Today's meal, ladies and gentlemen, will knock your socks off. Maybe even your shoes.
It all began with a too-large bag of quinoa one of us inherited from her parents, who don't know what quinoa is let alone what to do with it. And this is what happened:
Minty-Fruity Tabbouleh
From: The Fruit Cookbook by Nicole Routhier
1 cup quinoa
1.5 cups boiling water
2 tbls lemon juice
2 tbls olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1.5 cups diced tomatoes
1.5 cups halved red grapes
1.5 cups diced cucumber
1/2 cup diced scallions
2 tbls shredded fresh mint
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Saute quinoa in olive oil until slightly toasted
Pour in boiling water, cover, and let quinoa simmer for about 15 minutes or until water is fully absorbed
Set aside and let cool to room temperature
Cut up all fresh ingredients and mix with quinoa, olive oil, and lemon juice right before serving
Tips: can substitute garlic cloves with garlic powder and use red grapes instead of green to make it sweeter. The mint gives the whole thing SUCH a kick and fresh taste that if you like mint, use more than the recipe calls for!
But that, ladies and gentlemen, is only half the story. Now for the baked eggplant.
Imam Bayildi (Baked eggplant)
From: The Essential Mediterranean Cookbook
3/4 cups olive oil
2 lbs (or 1 medium-sized eggplant)
1 large red onion
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
13 ounces of chopped fresh tomatoes
2 tsps dried oregano
4 tblsps chopped parsley
1/4 cup currants
1/4 tspn ground cinnamon
2 tblspns lemon juice
pinch of sugar
1/2 cup tomato juice
Directions:
Cut eggplant in half
In a skillet, put down 4 tblspns of olive oil and saute both halves of the eggplant on all sides, until pretty well done (7-10 minutes), until the exposed flesh is a golden brown
Remove from skillet and scoop out all pulp, leaving 1/4 inch or so of the eggplant skin (save the pulp)
Chop entire onion, and saute in 3 tblsns of olive oil until onion starts becoming translucent and soft
Make a well, or a space in the onion in your skillet and add all spices; let the oil bloom the spices, stirring for about 1 minutes
Take skillet with onion off the heat
Chop tomatoes and cut up eggplant pulp you removed and add to the onion mixture
Add currant, salt and pepper
Place scooped out eggplant halves on a baking sheet and fill each one with the onion/tomato/pulpy mixture
In separate bowl, mix together tomato juice, lemon juice and sugar
Pour tomato juice sauce generously over filled eggplant halves
Bake on 350 for 25-30 minutes
Wait for the party in your mouth to begin.
Tips:
Use large raisins and sultanas (raisins made from a type of white, seedless grape of Turkish, Greek, or Iranian origin) instead of the currant; the raisins get juicy and plump in the oven and create an incredible sweet taste
We erm, forgot the garlic and it was awesome, so you can leave it out if you prefer
Bon Apetit!
