This forum's been dead for too long...

[Harpoon]

Tried this one tonight, sort of a quasi-inspiration type thing that I thought of while looking through a cooking magazine...


Call it eggplant lasagna, more or less.

1-2 tsbp olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2-3 cups no salt added tomato puree (or peel and chop about 2 lbs fresh tomatoes then puree them instead)
3 cloves minced garlic (or more if you like it, which my wife and I do and usually double what recipies call for)
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp basil
2 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
1 eggplant
Shreaded cheese (I used a "mexican style" blend intended for tacos and such 'cause that's what was in the 'fridge)
Parmesean

Saute' onions, carrots, and celery in medium sauce pan until tender. Add garlic, sauteing for another minute or so. Pour in tomato puree and add oregano, basil, thyme, and bay leaf and simmer, stirring occassionally.

While sauce is simmering, pre-heat broiler. Skin eggplant, leaving a little skin in lengthwise strips for decoration if you're feeling fancy and not too clumsy with a knife (and on anticoagulants! ) Slice eggplant into 1/2 inch thick sections. Set aluminum foil on broiler rack and spray with non-stick cooking spray of choice. Place eggplant slices on foil and spritz with cooking spray, add a little black pepper if you'd like before setting eggplant under broiler. Broil for 10 minutes or until lightly browned then turn eggplant and repeat for other side.

In shallow baking or casserole dish cover bottom with a little of the sauce, then add layer of eggplant, then cheese, then more sauce, then eggplant, then cheese... Top with whatever you have left and cover with foil and bake at 350? for about 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake some more for 15 minutes or until cheese is nicely melted and browned and such...

Eat.

Makes about 3 servings for a meal or half a dozen or so appetizers...

 

[Marguerite53]

Yum! sounds good.....

Yum! sounds good.....

Just today I had eggplant parmesan while "health fooding" it with my son for lunch. I was wanting a receipe!! Thank you!

Do the contributions all have to be completely healthy? This is a favorite summer side dish of ours -- probably came from Gourmet Magazine a zillion years ago (an engagement gift subscription from my hubby -- I think I needed the inspiration!!)

It doesn't have a name.

Zuchinni and Yellow Squash (I use about 4 medium, 2 each)
Cream (well, you don't use much!)
Butter (not much of this either)
Parmesan cheese (I use alot, 1cup at least)
Fresh Basil leaves (2/3 of a bunch, or to taste)

Grate the squash as you would regular cheeses, skins and all. Prepare Basil leaves by rolling several leaves together into a tight roll and slicing every so thin (chiffonade, I believe).

In a frying pan, heat about 1 to 2 Tablespoons of butter until foamy. Put grated squash in pan and saute for several minutes. The key is to cook them, but not so much that they will be mushy once you are finished. Then pour in 1/4 cup cream and stir until bubbly and thickening abit. Sprinkle in Basil. Stir. Scatter the cheese over the top. Turn off heat, cover with lid long enough to melt cheese (not too long). Serve

Hope I haven't broken any rules!! Enjoy!!

Marguerite

 

[Harpoon]

Hmmmm...


You can often find low sodium butter in supermarkets right next to the other stuff, but it tends to be higher in fat and cholesterol....


Wonder if you could substitute the butter with olive oil or something.

Use half and half or some other light cream maybe, sodium content is about the same as I recall.

One of my cookbooks, No salt, Lowest Sodium, Cookbook by Donald Gazzaniga (I think I got that right) has recipes for thin, medium, and thick white sauces which might do to replace the cream in a pinch....


Some cheeses are lower in sodium than others. I really like using lorraine in a lot of my recipes. Like swiss but LOWER in sodium and it's got a stronger taste to it, more holes too so it might not shred well but you could just slice it up fine with a decent knife and a cutting board.



I've gotta recipe for a heart healthy eggplant parmesean too somewhere, I don't think it's low sodium though, just cuts back on the fat and cholesterol.

Lots of recipes can be "tinkered with" to bring down sodium counts which are what most people in here (that watch for heart healthy foods) are concerned about. If you make it up once in a while, it really isn't too bad anyways. my "usual" goal for sodium content is less than 1,000 a day.

That's going out the window though this weekend, it's "Latino Festival" weekend and the friggin' block party is right across the street from the office.

I ALWAYS gotta get my "spanish food", empanada (meat pie) and rice and beans with LOTS of salsa picante, maybe a kabob too. I do this three times a year, at the county fair, at the latino fest, and at a farm produce and arts&crafts festival/show in the area.

 

[Marguerite53]

sounds like a scrumtuous weekend

sounds like a scrumtuous weekend

Sounds yummy! Here's a quick and easy way to stock up on shredded pork for fillings in easy quesadillas, or tacos, etc.

Take a pork shoulder and put it in a stew pot (I just use those spreckled dark blue porcelein camp like oval cookers). Sprinkle on a lot of Cumin and Garlic powder (okay, I use garlic salt). Cover. Put in 350 oven for 90 minutes. Take out and pour off all the grease. Spread roast apart with 2 forks, sprinkle on more cumin and garlic if desired. Then cover with a can of (reduced sodium) chopped tomatoes with green chiles. Cover. Reduce heat to 300 and cook another hour or so until the meat is really tender and easily torn into strings. Use with favorite condiments and salsas in tacos, enchaladas, quesadillas, etc. Store extra in freezer for quick snacks or late suppers.

Marguerite

 

[Harpoon]

Garlic salt's got LOTS of sodium (hense the salt) in it, about as much, if not more, than the amount of garlic in it....


Better to use garlic powder which is about the same price for the same size bottle and MUCH better for your heart.


Garlic's really good for your heart anyways, the more the better. =)

 

[sylviayasgur]

harpoon,
thanks for that eggplant recipe... sounds delish!

i also like to make a side-dish with zuccini...
slice 2-3 green zuccinis into 1/4 inch circles( width, not length-wise),
place on cookie sheet ( i usually line it with tin foil first),
sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese till slices are covered (try not to overlap slices),
broil until golden brown.
when done, use spatula to scrape slices off cookie sheet and place in serving dish (they can overlap at this point).
this dish is not salt-free because of the parmesan cheese (which tends to be salty). my entire family loves it. low in fat.

we usually serve this with what we call "pepper pasta" (modified from a NYTimes recipe years ago):

2 red sweet bell peppers
2 yellow sweet bell peppers
4-6 tomatoes (or unsalted canned whole tomatoes)
1 can of [unsalted] crushed tomatoes
2 T. tomato paste
1 big onion- chopped
2 scallions- chopped
fresh basil
red pepper flakes (optional- i usually leave these on the side for those who
like it spicier)
1-2 T. sugar (optional- if the tomatoes aren't up to snuff)
olive oil (2-3 T. of enough to coat the bottom of a frying pan when swirled around)
grated parmesan cheese
2 T. italian seasoning

Start by broiling peppers in oven and running under cold water after (makes peeling them easier). Then chop peppers and place in small bowl.
While peppers are broiling,, cook penne pasta and when done, drain and put aside.
Put tomatoes in hot water to peel off skin. Crush or chop tomatoes and place in seperate bowl.
Heat olive oil in frying pan.
Add onion and cook until golden brown. Add fresh tomatoes until saucy.
Add peppers, scallions and basil. Add can of crushed tomatoes, tomato paste and simmer until somewhat thick.

The true recipe calls for adding the pasta to the sauce, tossing and topping with sprinkled grated parm. cheese... my family tends to be a bit fussy so we serve the sauce on the side.

hope you enjoy. thanks for these great recipes...
can't wait to try them!
stay well, sylvia

 

[liamty]

I was told a great easy (and that is important to me) recipe last week, I tried it and it is very yummy....
Grab any vegie you like,
eg squash, onion, eggplant, capsicum(pepper? to some of you?), mushrooms, celery, I am sure you get the idea,
toss lightly with oil and balsamic vinegar,
place on a baking tray and cook in a reasonably hot oven until the vegetables are golden and cooked.
They can be eaten like this or
heat 1 can of tomatoes and
1 smaller can of tomato puree/paste
add some herbs if you like
add the roasted vegetables and roughly puree all together
it makes a delicious vegetarian pasta
Easy and tasty
hope you enjoy as we did

 

[surfsparky]

Please interpret for us Aussies!

Please interpret for us Aussies!

Hey Sylvia, Harpoon,
Love your recipes and looking forward to giving them a test run this week, but could you tell me what 'broiling' is? After a chat with Yol my wife), we thought it must mean 'grilling', which down here means putting on a tray under the heat elements. Is this right?
Thanks.

P.S Liamty...thanks for your vegetable tip...we tried it tonight and it was delicious. We often dip our bread over here in a mix of olive oil and balsalmis, but hadn't tried it with vegies before. With 2 children and running our own company, "easy", meals are a winner!

 

[Harpoon]

Most ovens have a broiler setting where you control temperature and a broiling rack position, usually the one closest to the top of the oven.

The broiler is actually a seperate heating element (at least in an electric oven) that's located at the top of the oven. You have to be careful with some things because the broiling rack puts your dish (or whatever) only inches from a heating element that gets extremely (+400?F) hot and will burn most things if you don't keep an eye on it. Usually I leave the oven door open just enough so I can see the peppers. I think the door is supposed to be open when you're broiling...


One of my FAVORITE dishes to make is a low sodium heart healthy roasted red pepper soup that I more or less invented.

The first step is to roast about three or four red peppers. I set the rack in the oven to the broiler position and cover it with aluminum foil then turn the oven to the broiler setting. Once it's warmed up, I use a pair of long tongs (for outdoor grilling) to set the peppers on the foil and turn them every three minutes until the skin is charred and bubbling on all sides. When they're ready, I pop each pepper into a seperate brown paper lunch bag which I fold oover to close then staple shut before setting them in a microwave where the peppers sit to cool off. Once cool, I just sit down at a table and use a knife (AND RUBBER GLOVES FOR SAFETY) to remove the skins, seeds, veins, and stems from the peppers.

You can do this on an open grill too or even the range top of an electric or gas oven. I haven't tried it though and prefer "time tested" methods. =)



You'll have to ask real nice like to get the rest of the recipe from me. =)

One other broiler idea:

My dad got some "home grown" garlic last week from one of his students and handed it over to me (my wife and I both LOVE garlic) to use. I've got a few tips on roasting garlic that I'm trying to find time to try. Basically you cover the unpeeled cloves in olive oil and set them in a roasting pan under the broiler and let them go until for a while. When the outer skins are just starting to turn golden brown you take them out and squeeze out the inner cloves. This can be used very simply as a topping for a slice of french style bread as an appetizer.