Growing up in America during the 60's and 70's, their was only one way to prepare Eggplant... and it was a mushy glob of tasteless goo as a result. Maybe my childhood memories of eggplant would have been much different if I had been born into an Italian family or better yet... Greek!
It appears that the Eggplant lobby has been very active among vegetarians... it's almost as if there is a contest afoot to see just how many different ways one can prepare this veggie-fruit-berry. Confused by that term? Me too! But it's the best way to describe eggplant, which is a member of the same family as tomatoes (a veggie-fruit), although botanically the eggplant is considered a berry.
Eggplant has an interesting history, it appears in Chinese agriculture as far back as 544 AD from a treatise written by Qi Min Yao Shu. Since most of the names given to this plant are derived from Arabic and African terminology, and none are from Greek or Roman words, it can be deduced that the Arabs introduced eggplant into the Mediterranean diet.
As a member of the nightshade family, which includes tomatoes and tobacco, it is most likely that ancient Greeks and Romans thought the eggplant to be poisonous and avoided it. However, once introduced onto the palate of Greeks and Italians in the Middle Ages the culinary traditions of using eggplant became prolific across the region.
Cooking with Aubergine:
Some of the more well-known traditional dishes containing eggplant are: Moussaka (Greece), Baba Ganoush(Turkey), Mellanzane Alla Parmigiana (Italy), Ratatouille (France) and Escalivada (Spain) are only a few examples. Here is a few videos showing how to prepare some of these dishes.
This was the closest version to a traditional version of Moussaka I could find on YouTube, but obviously the Aztec influence of adding corn crept in from somewhere. If you look around at other videos, you'll find they are using hamburger, which is fine for an Americanized version... but lamb is more traditional and also becoming more available in American Supermarkets. If you're worried about cost, consider the traditional method of using less meat and more vegetables. With cheap hamburger meat, the tendency is to use more meat with a thin layer of eggplant.
It is also more traditional to use preserved lemons, with the rind included... giving the dish a cleansing and refreshing zest. Yes, I know... we Americans don't take to well to this in our savory meat dishes. Another absent ingredient in these traditional recipes is feta cheese. I like adding it into the yogurt/cream layer.
Greek Moussaka:
1 lb Ground Lamb
1 medium yellow onion chopped
3-4 cloves minced garlic
1 8oz can tomato sauce
2 large eggplant sliced 1/4" lengthwise
1 lemon sliced 1/4" whole removing seeds, sautéed with salt to soften
2 Roma tomatoes diced
1 egg beaten
16 oz greek yogurt
1 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp nutmeg and cinnamon
8 oz feta cheese
2 oz Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup bread crumbs
Directions - Brown lamb on medium heat with a light drizzling of olive oil, after sufficient browning add onions, garlic and spices, turn down heat to avoid burning garlic. Once onions are translucent add tomato sauce and simmer for 5-10 min. on low heat.
While meat is simmering, line eggplant slices on a tray, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Heat in 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, rotating halfway through to cook evenly on both sides.
In mixing bowl beat one egg, incorporating yogurt and feta cheese. In casserole dish cover bottom with one layer of eggplant followed by a layer of meat add diced tomatoes and layer of lemon slices. Cover with a layer of yogurt/feta mixture. Repeat the process with another layer of eggplant. After adding the last layer of yogurt/feta mixture sprinkle top with a liberal portion of bread crumbs and grated parmesan cheese.
Bake in 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes until golden brown.
Dede's Mediterranean Kitchen: Baba Ganoush
...
The term Baba Ganoush has a funny translation from its Arabic roots. Baba means "father" and Ganoush (variant spellings) means "spoiled". "Spoiled father" means this is a great healthy dish to prepare on Father's Day or any time you feel like making a fuss over Papa.
Traditionally the eggplant is roasted whole (a smoky flavor can be imparted by putting the eggplant on the grill a few minutes each side and turned), but there are other methods to prepare a flavorful end product. I have had great results with peeling and marinating my eggplant in olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and cumin for about 20-30 minutes then placing them on a low heat grill to cook. Similar smoky flavor to the traditional version. The excess marinade can be put in the food processor with the grilled eggplant, garlic and tahini.
I like using cilantro as the garnish, but as the video version points out... parsley is a perfectly acceptable alternative.
Baba Ganoush:
1 large Eggplant
3 Tbl Olive oil
1 lemon juiced
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp cumin
2 cloves garlic
2 oz cilantro
1/4 cup tahini
Directions - In a bowl make marinade by whisking together olive oil, lemon juice and spices. Peel and slice eggplant into 1/2" thick rounds and marinate for 20-30 minutes. Heat grill to medium temperature and be sure to rub down grill surface with olive oil to make it a non-stick surface for the eggplant. Grill eggplant on both sides, you're looking for a nice grill mark, without charring the surface completely as you would if the skin were still left on.
In a food processor add leftover marinade, grilled eggplant, whole garlic cloves and tahini paste. Add or reduce amount of tahini paste based on the consistency of the mixture after processing. If it's too runny, add more tahini to thicken.
Serve with pita chips or crudites (raw veggies).
Nutritional Profile:
Nutritionally eggplant offers a great source for dietary fiber, potassium and folate, plus Vitamin B5 and B6. For those looking to cut back on their carbohydrates to follow Atkins diet or The Zone diet, eggplant is not a very good option. About 80% of the calories in eggplant come from its carbohydrate content.
Looking at some possible health benefits of adding more eggplant to your diet? Well, according to the abstract of this research article in The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Online Journal, the dark colored skin of eggplant (solanum melongena) are responsible for giving the fleshy fruit inside a higher content of Poly-phenolic compounds, which are utilized in the the body to inhibit oxidative modification of LDL cholesterol (the bad kind).
Through isolation of these compounds we may be able to cultivate eggplant varieties with higher content and increase their benefit, or we could be playing God and adding more imbalance to our already imbalanced diet by monkeying around with natural selection and plant genetics.
Gardening With Eggplant:
Growing eggplant in your own garden is a great idea, however, there are a few details to consider before you dive in. Eggplants are not very tolerant of cold, if they experience a frost any time during the early Spring or Fall... you can forget them surviving it. A Fall frost is not as bad though, you can at least harvest the fruit and let the plant die.
Expert Village: How To Grow Eggplant.
... As touchy as eggplant is to cold weather, it is curious to note that New Jersey is the state that can boast the highest production of eggplant. It seems a rather cold climate up there... but it is "The Garden State" for a reason, I suppose.
Eggplants are also susceptible to the same pest problems a tomato plant might suffer, so it's important to keep that in mind and rotate these crops accordingly.
Digging Into Eggplant
To wrap it up, eggplant doesn't have to be a yucky mushy glop of tasteless goo. It offers a great culinary experience with a little bit of effort and proper handling. Hope you are up to the task and enjoy expanding your palate to include this veggie-fruit-berry on your dinner table in the near future.
Do you remember when you were a kid, one of your parents saying something so outrageous that you just had to give them that "rolling eyes" look. My dad did that to me all the time... and now, as an adult, I do it.
Growing up in the 70's and "Out West" we had a chain of restaurants called Kip's Big Boy that my family ate at frequently, since my mother wasn't inclined to be a domestic goddess or gifted with culinary skills. I don't know if they are still around, but they aren't in Oklahoma anymore. It was during these family dinners that I had a bad habit of playing with my food or not eating what was ordered.... typical kid stuff. So dad would say "just eat your garnish then, it's the healthiest thing on your plate."
*5 year-old Todd rolls his eyes.... then continues using his french fries as Tonka bulldozers through the sea of ketchup*
"Yeah right, Dad!"
Restaurants today have apparently ditched "the plate garnish" in their attempt to streamline food costs. It is much more economical to use a garnish that visually elaborates what may be inside the food, or a sprinkle of freshly chopped herbs to enhance the flavor.
For those of us who remember the old-style practice from the 70's and before... it was a simple bunch of parsley, or a piece of endive and orange wheel or lemon wedge pushed off to the edge of the plate. Nobody ate it, except maybe my dad. It was simply there to make the food look presentable and make the plate look full.
When I think of endive and it's relative "escarole", I think of --inedible-- plate garnish. Dad was right, though... it was probably the healthiest thing on my plate. Why aren't we eating this stuff more often?
Gardening: Escarole Escapades
Escarole is a great leafy green to add to your cool season Oklahoma garden... it tolerates the occasional Spring frost and cooler Fall temperatures. Here's all the information you'll need at Library 4 Farming. It has a long growing season, but if you're patient it gives you plenty of bang for the buck with multiple harvests.
Not many pests around during the cool season, but even when it warms up they don't seem to go after these bitter greens as much as they will other garden goodies, like tomatoes and snap peas. Escarole is less bitter if blanched, which in garden-terms means covered up so it gets less direct sunlight. This will result in yellowish-white ribs and less chlorophyll in the curly leaves. Another excellent gardening resource that explains how to blanche in more detail is here.
Basic Information: Just The Facts Ma'am
Whether it was originally cultivated in India or the Mediterranean is under contention, but it was a part of the Egyptian agriculture food supply and thankfully they began keeping written records for us to study. For those interested in following a Paleo-diet regimen, looking at earliest writings of human culture can be a valuable resource. Escarole is an excellent source for nutrients such as: folate, Vitamin A, Vitamin K, calcium and potassium. Also a great source of fiber, which helps lower your risk of colon cancer.
It's a long shot since kids and vegetables seem to be mortal enemies, but if you're tired of making your kids choke down carrots they don't want to eat for Vitamin A and healthy eyes... then try sneaking in some escarole in a salad mix or soup they love to eat.
Escarole, endive and chicory are all related species and sometimes confused for each other. Gourmet Sleuth sorts it all out; including pretty pictures for the visual learner. Wikipedia is again somewhat disappointing, but gives a decent basic summary of information under "endive".
Chicory is more popular in Europe, specifically Belgium and France. Most Americans are familiar with it as an additional flavoring of coffee Down South in Cajun country, or a complete coffee replacement. In this use, it is the chicory root that is commercially important, which is roasted and ground. I've never tried chicory coffee, but the folks at Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans say it adds a chocolate-like flavor to their coffee.
Belgian Endive or Witloof Chicory, is becoming more popular as chefs have discovered it for the purpose of finger food, capable of delivering a myriad of cheese, salmon, caviar, or other fillings with it's boat-like shape. Eye appealing and nutritional, this type of endive is what farmers produce when they blanch it and harvest it early.
I will cover these two relatives of Escarole in greater detail, with recipes, during a later time. Since Escarole is a variety of Endive, you won't find it as Escarole in the USDA National Nutrient database. They have a separate listing for Chicory, which includes the Belgian Endive. Here's a nutritional profile for a half cup of raw chopped Escarole (Endive):
Endive, raw
Refuse:14% (Outer leaves and core) Scientific Name:Cichorium endivia NDB No: 11213 (Nutrient values and weights are for edible portion)
Nutrient
Units
1.00 X 0.5 cup, chopped
-------
25g
Proximates
Water
g
23.45
Energy
kcal
4
Energy
kJ
18
Protein
g
0.31
Total lipid (fat)
g
0.05
Ash
g
0.35
Carbohydrate, by difference
g
0.84
Fiber, total dietary
g
0.8
Sugars, total
g
0.06
Minerals
Calcium, Ca
mg
13
Iron, Fe
mg
0.21
Magnesium, Mg
mg
4
Phosphorus, P
mg
7
Potassium, K
mg
78
Sodium, Na
mg
6
Zinc, Zn
mg
0.20
Copper, Cu
mg
0.025
Manganese, Mn
mg
0.105
Selenium, Se
mcg
0.1
Vitamins
Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid
mg
1.6
Thiamin
mg
0.020
Riboflavin
mg
0.019
Niacin
mg
0.100
Pantothenic acid
mg
0.225
Vitamin B-6
mg
0.005
Folate, total
mcg
36
Folic acid
mcg
0
Folate, food
mcg
36
Folate, DFE
mcg_DFE
36
Choline, total
mg
4.2
Vitamin B-12
mcg
0.00
Vitamin B-12, added
mcg
0.00
Vitamin A, RAE
mcg_RAE
27
Retinol
mcg
0
Carotene, beta
mcg
325
Carotene, alpha
mcg
0
Cryptoxanthin, beta
mcg
0
Vitamin A, IU
IU
542
Lycopene
mcg
0
Lutein + zeaxanthin
mcg
0
Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)
mg
0.11
Vitamin E, added
mg
0.00
Vitamin D (D2 + D3)
mcg
0.0
Vitamin D
IU
0
Vitamin K (phylloquinone)
mcg
57.8
Lipids
Fatty acids, total saturated
g
0.012
4:0
g
0.000
6:0
g
0.000
8:0
g
0.000
10:0
g
0.000
12:0
g
0.000
14:0
g
0.001
16:0
g
0.010
18:0
g
0.001
Fatty acids, total monounsaturated
g
0.001
16:1 undifferentiated
g
0.000
18:1 undifferentiated
g
0.001
20:1
g
0.000
22:1 undifferentiated
g
0.000
Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated
g
0.022
18:2 undifferentiated
g
0.019
18:3 undifferentiated
g
0.003
18:4
g
0.000
20:4 undifferentiated
g
0.000
20:5 n-3 (EPA)
g
0.000
22:5 n-3 (DPA)
g
0.000
22:6 n-3 (DHA)
g
0.000
Cholesterol
mg
0
Amino acids
Tryptophan
g
0.001
Threonine
g
0.013
Isoleucine
g
0.018
Leucine
g
0.025
Lysine
g
0.016
Methionine
g
0.004
Cystine
g
0.003
Phenylalanine
g
0.013
Tyrosine
g
0.010
Valine
g
0.016
Arginine
g
0.015
Histidine
g
0.006
Alanine
g
0.015
Aspartic acid
g
0.033
Glutamic acid
g
0.042
Glycine
g
0.015
Proline
g
0.015
Serine
g
0.012
Other
Alcohol, ethyl
g
0.0
Caffeine
mg
0
Theobromine
mg
0
USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 22 (2009)
As a simple reminder to myself, and any others wishing to utilize this wonderful resource, all you have to do is open up any page in the database and drag and drop it into your blog editor. If you try to cut and paste, it won't work... no matter how many million times you try. Trust me.
Let's Cook - Endive In
Below are a few recipes that I have found and used as templates for making my own Escarole dishes. This is only a few examples of what you can do to incorporate Escarole into your diet, it's what I've done, but there are many other options out there and I encourage you to explore them.
The first recipe is one that I like to call "The Russian alternative to Tabouleh". It is a Kasha Salad with uncooked vegetables and a simple vinaigrette. Kasha is a buckwheat groat and very popular in Slavic countries and Russia. It has a nutty flavor and has played a key role in the diets of the poor, working class people of the region for centuries. There is a Russian saying that loosely translates "All we need to survive is cabbage soup and kasha porridge".
KASHA SALAD
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Kasha
1 shallot minced
1/4 cup toasted almonds
1 cup black "beluga" lentils
1 bayleaf
1 Tbl Olive Oil
1 Red Bell Pepper diced
2 Cubanelle peppers diced
1/2 Red Onion diced
1/2 cup sweet corn kernels (frozen or fresh)
2 Roma tomatoes diced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (add/sub: mint)
1/4 cup chopped watercress (add/sub: arugula, mizuna, mustard greens)
1 cup chopped escarole
Vinaigrette:
2 freshly squeezed lime juice
1 lime zest
4 cloves minced garlic
3 Tbl Olive oil
1 Tbl Ginger Ale
1 Tbl White wine vinegar
1 tsp coriander
Salt & Pepper to taste (optional: cayenne)
Directions:
In a saucepan, drizzle with olive oil and cook shallots until they start caramelizing, add kasha and toast briefly to brown before adding 1 cup of vegetable stock. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. In another suacepan, put lentils (rinsed and cleaned) into 4 cups of water, add bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 12 minutes. Drain and discard bay leaf, season with salt and pepper. Don't salt the water while boiling. Let both kasha and lentils cool while preparing the vinaigrette and vegetables.
Put all vinaigrette ingredients in a food processor and pulse several times until blended. Chop and dice vegetables and incorporate them (minus the leafy greens) into a bowl with kasha and lentils. Kasha will have to be broken up with a fork. Make sure it is not too hot before adding vinaigrette or it will soak it all up and you'll have a messy clump of goo that tastes good, but doesn't look very appetizing.
In a serving bowl spread escarole, watercress and cilantro mixture on the bottom and add the kasha, lentil and chopped vegetable mix in the center. Take a moment to appreciate all the hard work you put into it, and the beautiful eye pleasing and very colorful finished product that almost looks too good to eat.
Dig in and enjoy... let somebody else worry about the dishes later.
...
The second recipe I like to use escarole in is a classic Mediterranean soup. As you can see in the recipe from YouTube, some people like a very basic soup with nothing much more than chicken broth, white beans and escarole. There is nothing wrong with keeping it simple, if that is your desire or budget.
I like a little more complexity of flavors, since my palate seems to be a little more developed than most folks. I can usually taste something and pick out the ingredients no matter how complicated the recipe. That aside, the main concern here is to steer away from the chicken stock-based soups and go more toward using low sodium vegetable stocks instead.
As long as you read the label and don't see anything too alarming, store bought vegetable stock is alright, but if you really want to be a cheap thrifty crazy person like me in the kitchen, then making a homemade stock out of the onion ends and other vegetable refuse you have laying around after preparing a big meal is a snap... right?
Not everybody can be or wants to be Martha Stewart, I know... but here's a veggie broth of hers if you're inclined.
TUSCAN CANNELLINI & ESCAROLE SOUP
Ingredients:
1 Tbl Olive oil
1 medium yellow onion diced
3-4 cloves garlic minced
1/4 cup diced sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped baby carrots
1 Tbl chopped fresh basil (add/sub: oregano)
2 cans Cannellini beans
1 head Escarole chopped or shredded
3-4 cups vegetable broth (if 3: add 1 cup white wine)
1 tsp fennel seeds
Salt & Pepper to taste
Directions: If you are using white wine in this recipe, re-constitute the diced sun-dried tomatoes in a cup of white wine for about 30 minutes. You can top it off to equal a cup again and add it to the soup broth later. In a large stock pot drizzle olive oil and cook onions on medium heat until translucent, add garlic.
Cut baby carrots on the bias and add to pot and let cook for a few minutes before adding the sun-dried tomatoes and white wine. Drain and rinse the cannellini beans and add to pot with the shredded escarole. Add vegetable stock and reduce heat to simmer. Roll basil leaves and cut in strips, add to pot with other seasonings and continue simmering another 5 minutes.
To serve add a few shavings of a fresh hard Italian cheese like pecorino on top. Serve with a toasted baguette lightly seasoned with olive oil and garlic. If you serve this on a crisp fall evening, your family will think they have died and gone to heaven.
They do drink white wine in heaven?
They better!
...okay here's some links that I used to research the recipes I shared in this article.
