Chermoula pumpkin with quinoa and yogurt

This was hands down my favorite dish that we cooked during my class at the Agrarian Kitchen. A perfect mixture of spicy, savory and sweet, the flavors are rich and complement each other well.

Ingredients:

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp ground coriander

2 tsp chili flakes

2 tsp sweet paprika

1/3 cup finely chopped preserved lemon skin

280 ml extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to drizzle

½ medium sized pumpkin (note: if buying in America, go to an Asian market and look for the squat green-skinned pumpkin, not a standard orange American pumpkin.)

300 gm quinoa

100 gm sultanas (raisins)

40 gm fresh coriander, chopped plus extra to serve

20 gm fresh mint, chopped

60 gm flaked almonds, toasted

4 spring onions, chopped

60 ml (1/2) cup lemon juice.

240 gm Greek yogurt, plain

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. In a bowl combine garlic, cumin, coriander, chili, paprika, preserved lemon, two-thirds of the olive oil and 1 tsp salt. This is the chermoula, set aside until required.
3. Cut the pumpkin into wedges or rounds, leaving the skin intact. Scoop out the seeds and discard.
4. Spoon the chermoula over each half, spreading it evenly, and place on a baking tray cut side up. Road pumpkin until very soft, about 40 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, cook the quinoa as described on the box, or in a manner similar to how you would cook rice. I prefer to cook with chicken stock added to the water for better flavor. Once cooked, fluff with fork and set aside.
6. Soak raisins in 100 ml warm water for 10 minutes, then drain and add to quinoa with remaining oil, herbs, almonds, spring onion, lemon juice and season to taste with sea salt.
7. Serve pumpkin warm or at room temperature topped with quinoa, spoonfuls of yogurt, scattered with coriander and a drizzle of the extra virgin olive oil.

Eggplant Mozzarella Bake!

Alright, guys. This dish is delicious. And healthy and gluten free. Those are the only three positives about this dish.

Although it totally messes with my new minimalist cooking style (one pot, one pan, one plate) and used just about every dish that I own and then some, I’m going to post it anyway because 1) its super tasty, 2) its healthy and satisfying and 3) its still gluten free. So if you have a lot of time to kill and a dishwasher, I’d recommend giving it a shot!

Eggplant Mozzarella Bake

(like eggplant lasagna only without the gross ricotta)

Suggested Ingredients:

• 2 medium eggplants
• 1 onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 can of crushed tomatoes, 28 oz (or more! I’m a bad sauce budgeter so I struggled a bit with this amount.)
• 1 container fresh mozzarella, large balls (there should be four or so in the container).
• salt and pepper

Optional:

• fresh basil
• parmesan cheese

Instructions: 

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Prepare your onions, garlic and basil. Chop the onions thoroughly, mince the garlic and sliver the basil. Cut mozzarella balls into thin slices. 
3. Over medium heat, add 1 tbsp oil to a pan. Note: it might be useful for you to do this in a pot if you don’t have more than one large frying pan. Add onions and cook for five minutes. 
4. Add garlic and continue to cook for two minutes.
5. Pour in the entire can of tomatoes and stir. Add salt, pepper and basil. Continue to cook for 20 minutes.
6. While sauce is cooking, heat a large frying pan or griddle until smoking hot.
7. Slice your eggplant lengthwise (as pictured). The original recipe I used suggested coating the eggplant in oil and salting and peppering it, and I used a brush in order to do so. This is extremely messy and inconvenient. HOWEVER, my recommendation would be to take a baking pan and pour oil into that, then dip the eggplant in the pan on both sides. Salt and pepper while its sitting in the pan and then move immediately into the griddle. Don’t worry about the seeds–you won’t even notice them!
8. Cook eggplant until it becomes somewhat squishy and browned on bottom side. Flip and repeat. 
9. Remove sauce from heat and pour several ladelfuls on the bottom of a bakesafe pan. As eggplant cooks, layer eggplant along the bottom, side by side. 
10. Place mozzarella on top of the eggplant, then pour another layer of sauce to cover. Repeat until you run out of ingredients. 
11. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over the topmost layer of sauce and put into the oven. Bake until the cheese on top (and probably some mozzarella seeping through) browns slightly. Enjoy! 

Grilled Eggplant & Goat Cheese from Mykonos, Greece

After spending some much needed fun time in my favorite city of Budapest, where I ate almost no Hungarian other than sausages and the occasional Goulash, I’m happy to say that I’m back to eating some regional cuisines. And what better place to start than in Greece? This was my light lunch for the day:

Location: Mykonos, Greece

Food: Grilled eggplant with baked goat cheese, tomato sauce and pita.

Thoughts: Simple but extremely rich, I couldn’t even finish the whole thing! It was very tasty but also a bit sharp. Could have done with a little more tomato sauce though. Perfect summer dish!

Super Cheesy Baked Macaroni and Cheese

As its starting to get colder (and rainer, grosser, etc) here in Kent and I’m finding myself stuck inside with tons of essays to do, I’ve started to crave some heavier comfort foods. Warning: this recipe is probably not very diet friendly! It is, however, absolutely delicious and perfectly dense and cheesy. It also should be fairly flexible, and would be great with some “fancy” elements, like bacon or caramelized onions (or both!). You could also add saffron, cayenne, or anything else to spice it up a bit. I found this recipe here, and clarified some of the steps (and removed some as well).

I keep my serving size small for this recipe because it is so dense and filling that I do not think you need to eat a lot of it to fill yourself up. And because everything is better in moderation!

Note: I apologize for the foggy quality of some of the photos. Our kitchen is terribly ventilated and the steam kept throwing the focus off in my photos.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 cups milk (I used semi-skimmed)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound shredded Cheddar cheese (reserve some for topping)
• 1/4 pound Mozzarella cheese (reserve some for topping) (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put salted water on the stove and bring to a boil. Add the macaroni once boiling and cook until pasta is al dente.
3. While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a large saucepan. Once butter is melted, add the flour and stir until the flour and butter become pasty. 
4. Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly to prevent clumping. Add the cheese and heat until melted and the sauce begins to thicken. 
5. Once the pasta is done, strain it and return it to the pan. Add the cheese sauce once its thickened and stir. 
6. Put the pasta into a 9×13 baking pan. Top with extra cheese and put into the oven. Cook for approximately 45 mins, or until the top is well browned. 
7. Enjoy!

Ethiopian Cheese Dip

I had my doubts about this recipe, but it turned out to be amazing! I apologize in advance for the lack of photos; I made it for the dinner party my parents had the other night, and I was a bit rushed in preparing and getting food out on the table. Its super simple, though, so I don’t think the photos should matter too much. I found this recipe here.  Note: this recipe tastes really strange when served immediately, but let it sit for several hours and it blends into something fantastic!

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh goat cheese

1/4 c plain yogurt (note: we used Greek-style yogurt and it was dry at first, so we added slightly more to moisten the cheese.)

3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1 tbsp chopped fresh basil or 1/2 tsp dried basil

1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano, or 1 tsp dried oregano

1-3 tsp grated lemon zest

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1) Combine all ingredients in a bowl. The mixture should be dry enough to maintain its shape, but not so dry that it crumbles.

2) Cover and refrigerate for several hours. Remove from the fridge 30 minutes before serving. Serve with pita bread or Ethiopian pancake bread (Injera).