As I said in my previous post, my harvest of tomatoes and eggplant this summer was disappointing.
Two plants produced two eggplants.
One summer my garden produced so many eggplants Susan and I had it almost every night. We had some many in fact, I thought of setting up a small farm stand at the end of our driveway; “Two Eggplants $1.” At one point toward the end of the summer, Susan said, “Enough eggplants!”
I found this recipe at The Lemon Bowl. I made a few changes/additions. Please note.
Ingredients
- 2 medium eggplants (Just what I had!)
- 1 squash, seeded and sliced thin (My addition. It’s summer. Why not? I had it in my vegetable basket!)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1 pound ground sirloin or lamb (I used sirloin.)
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 large onion diced
- 8 ounces chicken stock (I used my homemade stock.)
- 32 ounces crushed tomatoes (I used a 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes.)
Instructions
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Pre-heat the broiler and line a pan with tin foil.
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Cut the eggplant into 2 in. rounds and lay flat on the lined broiler pan. (NOTE: I grilled the eggplant.)
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Measure the olive oil into a small bowl and brush it evenly on both sides of the eggplant rounds.
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Sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper.
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Broil eggplant 5 minutes per side, until browned, and place in a glass casserole dish. Reduce oven heat to 350.
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Meanwhile, in a small pan, toast pine nuts over low heat until browned, about 5-6 minutes. Do not walk away!
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While this is happening, heat a large pan to medium-high and spray with non-stick spray.
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Brown beef with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice 5-7 minutes using a wooden spoon. Add onions and squash and continue cooking for additional 5-7 minutes until onions are translucent.
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Add chicken broth and deglaze the pan using the back of a wooden spoon to scrape up brown bits.
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Add in tomatoes and toasted pine nuts then remove from heat.
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Carefully pour the meat/tomato mixture over the eggplant rounds and bake for 45 minutes.
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Serve with plain yogurt, fresh parsley and extra pine nuts.
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