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Spicy Baby Eggplants and Pasta

This post is a slightly altered version of one I shared  two years ago for my friend Diane, queen of eggplants!  We share garden space at our church garden.  She really knows how to grow eggplants, dozens on a single plant every year.

Let me share my favorite method for dealing with those small eggplants you find yourself with when the first big frost hits your garden.  I pick them the night before no matter how small and this is how we use them in the best way possible.  Grocery stores usually have them in the fall if you are not a gardener.

I originally created this for the slow cooker using a base recipe from a friend’s Italian mom but this latest version was made on the stove top.  I really love being able to turn on my crock pot and walk away for four hours.  Still, sometimes you need dinner in an hour so here is the latest and quickest version.  It is perfect with gluten free ziti or spaghetti.

If you don’t have baby eggplants I think you could use smaller eggplants cut into halves.  This picture isn’t that pretty; a collapsed and well cooked eggplant is kinda ugly but you gotta love that cheese on top; good quality freshly grated Parmesan cheese.  I served it with penne as usual for the first time I enjoyed a plate of this spicy treat and with spaghetti squash tonight which was surprisingly good.  Hadn’t had that in many years.  Two of them were gifted to me last month; finally made half of one.  Nuked it in microwave for 15 minutes; cut, remove seeds; cut down on big plate, add a bit of water for steam effect.

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Spicy Baby Eggplants

Ingredients

7-10 small eggplants from tiny up to about six inches long

1-2 ounces hard Parmesan cheese

2 tbsp EVOL

1 32 oz can crushed tomato

1 large carrot in rounds

½ tsp smoked paprika

¼  tsp. red pepper flakes

½ tsp. dried oregano

½ tsp. sea salt

2 large garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup oil cured black olives

1-2 tbsp. capers

Directions:

Cut the Parmesan cheese into tiny wedges.  Trim off the top cap of the eggplants.  Cut 3-4 slashes in the side of each eggplant going in the direction from the cap to the bottom. Put a wedge of cheese into each deep slash.  I only put 1-slashes in tiny eggplants, 3 in bigger ones and 4 in the largest eggplants.  Heat 1-2 tbsp. EVOL in a large heavy sauce pot.  Add the onions and saute a couple minutes.  Add the minced garlic, stir for a minute.  Then add in the tomato sauce and carrot rounds.  Heat up and add the eggplants and the herbs/spices. Heat to a bubble and add the olives, and capers.  Cover and cook on low for 40 minutes stirring every few minutes to keep the sauce from sticking to the pot’s bottom.  Cook until the eggplants can be easily pierced with a long fork.

Cook gluten free ziti, enough for how many people you are serving, and drain it one minute before the package directions say it will be done. Put it back in the now empty pot and add the eggplant mixture.  Cook a minute stirring it all around the pot.  This allows the ziti to soak up some of the sauce and get a great authentic flavor.

Serve in a low wide soup bowl as is or add a good grating of Parmesan cheese on top.  If you have some gluten free rolls or freshly baked gf bread – heaven!

Notes: I used olives with pits but if you can find them pitted; great! If you are an olive hater, leave them out but they really add to the flavor.  Or cook the dish with them and remove before eating; get that earthy salty flavor but it is more subtle without the actual olives on your plate.  Add more salt if you leave them out. If you like things really spicy double the red pepper flakes.  I found it just about right for me with a quarter teaspoon. Spaghetti squash works well in place of pasta.

Fig and Raspberry Galette

Figs are a favorite of mine in the fall. Pricy though. This year my fig trees came through with several dozen figs over about a months time. Some were stuffed with goat cheese and drizzled with honey, and eaten raw.  Some were roasted briefly with that same yummy cheese. Heavenly.  A lot were just popped in my mouth for a sweet treat.  I made a super delicious fig and yogurt cake last weekend. Now for a fig based dessert in the pie family.  Saw this recipe on Tasting Table a while ago and immediately knew I just had to make it. FYI: a galette is a free form flat round French tart. Now you know!

I used my favorite gluten free crust recipe plus some cinnamon.  Lacking almond paste I made some; see my blog post for that recipe: https://myworldwithoutwheat.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/almond-paste-holiday-joy/.  The filling was fairly close to the recipe. You might think the thyme leaves and honey unusual but trust me it is just perfection!  If you love figs or raspberries this is an outstanding and show stopping dessert.

 

Fig and Raspberry Galette

Crust:

1 c plus 2 tbsp brown rice flour mix (at bottom of recipe)

2 tbsp sweet rice flour

1 Tbps. granulated sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp. cinnamon

6 Tbps. cold butter cut into 6 chunks

1 lg egg

2 tsp fresh orange or lemon juice

Line a 15 inch pizza pan with parchment paper.

Mix dry ingredients in bowl of stand electric mixer.  Add butter and mix until crumbly and resembling coarse meal.  Add egg and juice.  Mix until it comes together into big chunks.  Shape into a ball with your hands. Put it on a crust sized piece of wax paper (14 x 14 inches more or less), flatten the crust ball some; put on top of it another piece of wax paper and chill it all in your fridge 15-20 minutes.  Then roll out and put on the parchment lined pan; put back in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

Frangipane filling:

1/3 cup almond paste

2 tsp. sugar

2 tbsp. butter

1 tsp. gf flour

1 egg

½ tsp. black berry brandy or kirsch

Pinch of salt

Fruit part:

6-7 ounces of ripe figs: 8 large or maybe 10 small

5-6 ounces fresh raspberries

1 -2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, chopped

2 tsp. honey

1 tsp. orange or tangerine zest (I used tangerine)

1 beaten egg for washing

1 cup crème fraiche or organic plain yogurt or plain Greek yogurt

Directions: Combine the almond paste and sugar in a small food processor, process until broken up into sandlike mess.  Add the butter and process until blended.  Add flour, egg, brandy and salt.  Process some more.  Chill in fridge while you continue tart creation process.

Chop the thyme (remove all stems).  Zest a tangerine or half an orange’s skin. I do this onto wax paper for ease of picking up later.

Get out the tart crust and the almond mixture. Spread the frangipane out; I just dumped mine in the center of the crust and it spread on its own.  Leave 1.5-2 inches of crust around the filling. Top with halved or quartered figs; mine were small; halved them. Next sprinkle the raspberries around; I didn’t need the full 6 ounces.  Sprinkle on the sugar, thyme leaves, then drizzle with honey and dust the zest over it as evenly as possible. Fold up the edges of your crust and pinch together to create the galette shape.  Use a pastry brush to brush the crust with the egg wash.  Bake for 30 minutes in a 425 degree oven.  Mine got a little too brown on the bottom.  Next time I will turn it down to 400 after the first 15 minutes.   Let your tart rest a bit; don’t serve hot but a warm slice will be awesome.  Slice and top with a big dollop of crème or yogurt.

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Brown Rice Flour Mix (same as King Arthur basic gf blend)

2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch – not potato flour!

1/3 c tapioca flour

The crust recipe is from Annalise Roberts great cookbook, GF Baking Classics, Second Edition.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

I don’t put pumpkin in my tea/latte or ice cream or candy as I see others indulging in but pumpkin does make homemade baked goods even better tasting. A few weeks ago I made a batch of pumpkin muffins, new recipe for me: they turned out nice.  But I wanted to upgrade them in this latest attempt so I added mini chocolate chips and chopped walnuts.  Really amazing flavors and great texture in the resulting muffins!

This recipe is my own version using the banana muffin recipe from Annalise Roberts’s wonderful cookbook: Gluten Free Baking Classics as my jump off place.  They are easy to make, perfect in texture and totally yummy. I used coconut palm sugar; low on the hypoglycemic scale which is great for me.  I do love to sprinkle the raw muffins with chunky sugar before baking.  Yes, I get the irony there but I only put a few grains and they look so pretty!  Streusel would be nice but actually adds more sugar and calories than my bits of fancy big sugar.

I freeze any I won’t eat in 2 days; in a Ziplock freezer bag.  They make perfect snacks.

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (14 muffins)

2 cups brown rice flour mix (see below)

2/3 c granulated sugar or coconut palm sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

¾ tsp xanthan gum

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp. ginger

¼ tsp nutmeg

1 c packed canned pumpkin

½ cup mini chocolate chips

½ cup chopped walnuts

2 lg eggs beaten

½ c milk, 1 or 2 percent plus 2 extra tbsp. if you use the palm sugar

½ c canola oil

Heat oven to 350 degrees, placing the rack in middle of oven.  Spray muffin pans with cooking spray.  One batch makes 12-14 muffins depending on how large you want them.

Mix all dry ingredients in bowl of stand mixer or big bowl. Add nuts and then pumpkin puree, stirring into the dry ingredients. Combine milk and oil, beat in eggs.  Add liquids to big bowl; stir until fully blended.

Fill muffin pans 2/3 full.  Bake 22-23 min until golden brown. Do not over bake or they get dry.  Remove immediately from the pans and cool on a rack. Freezes well for up to 3 weeks.

Brown Rice Flour Mix mix
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch

1/3 c tapioca flour

 

Turkish Fig and Yogurt Cake

We enjoyed the most amazing cake last night.  I used 12 of my own homegrown figs in it.  chicken-gumbo-002Some sugar, lots of Greek yogurt, some eggs, some flavorings and very little flour.  It was very easy to put together; sort of like making a soufflé. I mixed the yolks with the sugar and then the flour added in bit by bit with a whisk.  My stand mixer made the egg whites into fluff and I folded them into the yolk/sugar mixture.  Spooned into a buttered cheesecake pan and laid the cut halves of the figs into the batter. Bake it and BOOM; an amazing dessert fit for a king and queen!  It does puff up a lot as it bakes; don’t worry; it will sink somewhat; can’t stay puffed when it is cooled.

The flavor was a lemony, fluffy light cake but the figs were the star attraction.  If you like figs; this is your cake!

The recipe is from fearless dining: here is a link to the original I used to create my cake.  http://www.fearlessdining.com/recipe/gluten-free-turkish-fig-yogurt-cake/.

I made only a couple of changes to fit what I had in my pantry.  This is a spectacular cake to serve to company. Just need those fresh figs and some yogurt. I got mine at Aldi’s.  Their store brand Greek yogurt in a big size has wonderful flavor and texture.

 

Turkish Fig and Yogurt Cake

Ingredients   (at room temperature)

4 eggs, separated

½ tsp. cream of tarter

½ cup sugar

3 tbsp. gf flour – I used King Arthur blend

½ tsp. xanthan gum (leave out if your flour has some in it already)

1 tsp. lemon or orange extract

1 tsp. water

1/2 tsp. lemon zest

½ tsp. orange or tangerine zest (if you don’t have orange extract)

1 ½ cup Greek yogurt, plain

7-12 figs (big ones; only 7, small; use more) Halved

A tsp. of butter for greasing the pan

A bit of powdered sugar to sift on top

Directions:  see the original post for directions –  http://www.fearlessdining.com/recipe/gluten-free-turkish-fig-yogurt-cake/.fig-cake-006

Chicken Gumbo Bowl

Chopped, October 2016 edition.  I have a raw chicken breast, boneless.  There is a packet of fresh tender okra in my fridge.  Yeap, I have more fresh okra; picked it up in Valley Farm Markets in Bethlehem, PA.  Great produce there.  It is a southern veggie: needs a hot summer around here to really produce and only plays well in a limited array of dishes.  Most times at my local store it looks kinda beat up and I pass it by but this day I was shopping one town over: selected a good looking packet of it to build my supper around. Other ingredients I had around were: the last two fresh homegrown tomatoes and a red bell pepper, plus the usual items available in my pantry: onions, garlic, broth.  What to make in 35 minutes that tastes like late summer in a soup bowl but isn’t soup?

Originally I had been all for fried chicken fingers but that okra sent me off on another path.  I was suddenly thinking gumbo because of the okra.  Yeah, I have commented before about the whining regarding the alleged slimy nature of okra.  This cook was determined to never let that travesty occur, so my  beautiful okra was sliced right before adding to the pan.  I sautéed and stirred my pan full of chicken, veggies and a few shrimp and before I knew it; supper was ready.  It isn’t quite a gumbo as I didn’t cook it for a long time nor did I make a roux but my results were darned delicious.  The ripe tomatoes from my garden were perfect with the okra and the chicken which was so tender I cut chunks up with a fork. I added a few rounds of turkey pepperoni to add an almost hot sausage flavor.  Totally optional; you could use andouille sausage if you prefer that; not too much though; no more than ¼ cup.  Or no other protein.  Could even leave the shrimp out and I bet it would still be awesome.

I served mine over cooked brown rice but you might try using tiny rice grained gluten free pasta. I actually like that better than rice.  Of course, you could use another protein like cod, monkfish, or any firm white fish.  Enjoy!

Angie’s Chicken Gumbo; Serves two generously

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 chicken breast cut into roughly 1 inch chunks

½ cup chopped onion

3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper

½ cup chopped celery

1 garlic clove minced (about 1 tsp.)

A sprinkle of red pepper flakes

1 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

¼ tsp. dried thyme

¼ tsp sea salt

1 cup broth: chicken or veggie

1 cup chopped fresh ripe tomatoes

8-10 rounds of turkey pepperoni (optional)

1 1/2 cups sliced okra; cut in 1/3 inch slices

8 medium shrimps, peeled (optional)

1 cup hot rice or cooked rice shaped gf pasta

Directions:

Cut the chicken into small pieces and roll in some rice flour to cover.  Shake excess four off, Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan; add the chicken pieces.  Cook 2-3 minutes, turn over, cook 2 more minutes, stir up and cook another minute.  Chop the veggies while the chicken cooks or do it before you even start the chicken cooking.   Then add the onion and sauté for three minutes on medium heat, add the pepper and celery, cook 3 minutes.  Add the garlic, sauté another minute, stirring. Then add the thyme, half the parsley, and the salt.  Cook for 3 minutes stirring often. Add the broth, pepperoni and chopped tomatoes, stir and bring to a simmer.  Cook for about 8 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add the okra and cook for five minutes, add the shrimp, cook for 3-4 more minutes add the rest of the parsley.  Taste, add more salt if necessary and up to ¼ tsp. fresh ground black pepper.  Serve over the rice or pasta in a shallow soup bowl.

If you want it spicy, add a dash of Tabasco and a pinch of cayenne when you add the thyme.  If you want it soupier; add another ½ cup of broth.  I had a bottle of green Tabasco sauce available and that worked fine to spice it up even more.  chicken-gumbo-009

This recipe is based on one from Jane Brody’s “Good Seafood Cookbook” with my modifications.