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Posts Tagged ‘Eggplant’

Roasted Eggplant with Herbs

Posted in Sides (For The Low Cal Left Brain), tagged on November 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

It is not very often that I am stopped dead in my tracks due to food pictures. Bloggers like Tartelette have fantastic pictures, but those pictures are so beautiful I often think I have no chance at being able to replicate the dish, let alone have my Steinbeckesque Lennie-ridden hands make something so pretty. When I saw this recipe in Cooking Light, it seemed so simple I had to try it.  It’s easy, delicious, filling and ridiculously low calorie.  It will also be a great option in working off those Thanksgiving hips…

Adapted from Cooking Light.

Ingredients:

  • Eggplant, well washed.  Mine was around 400 grams.
  • Olive oil Pam
  • Dried or fresh herbs to taste (such as rosemary, thyme)
  • Kosher salt
  • Black pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut each eggplant into 1/4-inch slices, cutting to, but not through, stem end. Fan eggplants, and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spray Pam over eggplant slices. Bake at 450° for 15 minutes; remove from oven. Press eggplants gently to fan slices. Spray with Pam again, and sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper. Bake an additional 10 minutes or until flesh is tender and edges are browned and slightly crisp. Sprinkle with herbs. A 400 gram eggplant makes 2, 50 calorie, servings.

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Healthy Roasted Eggplant Dip

Posted in Sides (For The Low Cal Left Brain), tagged , , on June 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Memorial day weekend I was lucky enough to go to my friend Jes’s wedding. Out of the billions of weddings I’ve been to in the last few years, I find that I really love the food-a-ganza at southern weddings.  Best part of this one?  The picnic the night before consisted of a whole smoked pig.  Yes, whole smoked pig of deliciousness.

Yes, that’s the bride, hand in pig.  We were told to dig in…

One of the other great things about this wedding was the copious amount of dips at the actual reception.  They had hot and cold dips, tons of bread and crackers, and I was in heaven. The following recipe is one of my favorite dip recipes for company.  It is pretty low calorie, yet hard to calculate the exact calorie count, due to the changing sizes of the vegetables.  I suggest serving it with baked pita chips, cucumber slices, or crackers and then save the leftovers to spread on sandwiches for the week.  Or you can eat it with a spoon, which I find myself doing most often.

Ingredients:

  • 1 large eggplant, unpeeled
  • 2 red bell peppers, seeded
  • 1 red onion, peeled
  • 2 garlic gloves, chopped
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons tomato paste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cut eggplant, peppers and onion into approximately 1-inch cubes.

Place cut up veggies on ungreased baking sheet.

Add garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Toss well to coat all veggies with oil.  Spread out in even layer.  The colors Duke, the colors!  (Yes, this will keep coming back to haunt you.)

Roast for 30 to 45 minutes or until veggies are lightly brown and soft (Peppers should be soft when pierced with a knife.), tossing once during cooking.  Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

Place veggies in food processor fitted with steel blade.  Add tomato paste.

Pulse 10 to 20 times to blend.  Do not over process.  The dip should be a coarse with a slightly chunky consistency.  Taste for salt, pepper and tomato paste.  Sometimes I add an additional tablespoon of tomato paste if I think it needs the zing.

Transfer to serving bowl; cover and refrigerate.  Serve cold or at room temperature.

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Ratatouille

Posted in Main Dishes (For The Low Cal Left Brain), Sides (For The Low Cal Left Brain), tagged , , , , , on February 2, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

The French work hard for their food.  Every French recipe I read takes hours and usually consists of chopping.  I chopped and chopped and sautéed and chopped and sliced my finger and chopped…  This is a time if you have children, make them work.  Make them chop.  Isn’t that what they are good for anyways?

From the Silver Palate Cookbook

  • 2 cups good quality olive oil
  • 4 small eggplants
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/2 pounds white onions
  • 7 medium zucchinis
  • 2 medium bell peppers
  • 2 medium green peppers
  • 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  • 3 cans (16 ounces each) plum tomatoes, drained
  • 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
  • 1/4 cup dill, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons dried basil
  • 2 tablespoons dried oregano
  • Fresh ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cube the eggplant and put in a roasting pan. 

Toss with 1 cup of olive oil and sprinkle with the salt.  Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake for 35 minutes.

Dice the onion.

Quarter the zucchini and then cut into 2 inch strips.

Slice the peppers.

 In a large skillet (you probably need two) heat the second cup of oil.  Add the onions.

Then the zucchini.

And the peppers.  Saute the onions, zucchini, peppers, and garlic over medium heat for 20 minutes. 

Mix together the tomato products.

Mix the herbs–I used dried parsley because I’m lazy.

Add tomatoes, tomato paste,

the herbs,

and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes. 

Add eggplant and cook for another ten minutes.  Taste for salt and pepper, then serve.  Makes 12 servings.

Counting the calories in this is very hard based on the different-sized vegetables.  Most of the calories come from the olive oil and tomatoes, so if you are worried, cut down on the amount of olive oil you use on roasting the eggplant.  I made a quarter of this recipe, and guessed each serving was around 200-300 calories.

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