Marinated Baby Eggplants With Pine Nuts And Raisins Recipes

MARINATED BABY EGGPLANTS WITH PINE NUTS AND RAISINS

Steps:

• Preheat the grill to high.
• Place the eggplants, cut side up, in the grill pan and brush with a little of the olive oil.
• Grill for 10 minutes, until slightly blackened, turning them over half way through cooking.
• To make the marinade: Put the remaining olive oil, the lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, pine nuts, raisins, sugar and bay leaf in a clean, screw-top jar.
• Add the red pepper flakes and salt and pepper and mix well.
• Place the hot eggplants in an earthenware or glass bowl, and pour over the marinade.
• Leave to cool, turning the eggplants once or twice.
• Serve at room temperature.

MARINATED EGGPLANT SLICES

Steps:

• Place eggplant slices in a colander and toss with kosher salt. Let stand for 30 minutes.
• Rinse eggplant well under cold running water and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Combine garlic and vinegar in a small bowl and let stand while you cook the eggplant.
• Heat some olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Pan-fry eggplant slices in batches, adding and heating more oil between batches, until deep golden brown on both sides, 12 to 15 minutes. Repeat with any remaining slices. Transfer the slices to a large, paper towel-lined platter and let cool.
• Place the cooled eggplant slices on a serving dish in layers, sprinkling each layer with the vinegar-garlic mixture, cilantro, salt (if needed), and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

EGGPLANT WITH LAMB AND PINE NUTS

Steps:

• Brown the lamb, onion and garlic in the oil, in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the meat is browned, add the salt, pepper, tomato sauce, red wine, cinnamon, allspice and pine nuts. Cook for about 15 minutes while the sauce reduces a little.
• Cut the eggplant into 1/2 inch slices. Lightly brown them in a separate skillet with just a touch of olive oil. Turn and brown the other sides. Do not overcook, just brown them.
• Place the eggplant slices on a baking sheet and spread some of the filling on each.
• Bake in a 375 degree F. oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until it is all hot and the eggplant is tender.

MAUREEN ABOOD'S EGGPLANT WITH LAMB, TOMATO AND PINE NUTS

Steps:

• Heat broiler and line a baking sheet with foil or parchment.
• Brush both sides of eggplant slices with 2 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt. Arrange slices on prepared baking sheet and broil in batches until they are deep mahogany brown, turning once halfway through, 5 to 7 minutes per side.
• Adjust the oven to 375 degrees with rack positioned in the center.
• In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the remaining olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until translucent, but not browned, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add ground lamb or beef, stirring frequently and breaking up meat into very small pieces with the side of a metal spoon. Season with remaining teaspoon salt, cinnamon and pepper. Sauté until meat is just cooked through. Taste and add more salt or pepper, or both, as needed.
• In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add pine nuts and reduce heat to medium-low. Stir nuts to coat them with butter and continue stirring constantly until nuts are golden brown, 2 to 4 minutes. Keep a close watch over the nuts; they can burn quickly once they begin to brown. Transfer nuts to a bowl while still warm and salt them lightly.
• Coat a 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking dish with remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Spread 1/2 cup of tomato sauce in the bottom of the dish. Lay 1/3 of the eggplant slices in a single layer over the sauce, covering as much surface area of the bottom of the dish as possible. Spoon half the meat evenly over eggplant. Pour 1/3 of the remaining tomato sauce evenly over meat. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the pine nuts. Layer again with eggplant, meat, tomato sauce and pine nuts. Finish with a layer of eggplant and cover with more tomato sauce, sprinkling top with pine nuts.
• Pour 1 cup warm water around the perimeter of the baking dish. (Sauce will thicken as it bakes.) Cover pan with foil and bake for 90 minutes. Remove foil and top eggplant evenly with mozzarella. Bake for 15 minutes longer, uncovered, or until the cheese is bubbling and golden. Serve eggplant warm, over rice.