Roasted Eggplant and Cauliflower Salad with Farro, Almonds and Goat Cheese

I keep buying eggplant at my local farmers market because it is only $1 for a giant eggplant. Then it sits in my refrigerator for a week while I try to come up with the next recipe to make with it. First, I made Smitten Kitchen's Baked Orzo with Eggplant and Mozzarella. It was fantastic and I had it for lunch every day for well over a week.

I wanted to try something different this week, and I came across a recipe for Roasted Eggplant Salad with Smoked Almonds and Goat Cheese on The Kitchn. I thought it sounded really tasty, but I wanted to make some changes, highlighted below.

The dish turned out so well! It tastes incredible! It is the perfect combination of salty and sweet, creamy and crunchy, silky and chewy. I had made it up for my lunch for the week, but I kept on walking by and sneaking tastes. As soon as I made it I decided I needed to get another eggplant at the next farmers market, just to make it again. I have now made it two times in the past week, and it is my new favorite lunch.

• I thought that 1/3 cup of olive oil sounded high, and reduced it to 3 tablespoons while keeping everything else the same. 
• I didn't have any fresh garlic so I used jarred crushed garlic, around 1.5 tsp of it. 
• I took a trick from the recipe from last week, and I salted the chopped eggplant heavily and let it sit in a colander for 20-30 minutes while preparing the rest of the ingredients. Then, I rinsed and dried it well. This helps reduce some of the water content so it roasts more evenly. It is also probably why it took less time for mine to roast (noted below). 
• My gigantic eggplant was 1.5 lbs so I used 1/2 lb of cauliflower. I think the two vegetables work really well together once roasted, plus it was another thing I got at the farmers market! If you don't like cauliflower or would prefer to only use eggplant, then use 2 lbs of just eggplant and it will be just as delicious.
• I did not have smoked almonds so I used raw almonds that I then chopped and toasted in a 350 F oven for ~8 minutes
• I don't love parsley, and never have it on hand, so I omitted it. I did not miss it. 
• The green onions are not optional - they add such a nice flavor to the whole dish that I think you must include them. I mixed them into the dish instead of sprinkling on top, mostly because I misread the recipe, but I'm glad I did - you can taste them in every bite.
  Pro tip - after you use the green part, stick the white part (the root) in some water and they will continue to grow! 
  
• My lemon was giant (yes, also from the farmers market) so I only needed 1/2 of it to get 2 tbsp of juice
• If you don't have fresh lemon juice, you can use bottled lemon juice (this is what is pictured below)
• I roasted the eggplant for less time than suggested since I didn't want it to completely fall apart while mixing everything. I roasted the eggplant for 25 minutes, stirring it after the first 15 minutes. I roasted the cauliflower for 35 minutes, stirring after the first 15 minutes and again at the 25 minute mark. 
• I wanted to bulk this up a little to make it heartier as a meal. I cooked some pearled farro and mixed it in. Note that farro cooks differently if it is pearled, semi-pearled, or not pearled at all (I forget what it is actually called then). Mine is pearled and cooks in 15 minutes. I think it is easiest to cook farro just like pasta - to throw it in salted boiling water and cook until al dente, then drain. If you don't have farro, feel free to add in some brown rice or your favorite whole grain. 
• I really liked the creaminess from the goat cheese, so I mixed all of it in while the dish was still warm and it mostly melted. If you would prefer separate crumbles, then wait until everything has cooled to add, or crumble some on top while you are eating. 

Roasted Eggplant and Cauliflower Salad with Farro, Almonds and Goat Cheese
Adapted from The Kitchn
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs eggplant (2 small or 1 really big one)
Kosher salt
1/2 lb cauliflower
1/2 cup raw almonds (untoasted and unsalted)
1/2 cup pearled farro
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp honey
4 cloves of garlic, minced (or 1.5-2 tsp of the jarred stuff)
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions/green onions, green tops only
2 oz goat cheese

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400 F. If you also have a toaster oven, preheat that to 350 F. Line two large baking sheets and one small baking sheet with foil.

Cut up the eggplant in a 1 inch dice. Add to a colander, either set in the sink or over a large bowl, and sprinkle with kosher salt generously in multiple layers. Let the eggplant drain a little while you are preparing the rest of the ingredients.

Chop the cauliflower into bite-sized florets. I like small pieces because you increase the surface area (more browning) and it is easier to eat.

Roughly chop the nuts. If you have a toaster oven, roast at 350 F for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown. Keep a close eye on them since they can burn very quickly! If you don't have a toaster oven, then start off with your regular oven at 350 F and cook them in there. Once the nuts are done, set them aside to cool. If you used your regular oven, turn it up to 400 F.

Meanwhile, bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Add your farro, and cook according to package instructions. If you are using pearled farro like I did, it should cook in about 15 minutes. Semi-pearled will take longer, and whole farro (not pearled at all) will take the longest. Once it has finished cooking, dump it into a separate colander to drain.

In a small bowl, add the olive oil, vinegar, honey, garlic, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Whisk thoroughly to combine.

Rinse off the eggplant and then pat dry with paper towels. Add to a large bowl, and pour the marinade over it. Toss well, and then quickly transfer the coated eggplant to one of your prepared baking sheets. If you leave the eggplant in the marinade for too long, it will soak up all of it, leaving none for your cauliflower.

Next toss the cauliflower in the remaining marinade, and pour that on the second large baking sheet. Put both baking sheets in the oven. After 15 minutes, stir everything very well. Put the baking sheets back in for an additional 10 minutes. At this point, the eggplant should be done (golden brown and soft without being completely collapsed). Stir the cauliflower well and put in for an additional 10 minutes, or until soft and caramelized.

Now it's time to mix everything together. Add your farro, eggplant and cauliflower to your large bowl (use the same one you tossed the veggies in before cooking). Pour the lemon juice and soy sauce over them, and toss gently. Add in the green onions, toasted almonds, and goat cheese and toss again to distribute all of the ingredients.

Either enjoy immediately, or let cool completely before storing in the refrigerator. This is best served warm, and reheats well in the microwave.

Wondering what the white stuff is on the fork?

That would be the last bit of goat cheese, scraped out of its package.

We really like goat cheese in my house

Penne with Vodka Sauce

Penne with vodka sauce is one of those dishes I've always been intrigued by. Everyone raves about it, plus cooking with booze always seems like fun. When someone from my lab gifted me with 3 lbs of tomatoes from her garden, and instructed me that they would be best when cooked, I knew I wanted to make this dish. I didn't really think about the fact that I don't normally like tomato sauces. I somehow knew that this would transcend normal tomato sauce.

Almost every recipe I've seen for vodka sauce has started with canned tomatoes, and I would be using fresh. Because of this, I ended up combining a few recipes, and just making everything work with what I had. I'm really pleased with how it all turned out, and would definitely make this again. I'd be curious to see if the flavor profile changes when using canned tomatoes instead of fresh. I would think that using fresh tomatoes would make it taste more, well, fresh. Although they're cooked for so long, that it's possible you end up losing any extra freshness.

Recipe: Penne with Vodka Sauce
Adapted from Serious Eats
Yield: 3-4 servings

Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
1/2 small onion, finely diced/minced
1/2 tsp salt
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 tbsp tomato paste
28 oz can crushed tomatoes, or 2 lbs plum tomatoes, peeled, cored and crushed (see below for instructions)
1/3 cup vodka
1 lb penne pasta
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup milk or cream
4 oz goat cheese
parmesan cheese for serving (optional)

Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. This will take a while, so let's get started on the sauce.

2. In a large sauce pan, heat butter over medium heat. Add onion and 1/2 tsp salt, and cook until softened and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, red pepper, black pepper, basil, and tomato paste, and stir well. Cook for another minute, being careful to avoid scorching. Add crushed tomatoes and vodka, and bring back to a hearty simmer. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently. This will cook off (most of) the alcohol, and reduce the sauce.

3. Once your pasta water is boiling, add the pasta, and give it a few stirs to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. Cook until the pasta is not quite al dente. Drain the pasta, but don't forget to save some pasta water. I like using a scoop to pull out the pasta, so I don't forget, and pour all of the pasta down the drain. Let the pasta hang out in a separate bowl until the sauce is done.

4. Once the sauce has reduced and the alcohol has cooked off, you have a few options. If you like a chunky sauce, then leave it as is. If you want a completely smooth sauce, then (CAREFULLY) put it in the blender. I like it somewhere in the middle, so it isn't really chunky, but still has some texture. To achieve this, I use my immersion blender (also called a stick blender). I can focus on any large chunks, and try to smooth out the sauce, while still retaining some texture. Regardless of what you do, just make sure to be careful! The sauce is hot, and splatters will definitely hurt. Once you have your desired texture, give it a taste, and add any salt and pepper as necessary.

5. Put the sauce pan back over medium heat, and add the milk and goat cheese. Cook 1-2 minutes, until heated through, and goat cheese has melted. Stir in the pasta, and bring back to a hearty simmer. Cook for 3-5 minutes, until your pasta has finished cooking, and the sauce has thickened. Add pasta water to thin out the sauce as necessary. Serve immediately, with a generous sprinkle of grated parmesan cheese (optional, but not really).

Note:
This sauce can be scaled up or down, as necessary. If you want to make just a single portion, I would recommend making the full amount of sauce through step 4, and making just enough pasta for one serving, about 3 oz. Then, put the drained pasta in a smaller pan with some of the sauce, and add 1 tbsp milk and 1 oz goat cheese, and proceed as instructed. You can store the rest of the sauce (without any milk/cheese) in the fridge for up to a week, or in the freezer for several months.

Using fresh tomatoes:
Instructions from The Yummy Life
Start with 2 lbs of fresh tomatoes - plum tomatoes work really well. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Using a sharp knife, score an "x" on the end opposite the core. Add tomatoes to boiling water, putting only a few in at a time. Boil for 30-60 seconds, then remove and put in a bowl of ice water. Continue working in batches until all tomatoes have been boiled. Don't leave the tomatoes in the ice water for too long, or they might start to freeze! Once they are cool enough to handle, remove them from the water, and the skin should pull off pretty easily. Put the peeled tomatoes in a big bowl, and (this part is fun), crush with your hands. For best results, crush one tomato at a time - this way you can make sure you pull out any bad parts, and the core. You should get about 3 - 3 1/2 cups of crushed tomatoes, and use all of that for the recipe.

My tomatoes, crushed by hand (it felt pretty nice)

The diced onion on the right, and some rough chopped garlic on the left. It will be minced more finely before I add it in

The onion cooking in butter, not quite ready

The onion has browned more now, and the garlic, tomato paste, and seasoning has been added in

The tomatoes have been added in, as well as the vodka

This is what I call a "hearty simmer" - with lots of bubbling

My individual serving of pasta - 3 oz of veggie penne

The finished sauce, pulled off to the side so I can use my immersion blender

Pasta and a generous helping of sauce, in a small sauce pan

Back up to a hearty simmer, with the milk and goat cheese added

The sauce is exactly where I want it - thick and creamy, and the pasta has cooked perfectly

Bowl of deliciousness

I wouldn't be me if I didn't add a bunch of cheese on top!

A new take on stroganoff - a vegetarian alternative

Joey and I like watching most of the shows on The Food Network. One show we've started watching recently is "Beat Bobby Flay." I used to find Bobby Flay to be incredibly obnoxious and arrogant, so obviously the idea of someone showing him up sounded great. I don't find him to be as bad anymore, but it's still fun watching people try to beat him. There was recently an episode where the chef he was battling chose their signature dish Beef Stroganoff. Somehow, not only had Bobby never made the dish, but he also claimed to have never tasted the dish. Even more miraculous was the fact that he still ended up winning...

Anyway, this started a conversation about beef stroganoff, and the vegetarian version that Alton Brown has made. We looked up his recipe, thought it sounded amazing, and cooked it within the next few days. Let me tell you - it is so so good. It was surprisingly simple to make, and didn't include a ton of ingredients. The flavors all worked really well together - I really liked how the tang of the goat cheese cut through some of the richness. Joey bought some stew meat that he cooked separately, and mixed into his portion.

We made a few changes to Alton's recipe. To make the recipe truly vegetarian, we omitted the beef stock. Instead of just using water, or using vegetable stock (which sometimes has a strong flavor that doesn't work with the rest of the dish), we made a mushroom stock from dried mushrooms. This really enhanced the mushroom flavor, and then we used the reconstituted dried mushrooms in the dish. I've seen mushroom stock sold in stores before, but since we couldn't find any at Kroger, we used this. I think I would much prefer doing it this way in the future instead of buying a pre-made stock that's full of sodium. The only other change we made was with the dairy at the end. We used 5 oz of goat cheese instead of 4 oz, mostly because the log we bought was 5 oz. A cup of sour cream sounded like a lot, so we reduced it to 1/3, and we used greek yogurt instead of sour cream. I've seriously been using greek yogurt as a substitute in everything lately (biscuits and pancakes). It's pretty versatile, and we always have it on hand. I think it gave us the perfect creaminess.

Recipe: Vegetarian Mushroom Stroganoff with Goat Cheese
Adapted from Alton Brown
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:
12 oz extra wide egg noodles
3 tbsp unsalted butter
5-6 large portobello mushrooms (1 1/4 - 1 1/2 lbs)
1 tsp kosher salt
1 bunch green onions
1 tbsp all purpose flour
14 oz mushroom stock (see directions below for homemade)
1/3 cup greek yogurt or sour cream
5 oz goat cheese
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Add noodles to 4 quarts of cold water in a 6-quart pot, cover and place over high heat. Cook to al dente, 18-22 minutes (check package for exact cooking time), stirring occasionally.

Note: We added the noodles to almost boiling water and didn't have problems - Alton suggests adding to cold water and bringing them to a boil together. He claims that this helps the sauce coat the noodles better.

Clean the mushrooms well. Remove the stems, and then slice the mushrooms in 1/4-1/2 inch slices. Melt the butter in a 12-inch straight-sided saute pan set over medium-high heat. Increase the heat to high, add the mushrooms, and sprinkle with salt. Saute until they darken in color, soften, and give off their liquid. This can take as much as 10-15 minutes, but keep an eye on it.

Slice the green onions, keeping the white part and the dark green part separate. Add the sliced white part to the pan, and saute another 2-3 minutes.

Sprinkle in the flour and stir to combine. Cook until the flour disappears, and the fond (little crusty parts on the bottom of the pan) turns dark brown, about 1 minute. Deglaze with the mushroom stock. Bring to a simmer and decrease the heat to medium-low. Cook for 10-12 minutes, or until thickened.

Add the greek yogurt (or sour cream), goat cheese, and black pepper. Stir to combine, then partially cover and bring to a simmer to warm through - 2-4 minutes.

Meanwhile, your noodles may have already finished cooking. If they finish before the sauce is ready, drain them and spray with some nonstick spray, so they don't clump together. If they finish after the sauce is ready, then great - add them straight to the sauce after you've added the greek yogurt and goat cheese. Stir everything to combine. Garnish with the green onion tops and additional black pepper.

How to Make Your Own Mushroom Stock:
This is really simple. Put 1/2 oz dried mushrooms (I used porcini) in a large heat-safe bowl. Carefully pour 2 1/2 cups boiling water over the mushrooms. Let the mushrooms reconstitute for 15 minutes. Pour the liquid through a coffee filter before using. The recipe calls for 14 oz - if you don't have enough, add some water. (The mushrooms soak up quite a bit of that water, reducing the total volume.) Chop up the reconstituted mushrooms, and add them to the sauce when you add the sliced white bottoms of the chopped green onions.

1/2 oz porcini mushrooms in boiling water

The water turns golden brown almost immediately

Reconstituted mushrooms

Strained mushroom stock - Joey used some to cook his stew meat, so I added enough water to make the final volume equal 14 oz

6 large portobello caps, all sliced up

The reconstituted mushrooms, chopped up, on the left. The sliced white part (and light green part) of the green onions, on the right. The green part of the onions at the top, waiting to be sliced

Cooked egg noodles - ours were finished way before the sauce was ready

The mushrooms have started to release their liquid

We added the reconstituted mushrooms and white/light green onions

See that dark brown stuff on the bottom of the pan - that's the fond. That's where all the flavor comes from!

The stock has been added, and now everything is going to simmer

Lots of sliced green onion tops!

Everything all mixed together

And again

The finished product, with more green onions on top. Delicious!