Ratatouille Salad

Here is a great vegetable salad that's easy to make. I don't remember where I got the recipe from, but I do make small changes to the recipe.

Instead of boiling the eggplant, I grill it or roast it, depending on how much time I have.

I also like to grill the zucchini, but I keep the tomatoes fresh, grilling them doesn't work as a salad.

Add some goat cheese, and it becomes heavenly. You can even add some black olives to make it saltier. I like olives in salads, so I always seem to add them:)

You can substitute balsamic vinegar instead of lemon. It makes it richer.

Serve with some country bread that has been oiled and grilled. And some red wine and you have a complete meal:)

RATATOUILLE SALAD

Ingredients:
1 small eggplant (1 pound)
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup olive or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 medium tomatoes, chopped (1 1/2 cups)
1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced (2 cups)
1 small onion, sliced and separated into rings
1 small green bell pepper, chopped (1/2 cup)
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions:
Cut eggplant into 1/2-inch cubes. Heat 1 cup water and 1/4 teaspoon salt to boiling in 3-quart saucepan. Add eggplant. Cover and heat to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered 5 to 8 minutes or until tender; drain.

Mix oil, lemon juice, basil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, the mustard and pepper in large glass or plastic bowl. Add eggplant and remaining ingredients; toss.

Cover and refrigerate about 4 hours or until chilled.

Grilled Eggplant Spread and Spiced Pita Toasts

This is really very similar to the eggplant salad that is served in Turkey. We just don't use red onions and parsley in the salad, but when I saw this recipe from Gourmet, I thought it would be good with it, so I tried to give it a try. I'm glad I did. Below you will also find a pita crisps recipe to go with the eggplant spread.

Although the recipe looks like it will need a grill, I use my gas burner. Just put the eggplant on and char it, then you do get the smoky taste. You don't have to worry about the insides cooking, it actually does:) Just keep turning it around until every bit is charred. If you don't want to have too much of a mess on the burner use a pizza pan for the oven, the kind that has holes in it. It takes a little bit longer but at least there is no mess to clean up afterward.

You don't have to make the pita toasts; you can probably find ready made pita chips at your local market. But the cumin in the recipe below tastes great with the spread. I don't ever remember making anything a day ahead, so I just let the eggplant drain while I wait for the pita to get ready, which is about 45 minutes.

You can also use this spread with steak or chicken sandwiches. It tastes heavenly as a condiment. Enjoy:)

GRILLED EGGPLANT SPREAD

Ingredients:
4 pounds medium eggplants
1 small red onion
2 large garlic cloves
2/3 cup packed fresh flat-leafed parsley leaves
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
3 tablespoons mayonnaise

Directions:
Prepare grill.

Pierce eggplants in several places with a fork and grill on a rack set 5 to 6 inches over glowing coals, turning them occasionally, until very soft, 30 to 40 minutes. (Alternatively, broil eggplants under a preheated broiler about 6 inches from heat 30 to 40 minutes. Broiled eggplant will not have a smoky flavor.)

Transfer eggplants to a colander and, when cool enough to handle, quarter lengthwise. With a small knife remove and discard as many seeds as possible. Scrape flesh into a large sieve set over a bowl, discarding skin. Drain eggplant, covered and chilled, 1 day.

Discard any juices from eggplant. Mince onion and garlic and finely chop parsley. In a food processor pulse eggplant with onion, garlic, parsley, and remaining ingredients until coarsely puréed. Transfer spread to a bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Chill spread, covered, at least 3 hours and up to 3 days.

Serve spread with pita toasts.

Makes about 3 cups.

SPICED PITA TOASTS

Ingredients:
4 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coarse salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 cup olive oil
six 6-inch pitas with pockets

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°F.

In a dry small heavy skillet toast seeds over moderate heat, shaking skillet, until fragrant, about 1 minute, and cool. In an electric coffee/spice grinder finely grind seeds and salt with paprika and in a bowl stir together with oil.

Split each pita into 2 rounds and brush rough sides with cumin oil. Cut each round into 8 wedges and arrange, rough sides up, on 2 large baking sheets. Bake wedges in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden brown and crisp, about 8 minutes total. Cool pita toasts on racks.

Pita toasts keep 5 days in an airtight container at room temperature.

Makes 96 pita toasts.

Coconut Pecan Bars

These are great if you want to have a tasty dessert handy to put in the lunch box. The recipe is from Betty Croker, so you know you can't go wrong with it.:) I love both coconuts and pecans, so I had to give it a try.

I usually don't change things in the recipe if it involves baking, so I haven't touched this one either. Although if you read the recipe it does seem hard, it's very easy to make.

COCONUT-PECAN BARS

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions:
Heat oven to 350ºF.

In small bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Stir in 1 cup flour. Pat in bottom of ungreased square pan, 9x9x2 inches. Bake 12 to 17 minutes or until very light brown.

Meanwhile, in medium bowl, beat eggs slightly with wire whisk. Stir in vanilla. Gradually beat in brown sugar just until blended. Beat in 2 tablespoons flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt; mix well. Stir in coconut and pecans. Carefully spoon coconut mixture evenly over baked layer.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and filling is set. Cool 10 minutes. Run knife around edges of pan to loosen. Cool completely, about 1 hour. For bars, cut into 4 rows by 4 rows.

Blue Cheese and Caramelized Onion Squares

I'm not good at doing crusts, or basically dealing with dough is a big deal for me, so I had to change this recipe from Bon Appetit according to what I can do. If you are comfortable making crusts, I think the recipe below should do it. But keep in mind, I have not tried it:)

Trade Joe's sells a wonderful pizza dough ready to be used. Most markets today have them, or any local Italian eatery should be able to sell the dough to you.

After trying it as squares and seeing that it didn't really look appetizing, but the taste was great, I decided to use puff pastry squares and use only the filling from the recipe. This way I can close them like a calzone, so I don't prepare them as squares.

If you do want to serve them open faced, cut the puff pastry squares into smaller 4 squares, otherwise it's not an appetizer anymore:)

Simply prepare the filling, and then just put it in the middle of the puff pastry and wet all four sides of it with water. Close it, forming a triangle, and use a fork to push the edges down. It helps adhere the pastry tightly, otherwise it will open during cooking. Then prepare an egg wash and brush it on. I also add Nigella seeds which gives a really nice bite. Then follow the cooking time on the package of the puff pastry, which is usually between 20 to 25 minutes.

You will need a crock pot to be able to caramelize the onions. Regular pans will take too long, and the onions will burn long before they are caramelized. If you don't have a crock, add a little bit of balsamic after sauteing the onions for a while, it will help caramelize the onions.

BLUE CHEESE AND CARAMELIZED-ONION SQUARES

Ingredients:
Crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Topping:
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 large onions (about 2 pounds), halved, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups (about 6 ounces) crumbled blue cheese

Directions:
For crust:
Preheat oven to 425°F.

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Make well in center of dry ingredients.

Whisk milk, olive oil, and melted butter in liquid measuring cup to blend. Slowly pour milk mixture into well in dry ingredients, stirring until just blended and smooth.

Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 10x13-inch rectangle. Transfer dough to rimmed baking sheet.

Re-form dough into 10x13-inch rectangle (dough will shrink when moved). Pierce dough all over with fork. Let dough rest while preparing topping.

For topping:
Melt butter with oil in large skillet over high heat. Add onions. Cook until onions are soft and beginning to brown, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes.

Add rosemary, sugar, and salt. Season onions to taste with pepper. Reduce heat to medium. Continue to cook until onions are soft and dark brown, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes; cool.

Spread onion mixture evenly over dough. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake until crust is golden and cheese is bubbling, about 20 minutes. Let cool. Cut into squares and serve.

Makes 42 squares.