pine nuts

Stuffed Eggplant With Lamb and Pine Nuts

by Anne Maxfield on August 27, 2012

Accidental Locavore Striped Eggplant

Sometimes the Accidental Locavore thinks you need to be a little sneaky about food. I saw this eggplant recipe in Food & Wine and it immediately appealed to me on three fronts: love of stuffed vegetables, something new to do with eggplants and ease of preparation. One small issue, eggplants are not my husband’s first choice—ever. So, when it looked like I was going to be alone with two house-guests for dinner… This is technically more of a topping than a stuffing and serves 4.

Stuffed Eggplant With Lamb and Pine Nuts

Print recipe
Stuffed Eggplant With Lamb and Pine Nuts
Serves 4
Prep time 20 minutes
Cook time 1 hour, 10 minutes
Total time 1 hour, 30 minutes
Meal type Main Dish
The Accidental Locavore shares a recipe for eggplants stuffed with ground lamb and pine nuts. A delicious and easy main course meal with eggplant.

Ingredients

  • 4 one pound eggplants, halved lengthwise
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for brushing the eggplants
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1-1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1-1/2 teaspoon paprika (I used smoked, but not hot)
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 1lb ground lamb
  • 3 tablespoons pine nuts
  • 2 teaspoons tomato paste (if you're smart you buy it in a tube)
  • 1/4 cup parsley, chopped (feel free to substitute mint)
  • 3 teaspoons sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate*
  • 1 cinnamon stick 1 1/2 inches long

Directions

Step 1
Preheat the oven to 425°. Arrange the eggplant halves in a large baking dish, cut side up. Brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven about 20 minutes, until browned (mine took closer to 30 minutes).

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix the cinnamon, cumin and paprika together, set aside. In a large sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and half of the spice mix. Stir, cover and cook until the onion is soft, about 7 minutes.

Add the lamb and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon until no pink remains, about 4 minutes. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat. Stir in the pine nuts, tomato paste, half the parsley, 1 teaspoon of the sugar, salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon the lamb mixture onto the eggplants. In the bowl with the remaining spice mix, add the water, lemon juice, remaining sugar, salt and pepper. Stir to mix and pour into the baking dish around the eggplants. Add the cinnamon stick. Cover with foil and bake for 50 minutes, basting twice with the pan juices, until very tender.

Plate the eggplants, discard the cinnamon stick and pour the remaining juices over the eggplants. Garnish with the parsley, serve and enjoy!
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My verdict: great! My guests thought it was “very delicious” and are dying for the recipe (here it is)! Next time I’ll make a couple of tweaks. First, I’ll substitute fresh mint for the parsley. The parsley is kind of a non-entity in the dish, while mint would just add to the Middle Eastern flavor profile. The other thing to go would be the tamarind concentrate. I happened to have some, but if you didn’t you could substitute pomegranate concentrate or juice or even some cranberry juice, or nothing…You could probably pre-cook the eggplants or even grill them and add the topping later.

My Verdict II:  Made a smaller batch and used mint instead of parsley. Going forward, I would use whatever was around. This time I sprinkled the eggplants with some of the cinnamon and cumin before cooking them (like the eggplant salad). Be careful when doing small batches of this and/or using a shallow pan. The sauce cooks down quickly and you might have to add some water to the pan. For batch 2, I only cooked the eggplants for 45 minutes and think they could have come out after 35-40 minutes.

* Tamarind concentrate is used for Asian and other foods and can be found on Amazon. com.

 

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The Accidental Locavore Recipe for Stuffed Squash With Yogurt Sauce

by Anne Maxfield on August 18, 2011

Accidental Locavore Stuffed SquashThis is a long-time favorite of the Accidental Locavore. When properly prepared, it’s delicious! Even when it’s a work-in-progress, it’s pretty good. A little time consuming, but if it’s raining out and you’ve got a stack of zucchini… Depending on the size of your squash, figure 1-2 per person.

For the squash:

  • 6 summer squash, or zucchini, or a mix of the two
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 1/2 pound ground lamb
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely minced, or crushed in a garlic press
  • 1 teaspoon each, salt & pepper
  • 1 cup rice

 Yogurt sauce:

  • 1 quart full fat yogurt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon dried mint, or 1 tablespoon fresh, finely sliced for garnish

Cut a small slice off the wide end of the squash. With a squash corer, or a small spoon, carefully core the squash, leaving about 1/4″ all around. Be careful not to pierce the skin. Set aside.

In a large sauté pan heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, sauté for 5 minutes. Add the ground lamb, breaking it into small pieces as you add it, along with the garlic, cinnamon, pine nuts, salt and pepper. Stir to mix well. Add the rice and mix well. Remove from heat and place in a bowl to cool.

When the mix is cool, use it to stuff the squash. The easiest way is to use your fingers, but you can do it with a small spoon. Fill the squash 3/4 full to give the rice room to expand. Set aside.

In a large pot, big enough to hold the squash, over medium heat, mix the egg, yogurt, and cornstarch. Stir continually until it comes to a boil. Do not leave it unattended or the sauce will separate! When it comes to a boil (you’re safe now), reduce the heat to low, add a clove of crushed garlic, and the squash. Cover and cook for about an hour until the rice is cooked and the squash is tender. It may need more time to fully cook the rice. Serve with the yogurt sauce and mint sprinkled on top. Enjoy!

 

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The Accidental Locavore Recipe: Arugula and Basil Pesto

by Anne Maxfield on July 8, 2011

Accidental Locavore Pasta With Arugula PestoThis is an old favorite of the Accidental Locavore, a lemony pesto with arugula taking the place of some of the basil. Adapted from the Silver Palate Cookbook.

  • 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
  • 6 cloves garlic (if they’re big, use 1-2 less)
  • 5 cups arugula
  • 1 cup fresh basil
  • ¾ cup olive oil (you may not need quite this much, stop when it gets to a consistency you like)
  • Juice of 2 lemons
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • ¾ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Put pine nuts and garlic in a food processor and process until a paste. Add the arugula and basil and process to a thick paste. With the machine running, add the olive oil in a thin stream (the pesto should be thick and spreadable, like a thick mayo). Add the lemon juice, salt & pepper to taste and process until combined. If you’re not going to freeze it, add the Parmesan and process until blended. Serve over pasta, fish or lamb and enjoy.

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Recipe: Lamb Shanks Over Eggplant With Pine Nuts and Yogurt

by Anne Maxfield on April 8, 2011

Accidental Locavore Lamb, Eggplant and YogurtThis recipe for lamb shanks is from one of the Accidental Locavore’s favorite restaurants in New York, ilili. It’s contemporary Lebanese and totally delicious. My favorite dish is the lamb sausage, however this recipe for lamb shanks is pretty easy and a good substitute. I’ve adapted Philippe Massoud’s recipe, which serves 2. Don’t let the long list of ingredients scare you, you’ve got almost all of them, it’s an easy prep with a long, slow, unattended cooking time.

For the lamb shanks:

  • 1 large lamb shank (about 1 pound)
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice
  • 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 cup onions, diced (1 large)
  • 1/2 cup carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 1/4 cup celery, chopped
  • 3 whole cloves
  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 cups beef stock (lamb, veal or chicken will work fine, red wine and water would probably work too)
  • 1 cup water

To finish the dish:

  • 1 small eggplant, sliced 1/4″ thick, and salted for 2 hours
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil (for frying the eggplant, you may need more)
  • 1 1/2 cups full fat Greek yogurt (no substitutes, any reduced fat yogurt will curdle)
  • 1 teaspoon garlic, finely minced
  • 1 small pita bread, cut into diamonds and toasted or fried in olive oil (optional)
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 teaspoon Aleppo pepper (you can use a little cayenne or hot paprika, if you can’t find aleppo, but it’s better)
  • a few fresh mint leaves, cut into a chiffonade

Cooking the lamb shank:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Rub the lamb shank with some of the olive oil. Mix the allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a small dish, and sprinkle over the lamb shank. Poke the lamb shank with a sharp knife in where the meat is thickest, and insert one clove of garlic in each slit. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to an oven-proof skillet large enough to hold the lamb shank, all the vegetables, the stock and water. Add the lamb shank and cook over high heat until the lamb is nicely browned on all sides. Remove the lamb from the pan, and set aside.

Reduce the heat to medium, add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan. Add the onions, carrots and celery and sweat until the onions are translucent. Put the lamb shank back into the pan, add the cloves, thyme, bay leaves, stock and water. Cover the pan and cook for 3-3 1/2 hours until the shank is tender and falling off the bone. Check the lamb after about 2 hours to make sure there is enough liquid in the pan.

Remove the lamb from the oven. When it’s cool enough to handle, remove and shred the meat from the bone. Set aside.

Completing the dish:

In a large saute pan, fry the eggplant in olive oil over medium high heat until deep brown on both sides, set aside. In a small saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat, add the pine nuts and toast until they are golden brown. Be careful, pine nuts burn quickly. As soon as you see them start to darken, remove them from the heat and set aside. In a small saucepan over low heat, add the yogurt and minced garlic and warm, stirring constantly.

To serve:

For each serving, put 3-4 slices of eggplant in a shallow bowl. Divide the lamb and sprinkle it over the eggplant. In this order add: the pita chips, yogurt and the pine nuts with the butter. Finish with the mint and Aleppo pepper. Serve and enjoy.

I’ve made this a couple of times, and it’s delicious. Most recently I made it with some leftover leg of lamb that I had roasted. Instead of the braised shank, I shredded some of the leftover lamb, warmed it up while the eggplant was browning, and finished it with the yogurt, pine nuts etc. It was a great use for leftovers! If you decide to make it with the lamb shank, I would cook more than one; you can always freeze the leftover shank, and use it another time. When it (finally) becomes grilling season, this would work with grilled lamb leftovers and grilling the eggplant would be wonderful! What do you think?

 

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