Night of the Living Eggplant

After an all-too-brief hiatus, it appears that eggplant season is once again upon us.

Eggplant parmesan with whole wheat spaghetti.

Italian style

Grilled chicken with caponata and caprese salad:

Caponata:
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 small eggplant, peeled and diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
1 tomato, diced
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup pine nuts
Vinegar and sugar to taste

Heat olive oil on medium, add eggplant and cook for 10 minutes or until eggplant starts to brown. Add remaining ingredients and cook for 20 minutes or until mixture has thickened. Let the mixture cool to room temperature and add a small amount of vinegar and/or sugar to taste. Serve at room temperature. This was good as a condiment for the chicken, but usually is served with bread as an appetizer.

Eggplant Parmesan

Meeting the eggplant challenge head-on:

3 medium eggplants, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices
1/2 jar pasta sauce
8 oz. shredded low-fat mozzarella
Bake eggplant slices at 400 for 20 minutes
Layer in pan starting with sauce, then eggplant, sauce, then cheese, ending with cheese
Bake covered at 400 for 45 minutes, then remove cover and bake for 15 more minutes
4 servings, 275 calories each

It's Eggplantastic!

Eggplant stuffed with lamb, tomatoes, onions, and pinenuts:

2 large eggplants
1 pound ground lamb
Olive oil
1 onion, minced
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup pine nuts
Spices to taste
Tomato and pepper for garnish

Cut eggplants in half, salt the cut halves and let stand for an hour. Rinse and pat dry. Saute eggplants in olive oil for 10 minutes. Let eggplants cool. Toast pine nuts in a dry skillet and set aside. Add some olive oil to the skillet and cook onions over low heat until they are translucent. Raise the heat to medium and add lamb. When the lamb is browned add tomatoes, spices, and pine nuts. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes or until the mixture has thickened.

Scoop out a small amount of flesh from each eggplant half. Stuff with lamb mixture. Top with a tomato slice and a pepper slice. Cover and bake for 45 minutes at 350, then remove cover and bake for 15 more minutes.

Served with carrot-yogurt salad and tomato, cucumber and feta salad.

More eggplant

The veggie box this week was virtually identical to last week's, so no new picture. It's a challenge to use some vegetables, like eggplant, which I like but wouldn't ordinarily have two weeks in a row. This week's eggplant (served with chicken Italian sausage):

Eggplant rollatini with goat cheese and mozzarella

1 large eggplant
3 oz. goat cheese
3 oz. fresh mozzarella
Tomato sauce

Slice eggplant lengthwise into six pieces, approximately 1/3 inches wide. Spread out the slices on paper towels and salt both sides, let stand for 1 hour, then rinse and pat dry. Bake the eggplant slices for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Mix the cheeses together. When the eggplant slices have cooled, put 1 oz. cheese mixture at the wider end of the slice, then roll up and secure with toothpicks. Put the rolls in a baking dish, cover with foil, and bake for 25 minutes. Serve with tomato sauce.

Makes six rolls, 85 calories each.

Turkish delight

Eggplant braised with tomato, onion and olive oil; yogurt and cucumber sauce; olives; steak kebabs; pita bread; borek with arugula and feta cheese.

On the plate:

Grilled Eggplant Parmesan

Okay, not exactly Parmesan, because I didn't have any Parmesan cheese, only mozzarella.
I grilled the eggplant early this afternoon, so I could put the rest of the dish together very quickly.

1 eggplant: (1 lb. appx): 100 calories
1 cup marinara sauce: 200 calories
1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella: 300 calories
Makes 4 servings, 125 calories per serving

Cut the eggplant into 1/2 inch rounds and grill over high heat for about 7 minutes per side; let cool. Put a small amount of marinara sauce in a baking dish, add the eggplant rounds, top with more marinara sauce, then sprinkle each round with a generous pinch of mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for 10 more minutes or until the cheese browns. Serve with pasta.

1/2 cup whole wheat linguine: 100 calories
1/4 cup marinara sauce: 50 calories
2 tbsp. shredded part-skim mozzarella: 75 calories