Read 1,000 Jewish Recipes Online
Authors: Faye Levy
1,000 Jewish Recipes (231 page)
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 pound Japanese or Italian eggplant, unpeeled and cut into
3
â
4
-inch dice
1 small red or green bell pepper, cut into
3
â
4
-inch dice
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
One 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained (juice reserved)
1 bay leaf
1
â
2
pound zucchini, unpeeled and cut into 1-inch dice
One 14- to 16-ounce package firm tofu, cut into
3
â
4
-inch dice
1
â
2
teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage (optional)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
1.
Heat oil in a heavy, wide stew pan or Dutch oven. Add onion and sauté 5 minutes over medium heat. Stir in garlic, then eggplant, bell pepper, salt, and pepper. Sauté, stirring, about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat, stirring often, 10 minutes. Add zucchini and cook 10 more minutes or until vegetables are tender. If stew is too thick, add 1 tablespoon reserved tomato juice. Remove bay leaf.
2.
Add tofu to stew, spoon a little of sauce over tofu cubes, and sprinkle them with salt, pepper, and thyme. Cover and heat gently, without stirring, about 3 minutes. Stir in sage, if using. Adjust seasoning. Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.
A favorite Egyptian Jewish combination for seasoning vegetable dishes is ground coriander, the seeds of the coriander plant, or cilantro, the fresh leaves, added to garlic. Often the mixture is sautéed but in this low-fat eggplant stew I omit the sautéing step. I use both leaves and seeds along with plenty of fresh garlic to give this dish its lively flavor. This makes a delicious side dish, or entree served with rice or potatoes.
2 to 3 teaspoons canola oil
2 large onions, halved and thinly sliced
2 to 4 tablespoons vegetable broth or water
1 green pepper, cut into strips
One 28-ounce can tomatoes, with their juice
2 pounds eggplant, unpeeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons ground coriander
5 to 6 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 pound zucchini or yellow crookneck squash or a mixture, halved and sliced about 3/8-inch thick
6 large cloves garlic, chopped
Heat oil in a large, heavy sauté pan. Add onions and sauté over medium heat about 10 minutes or until golden brown, gradually adding 2 to 4 tablespoons broth or water as necessary to prevent burning. Add green pepper strips and sauté about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes with their juice and eggplant cubes. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and ground coriander and add 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro. Cover and cook over medium-low heat 15 minutes. Add zucchini slices. Cover and cook 10 minutes. Add garlic. Cover and cook 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Serve hot or at room temperature. To serve, add 2 to 3 tablespoons cilantro; either stir it in lightly or sprinkle it on top.
STUFFED VEGETABLES
Jews from Turkey flavor their eggplant stuffing with a generous amount of fresh garlic, which gives it a lively taste. When I first learned to prepare this dish, the recipe called for deep frying the eggplant. Like many old recipes, it came from a time when ovens were not common in homes. I find baking the eggplant much easier, and, of course, the dish is lower in fat. It is satisfying enough to make a meatless main course, and good for Passover or Sukkot. In fact, with eggplant available year round, you can serve it at any time. Be sure to use fresh, unblemished eggplants.
3 eggplants, each about 1 pound
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
Two 28-ounce cans tomatoes, drained and chopped, or 2
1
â
2
pounds ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1
â
2
teaspoon paprika
8 large cloves garlic, minced
1
â
3
cup matzo meal
1
â
3
cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
Cayenne pepper to taste
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1
â
4
cup water
1.
Preheat oven to 450°F. Remove green caps and halve eggplants lengthwise. With a sharp knife, score flesh of each half lightly to make a border along skin, leaving a shell about 3/8-inch thick. Cut 3 or 4 shallow lines in center of each eggplant half. Place eggplants cut side up in a large lightly oiled roasting pan. Sprinkle them with salt and with half the oil. Bake 25 minutes, or until eggplant is tender when pierced with a knife.
2.
Heat remaining oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add onions and sauté over medium heat 5 minutes, stirring often. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring often, about 7 minutes or until brown and tender; if pan becomes dry or onions turn too dark, add 1 or 2 tablespoons water. Remove onions from skillet. Add tomatoes, oregano, paprika, salt, and pepper. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, about 25 minutes or until mixture is thick. Remove half of tomato mixture and reserve as sauce.
3.
Let eggplants cool slightly. Cut gently with a thin knife along border and remove pulp carefully with spoon; do not pierce eggplant skin. Drain pulp 5 minutes in colander. If shells are watery, drain them also. Return eggplant shells to shallow baking dish.
4.
Chop eggplant pulp and add to tomato mixture in the skillet. Add onions, garlic, matzo meal, and parsley. Season mixture well with salt, pepper, and cayenne.
5.
Spoon filling into eggplant shells. Bake about 15 minutes, or until eggplant is very tender and hot.
6.
Reheat tomato mixture reserved as sauce. Add tomato paste and water, or more if needed to thin sauce to desired consistency. Adjust seasoning.
7.
Serve eggplant hot, warm, or at room temperature, accompanied by tomato sauce.
This beautiful dish is perfect for Sukkot, when many winter squashes are at the markets, or for Thanksgiving, whether or not you are serving a turkey. After all, it's much easier to stuff a squash than a turkey. Besides, a turkey will roast much more quickly without stuffing. Here you have a stuffing and vegetable all in one dish.
If you are using your oven at a temperature between 325°F and 400°F, you can add the pan of squashes to bake. A quicker way to prepare one or two squashes is in the microwave; either follow squash label or see the following Note.
You can easily multiply this recipe by using a large roasting pan for the squashes and a stew pan for cooking the rice.
2 acorn or Delicata squashes, halved lengthwise and seeded
1
â
2
cup slivered almonds
2 or 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small onion, minced
1 cup long-grain white rice
2 cups vegetable stock or water
1 bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1
â
2
cup dried cranberries
1
â
4
teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon finely grated orange rind
1.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly spray a heavy roasting pan with oil spray. Add enough water to go about
1
â
4
-inch up sides of pan. Place squash halves cut side down in pan. Bake about 40 minutes or until tender when pierced with fork. Remove from oven. Toast almonds on a baking sheet in oven, stirring once or twice, for 5 minutes or until very lightly browned. Transfer to a plate.
2.
Heat oil in a deep skillet or sauté pan, add onion, and sauté over low heat about 5 minutes or until soft but not brown. Add rice and sauté over medium heat, stirring, about 2 minutes. Add stock, bay leaf, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Stir once. Cover and cook over low heat 10 minutes. Add cranberries without stirring. Cover and cook about 8 minutes or until rice is just tender. Discard bay leaf. Fluff rice lightly with a fork and lightly stir in cinnamon, orange rind, and almonds. Adjust seasoning.
3.
Fill squash halves with stuffing. Put in roasting pan, stuffing side up. Bake squashes about 10 minutes or until stuffing is hot. Serve remaining stuffing separately.
Note:
To microwave one acorn squash, put the halved squash cut-side down in a baking dish containing about
1
â
4
inch of water. Cover and microwave about 12 minutes or until just tender. Remove from pan. Microwave second squash.
For a Delicata squash, follow the same instructions; you will need only about 8 minutes for each squash.
Serve this festive stuffed squash for Purim or Sukkot, either as a side dish for chicken, turkey, or meat or as a meatless main course. For a change you can prepare a vegetarian Shabbat dinner and feature this dish as an entree. Use any color acorn squash. Orange ones are the most colorful but you can use green or pale yellow ones or more than one color.
4 acorn squashes, each about 1
1
â
2
pounds
Fig, Bulgur Wheat, and Toasted Almond Stuffing
1 large egg, beaten
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
8 small sprigs fresh parsley
1.
Preheat oven to 400°F. Have squashes lengthwise and remove the seeds. Cut thin slice from bottom of each squash half if necessary, so they will stand straight when stuffed. Oil a large nonstick roasting pan; or line pan with foil and oil the foil. Place squash skin side up in pan. Bake about 40 minutes or until tender when pierced with fork.