We volunteered to help our son and daughter-in-law for a month or so. She is finishing up her PhD and we thought we’d better help with the family so she could finish up.
My job has been to cook for 7-10 people every day, plus laundry and taking care of 2 littles, 2-1/2 and under 1. And since I’m gluten free, the meals are gluten free.
Our son, Nate sells his almonds at farmers markets so brings home boxes of fruits and veges that he trades for. My challenge is to use as many of the fruits and veges as possible. So far I’m winning the challenge!!!!
In 1981 we were in Jerusalem visiting Dale’s brother and sister-in-law, who were working and living in the city. They were working with the Palestinian people so we were introduced to their workers and their families.
Jan, my sister-in-law, made arrangements for the 2 of us to have a cooking lesson from one of the women. One of the dishes that the woman had us make was a stuffed eggplant dish. It used lamb, cut into very small pieces, and I remember the eggplants and squash being stacked in a large pot. There was lots of liquid added and a plate was on top to hold the eggplants and squash down.
As I’m not at home I don’t have the recipe with me, but fortunately with Google, it is easy to find something similar. Here is my revised stuffed eggplant dish. It was a huge hit.
1 lb ground turkey
1 C rice
Water for the rice
½ large onion
4 or 5 cloves garlic chopped fine
½ tsp Allspice
½ tsp Cinnamon
1 lg can stewed, peeled and chopped tomatoes.
In a saucepan, sauté the onion and garlic, then add the rice and sauté briefly. Add water to the rice and cook until it is done.
When cool, add the rice to the turkey along with the spices. Add a little salt and some fresh ground pepper.
Cut the tops off of the eggplants then cut lengthwise in half. Make a trench about ¼” from the edge all the way around, the cut across the bottom. Don’t cut thru the peel. Remove the cut part. You can cut across the bottom in a small area then lift most out.
Put the meaty part of the eggplant in a bowl and save to work with later.
As you trench the eggplants place in skillets. When all of the eggplants have a trench then fill the trench with the meat and rice combo.
Divide the stewed tomatoes between the skillets and put the tomatoes on top of as many eggplants as possible. Add water to reach the top of the eggplant. Bring to a simmer then cover and simmer for about 1 hour.
When the eggplants are cooking, take your centers and put in a skillet along with about ¼ C Olive Oil and 4 TB butter. You can add more butter if you need it. Sauté until the eggplants are soft and mushy. Serve as a side dish.
For the salad: I had a bunch of cucumbers and avocados so was happy when I found an idea for a cucumber-avocado salad.
Cucumbers diced
A couple of Avocados diced
Juice of 1 lime
Salt and pepper.
This is a great simple salad
