It amuses me no end to see a watermelon sitting next to a butternut squash sitting next to a huge sweet potato sitting next to slicer tomatoes in the box. Hard to decide what direction to go in. There’ll be apples soon, I bet.
Have we talked about spaghetti squash recipes recently? There are a baker’s dozen at grassfedcow.com. And a few weeks ago I sent out a recipe that made broccoli casserole but with spaghetti squash. I’ve got to get hold of some broccoli and try that one. For the squash in this week’s box, I’m likely to make these Curry Spaghetti Squash Cakes from Hilary White. She was cooking at Serenbe at the time she demo’d this recipe at the Peachtree Road Farmers Market. Now she’s in Senoia with her own Bistro Hilary, well worth the drive from town if you’re looking to have a day trip. She’s open with limited patio and dining room seating.
What I like about her recipe is that you can go in any direction you like. Don’t want to use the garam masala? Don’t. These cakes are delicious with no spices at all. But they’re also good spiked with chili powder or taco/fajita seasoning or Italian seasoning. Having the cooked spaghetti squash on hand means you have the building block for all kinds of things. I’ve got cookies to bake for a story, so the squash will share the oven heat for its precook and then I’ll decide ….. curry? ….. Latin flavors? …. something Asian?
Thursday’s AJC will feature this recipe for Kashke Bademijan from Persian Basket Kitchen in Johns Creek. They make it with Japanese eggplant, but the small-ish Italian eggplants in today’s box will work just fine. I’ve made similar dips for years, and always either grilled the eggplant or roasted it to get to that custardy texture. I enjoyed learning this different version, done in a skillet, which means less heating of the kitchen and a way to use eggplant when I’m not firing up the grill. The addition of the sauteed onions is also new to me. In testing the recipe I turned this into dinner, just spreading it on toasted slices of whatever artisan bread was going stale on the counter. I could eat the entire batch just by myself.
Kashke Bademijan (Eggplant Dip)
This is a recipe that’s easy to scale up if you have more guests to feed.
The kashk is available at persianbasket.com but Lotfi says you could substitute strained fat-free Greek yogurt if you prefer.
2 medium Japanese eggplants (about 1/2 pound each)
Enough olive oil to cover bottom of skillet
1 medium white onion, sliced
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped mint, fresh or dried
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup kashk (liquid whey)
Peel eggplants and slice in half lengthwise.
In a large skillet, heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the skillet. Add eggplant and saute until the first side is golden, about 5 minutes. Turn and continue cooking until second side is golden and eggplant is soft. Remove eggplant from skillet and set aside.
Add more olive oil if needed and saute sliced onion until caramelized, about minutes. Stir in garlic and saute 1 minute. Stir in mint, salt and turmeric. Remove from heat.
In a clean skillet, combine eggplant and half the onion mixture. Add water and cook until 10-15 minutes or until you can mash the mixture to a creamy texture. Transfer it to a serving plate and top with kashk. Garnish with remaining onion mixture and serve immediately. Makes: 2 cups
Per 1/4 cup: 64 calories (percent of calories from fat, 54), 1 gram protein, 6 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 4 grams total fat (1 gram saturated), trace carbohydrates, 487 milligrams sodium.