots & parsnips with cumin and oregano as well as roasted beets with Za’atar but instead of making that into a yogurt based side I tried roasting the beets with the Za’atar on it. I had just gotten my first delivery from Chef’s Warehouse (which I highly recommend, especially if you are feeding more than 4 people a night!) and I had a wheel of Pierre Robert cheese as well as 3 (yes 3!!!!) pounds of arugula. I tossed the salad with freshly squeezed lime juice, virgin olive oil, salt & pepper. I like the way the lime tastes with cumin.

The end result made me feel like I was dining Al Fresco in a garden setting (as opposed to in my kitchen which I haven’t left in 4 weeks). I threw in some olives, crackers and made myself a sbagliato (I should just rename that drink my corona drink) and proceeded to eat it the way Albert from the children’s book, Bread and Jam for Frances eats:

I arranged my different bites neatly on my table with my Morton iodized salt placed prominently for free use (I do like my salt!) and proceeded to take a bite of everything, in order, so that my dishes all “came out even”.

Yum!

Roasted Eggplant with Miso and Sesame Seeds

Ingredients

1 tablespoon black sesame seeds

2 eggplants - sliced into 1/2 inch rounds

2 tablespoons olive oil (I used virgin)

1/3 cup miso (I actually used closer to 1/2 cup - I love the flavor it imparts)

2 inch piece of ginger, the skin scraped off

1 tablespoosn sesame oil

1 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon water

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

Kosher Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon Korean Chili Sauce (I used Chung Jung One’s Gochujang) and I actually used more but you should taste to make sure you’re ok with the heat. You can also use red chili paste.

Directions

Heat sesame seeds in a skillet and cook until they seem toasted. This happens very quickly so just stir and watch.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place eggplant slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush each side with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt & pepper. Bake until the eggplant is nicely browned. Depending on your oven this could take a half hour. I would recommend checking them after 10 minutes, flipping the rounds if they look browned to you and then cooking for another 10. If it takes longer just increase the next cooking phase to match.

While the eggplant is cooking, toss the ginger into a food processor and pulse until it is chopped up finely. Throw in the miso, sesame oil, honey, water, vinegar and chili paste and pulse until it is all mixed. Taste. Adjust any seasoning to your liking.

When the eggplant is cooked to your liking, spread each round with the miso mixture and crank the oven up to broil. Do this for just 4 -5 minutes.

Take out of oven and sprinkle with sesame seeds. You can add scallions if you like as well.

I serve the eggplant with extra sauce on the side. It goes with everything!

Cauliflower Steaks

Ingredients

1 head of Cauliflower

Olive Oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Clean off your Cauliflower - I cut off any edges that look browned and I cut off the green leaves on the bottom. Then, starting from the center of the cauliflower, cut two 1-inch “steaks”. I can usually only get 2 good steaks from a head of cauliflower so I just cut up the rest of the florets and roast them. There are a lot of recipes our there that suggest you puree the florets and use as a sauce but I like them roasted.

Coat bottom of skillet with Olive Oil - about 2 tablespoons - and heat up until it is shimmering. Put steaks into pan, sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. Cook about 2 minutes per side, until each side is browned. Flip, salt and pepper and cook the other side.

Put skillet in oven and cook for another 10 - 15 minutes. Voila!

Roasted Carrots & Parsnips with Cumin & Oregano

Roasted Beets with Za’atar

Ingredients

1 pound of Carrots

4 parsnips

Cumin & Oregano

Bunch of Beets - usually there are 3-4 in a bunch

Za’atar

Virgin Olive Oil

Kosher salt & Freshly ground pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Peel Carrots & Parsnips

Rinse them off, then cut them all into relatively equal pieces. I halve the carrots lengthwise. Then I cut each half into 4 or 6 pieces depending on how thick the carrot is. Throw the pieces into a large stainless steel bowl.

Cut the parsnips into similar pieces. Because of the shape of the base of the parsnip, you’ll need to cut them into more pieces.

My method (I use this for almost all vegetables I roast)

I drizzle virgin olive oil over the vegetables. Toss kosher salt & grind pepper over the vegetables. That’s usually all I do. For this meal I wanted to vary it so I sprinkled the carrots and parsnips with oregano and cumin in equal parts. I just shake the herbs over until they are thinly coated. Then I toss them in the bowl, mixing them all up. You could also use your hands to toss the vegetables to evenly coat them with olive oil, salt & pepper and whatever other herbs or spices you are using. You want the vegetables to be coated evenly.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

“Pour” out the vegetables onto the prepared sheets. Shake it and evenly spread out the vegetables.

Roast them for 1/2 hour to and hour.

I added the cauliflower florets to another baking sheet after tossing them in olive oil, salt & pepper.