A Leftover Dinner

So by now you’ve seen my eggplant stuffed phyllo triangles and my roasted vegetable couscous dinner. The next evening I had a strange amount of eggplant filling and couscous leftover, and didn’t know what to do with it. I didn’t have any more phyllo sheets, so pastry triangles were out. I had maybe a cup of remaining couscous and vegetables. This didn’t instantly form a meal in my mind, but I’m reluctant to waste food, especially when it is this delicious.

So, I went back to my roots. As a kid, I ate a lot of different things, and my parents were relatively healthy. I’ve already shared with you how I rejected my mother’s minestrone, and lentils with roasted vegetables, staples in my diet now. However, one of the meals I did relish was a pita pocket stuffed with grilled lamb, with a cucumber tomato mint salsa on top. I don’t know what specifically appealed to my 7 year old tastes; maybe it was just the phrase “pita pocket” (say it out loud...it’s fun), but I remember that dinner with glee.

The raw eggplant filling would not be an appropriate filling for pita pockets, but forming them into meatballs resulted in a perfect cross between the original eggplant meatball recipe and another Middle Eastern favorite, the falafel. Stuffing the pita pockets with the Moroccan seasoned eggplant meatballs and a bright tomato cucumber mint salad made for a fantastic Sunday night dinner.

Again, my entrée was in need of a side dish. One cup of couscous is not enough for multiple people, so in order to stretch the couscous, I added a cup of cooked dandelion greens I had leftover from the previous day’s lunch, and half a can of garbanzo beans that I had frozen a few weeks before. My freezer is littered with frozen bags of tomato paste, vegetable stock, grated ginger, and other things that I may need in the next few weeks. I topped this new couscous with sliced almonds and grated lemon zest, and voilá! A new dinner made entirely out of things I already had.

You can get the recipe for the eggplant filling here. Form the filling into golf ball sized meatballs, and spray with cooking oil. Bake at 375º for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, and cover with foil. Allow to sit for five minutes before serving

For the salad, dice one cucumber and one tomato. Add 1 tablespoon of chopped mint. Season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice.

Israeli Couscous with Sautéed Vegetables

While I had long been intending to make the eggplant stuffed phyllo triangles, I hadn’t really planned to serve them to anyone but myself. When my friends Jessica and Jodie offered to make the long voyage across the bridge to my house, I realized I had to turn this dish into a meal. I wanted to incorporate complementary flavors and styles, while keeping things light, fresh, and healthy. Couscous is a traditional Middle Eastern food, served either as a side dish, or as an accompaniment to stews. It’s actually very small orbs of pasta, rather than a grain, but it can function like a rice or cereal in a variety of dishes. Israeli or Pearl couscous is simply a larger orb of pasta. It’s a different and uniquely enjoyable texture that is a lot of fun to eat!

My real goal in this side dish was simply to incorporate as many vegetables as possible.   The filling of the triangles is obviously plant based, but part of being a healthful vegan is eating a wide variety of vegetables of many colors every day.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion diced
1 carrot diced
1 red bell pepper diced
1/2 sweet potato diced
1 zucchini diced
1 cup Israeli couscous
2 cups vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon lemon zest

Heat olive oil in a large pot. Sauté the onion, carrot, and bell pepper until tender. Add the sweet potato and sauté for another 5 to 10 minutes, until tender. Add the couscous and brown slightly, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the vegetable stock and the zucchini and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for 12 minutes. The couscous should be tender, and the liquid should be absorbed. Taste for salt and pepper, and top with lemon zest. Serve immediately!

Check back tomorrow to see what I did with the leftovers!

Eggplant Stuffed Phyllo Triangles

I had some friends over last Saturday, and dinner was a confluence of several things I’ve been thinking about recently. First, I have been so encouraged by the quality of the foods I have made with the eggplant “meat” base. The original recipe was for eggplant meatballs, served traditionally atop spaghetti with tomato sauce. The next edition featured the eggplant filling in wontons for wonton soup. And finally, this week’s meal was a vegan reimagining of Moroccan lamb brewats. Brewats are traditionally made with a lamb filling spiced with cinnamon and cumin wrapped in phyllo dough. They have long been a favorite of mine.

More recently, I posted a phyllo pie recipe filled with mushrooms, and immediately wanted to make numerous adaptations of the dish. Although a few steps away from spicy mushroom phyllo pie, this recipe is at least cousins with that one. While only my second time working with phyllo, I found it to be fairly easy. I made the trip to Whole Foods for the slightly more rare whole wheat phyllo dough, and it lent a nice nuttiness to the overall dish. Quickly, this dish has become one of my master recipes, and one I can imagine serving at many dinners to come. Whether or not you have a pre-established attachment to these Moroccan pastries, give them a try, and you will wow your guests, and your self.

Check back in a couple of days to see what I did with the leftovers!

1 box phyllo dough (18 sheets)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 eggplant, unpeeled and diced in 1/4” to 1/2” cubes
1 onion diced finely
3/4 cup walnuts
1/2 cup firm tofu
2 cups bread crumbs toasted
1 tablespoon parsley chopped
1 tablespoon cilantro chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons ground almonds

Place olive oil, eggplant and onion in a large skillet. Sauté until tender, about 15 minutes. Combine walnuts, tofu, and 1 heaping cup of the eggplant mixture in the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth. Combine the puréed ingredients and the remaining sautéed eggplant mixture in a large bowl. Add the breadcrumbs, herbs, and spices, and stir using a fork. Taste for salt and pepper.

Lay the phyllo dough lengthwise on a smooth surface. Brush the center of the dough with olive oil. Sprinkle the olive oil with ground almonds. Fold the right third of the dough over the center third of the dough. Brush the right half of the dough with olive oil. Sprinkle with almonds and fold the left half of the dough over the right half of the dough. You should have a long thin strip of dough, about 4 inches wide. Place a tablespoon of filling in the bottom right hand side of the dough, about 1” from the bottom. Fold the left corner of the dough over to the right side, bringing the bottom of the dough parallel with the right side, forming a triangle. This is the same technique you would use to fold an American flag. Continue folding until you have a small triangle. Brush the top of the triangle with olive oil. Repeat this process until you run out of phyllo sheets or filling. Bake the triangles at 400º for 15 minutes, or until golden and crispy at the edges. Serve immediately!

Ode to a Falafel

If my posts were written in the order of my affection for particular foods, then this post would be long overdue. Since becoming vegan, falafel has become my favorite food. Don’t get me wrong; I have always enjoyed falafel, but I was inclined to mix it up with grilled chicken or lamb, spanakopita, or a gyro. Falafel was only one of the many kinds of Mediterranean food I enjoyed. But, since embracing a plant-based diet, the falafel has been elevated to a new status. I think this is because the falafel, more than other available foods, does not seem to be lacking for its vegan-ness. When attempting to find vegan options in restaurants, I frequently feel alienated and high-maintenance. Ordering nachos at my local Baja Fresh always throws the employees for a loop: “No meat, no cheese, no sour cream, no guacamole, thank you very much!” I usually end up with a plate of chips, and beans if I’m lucky. But, the falafel is already vegan! And so is hummus! And pita bread! Hooray! So, falafel has become its own food group in my eating life, and as such, I figured I should learn how to make it myself.

This recipe comes from Ellie Krieger, a healthy cooking host on the Food Network. I still enjoy her show, although she is far from vegan; her recipes are frequently adaptable, and healthier versions of things you already love (like her killer onion rings). Krieger bakes her falafel to boost the health quotient, but don’t worry, there is no loss in flavor. Of course, falafel aren’t a meal just in themselves, so I serve mine with homemade hummus, whole wheat pita bread, and tabbouleh salad. You can also wrap everything up in a whole wheat tortilla for an awesome and portable lunch the next day!

Baked Falafel

15 ounce can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

¼ cup onion minced

2 cloves garlic minced

2 teaspoons ground cumin

½ teaspoon ground coriander

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup cilantro

¼ cup parsley

2 tablespoons olive oil

Heat oven to 400º. Combine all ingredients save one tablespoon olive oil in food processor. Process until combined but still coarse, scraping down the edges as necessary. Form into 16 balls. Pay attention to the proportion; if they are too small, they will be dry; too large and the outside won’t be crispy. Place on baking sheet, and brush with remaining olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes, flip and bake twenty minutes more. Serve immediately!

Hummus

This recipe comes from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and is my vegan bible. Whenever I find unusual greens or beans at the farmer’s market I always turn first to Bittman, and he has classically good versions of all vegetarian staples.

15 ounce can chickpeas drained and rinsed; reserve liquid

 ½ cup tahini (I’ve also used peanut butter or almond butter, if I don’t have any)

2 cloves garlic peeled

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt and Pepper

1 tablespoon ground cumin

Place all ingredients in the food processor and blend until smooth. Add more salt, pepper, lemon, juice, or tahini as needed, and add chickpea liquid, or water if the mixture is too thick. Garnish with parsley, olive oil, paprika or cumin if desired. I like to freeze any leftover hummus in individual containers as they make an excellent lunch alongside raw vegetables and pita bread.

Tabbouleh

Also from Mark Bittman.

½ cup bulgur

3 tablespoons olive oil

¼ cup lemon juice

Salt and Pepper

2 cups parsley chopped roughly

1 cup mint chopped roughly

4 medium tomatoes diced

½ cucumber diced

Soak bulgur in hot water until tender, 15 to 30 minutes. Drain very well, removing excess moisture. Toss with remaining ingredients. Serve immediately or refrigerate for later.

A side of raw veggies goes nicely with this meal, whether in the pita with the falafel for a little crunch, or just on the side dipped in hummus.