Melding of Cultures

I recently experimented with mixing some Mediterranean/Greek cuisine with French/American cuisine. I was in the mood for moussaka but didn't have all the ingredients. I also had in the freezer some Ragu Sauce I had made a large batch of few weeks earlier.

I decided to take an eggplant and make a sauce then layer it with macaroni, bechamel sauce and ragu sauce. Top it with some fresh Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses then bake it like a casserole. The result was pretty good and the best part, left over's 2 days later, tasted as good as the first day!

2-3 cups Ragu Sauce- http://tasteology.blogspot.com/2009/01/easy-ragu-sauce.html
Bechamel Sauce (recipe to follow)
2 to 2.5 cups macaroni (boiled to your preference)
1 medium to large eggplant
1 small to medium onion diced
1/3 cup olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
salt to taste
2 large vine ripe tomatoes or 2 tbsp tomato paste
fresh or dried basil
dried oregano

To make the eggplant sauce-
Dice the eggplant into about 1 inch cubes and set aside. In a saucepan, heat the olive oil and add the diced onion. Saute until translucent/soft. Lower the heat to medium low and add the dried herbs, crushed garlic and salt (to taste). Saute for one minute then add in the eggplant. Cook this (covered) for about 5 minutes, stirring a few times in between. Add the tomato (add also a 1/2 cup of water if using paste) and mix well. Heat the mixture until bubbling and then lower heat to simmer until the eggplant is completely cooked. Once soft, mash the mixture with your cooking spoon, just to break down any larger pieces. Set this sauce aside.

To make the Bechamel Sauce:
Boil some macaroni and prepare your bechamel sauce. The simplest way to do this is to melt 1/2 a stick (about 50grams) of butter in a heavy bottom pan. Once melted, stir in slowly (using a whisk) about a 1/4 to 1/3 cup of all purpose flour. Once well integrated, keep cooking on low heat until the mixture seems slightly darker in color. Slowly add in milk, 1/4 cup or so at a time, with a total of 1 and 1/2 cups of milk. Cook the sauce on low heat for a few minutes or until it reaches your desired thickness, turn off heat and add in salt to taste and 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg. Mix this with the macaroni and set aside.

Putting it all together:
Butter or grease a medium to large size casserole dish. I used a pyrex 9in x 4.5in dish. Spread a thin layer of the macaroni mix in the dish, then spread out the eggplant mix, followed by some cheese (not too much). Next pour on the ragu sauce. Fill the dish with the remaining macaroni mixture and top with fresh grated Parmesan and mozzarella cheese.

Cover with foil and bake for 15min at 375 degrees F. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 30min or until the cheese starts to turn golden brown.

Let sit for 10min before serving as the sauces inside get very very very hot (you will burn your tongue if not careful).

Hope you'll enjoy this fusion dish I threw together the other night. Would love to hear about any amendments, suggestions, etc. that you tried when making this dish.

As always, Happy Cooking!

Quick Tip- stain fix

As a continuation to the Tips and Tricks series, here is another quick tip that could come in handy. Though it uses food, its not for food...

Last month we were in the process of packing up to move in to a temporary place and decided to down size. I had these bar stools from another apartment and they never fit the counter in the apartment we were in. We ended up keeping the stools on our balcony, where (not realizing) they were exposed to the elements... snow, rain, winds, dirt, etc.

I cleaned off the seat portion but didn't realize that the stainless steel bases were all stained with rust or something. I posted the stools on craigslist and someone wanted to buy them. When we pulled them in from the balcony to hand over, I noticed the stains. The buyer was only 15minutes away and we had to do something. Farhan went online and found a tip to clean rust stains. Believe it or not, by the time the buyer arrived, these stools looked BRAND NEW!!!

Here is what you need: Take a sponge and soak it with cola (coke, dr. pepper, etc) and wipe the stained metal. Take a piece of foil and gently scrub the stain. Wipe the area with water. Thats it! Simple and easy :)

Sweet Corn and Shrimp Enchilada's

Last night I was stuck in a meeting that ran much longer than I had planned, so by the time I got home to make dinner, it was already 9:30pm. I had some white rice left over from the night before and had planned to make some black beans with it tonight. Black beans (from a can) take hardly 10 min to make so that was one item taken care of. I just needed something quick and easy to go with this...

These enchiladas were a total experiment but turned out really good! Of course, as bad as I am with taking pictures, I remembered only AFTER I ate that I should've taken a couple. Sorry folks, next time... I see this quickly becoming a favorite  :)

6 corn tortillas (6")
1 small can of sweet yellow corn
10 to 12 medium size raw shrimp, tail off, peeled, de-viened and cut in half
1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 medium yellow onion diced
1 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne (or to taste)
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1/2 cup of chicken stock or water
salt to taste
1 cup+ grated cheese (cheddar, colby, montery jack, whatever you like)
3/4 cup Old El Paso medium (red) enchilada sauce

In a skillet, saute the onion until translucent. Keeping the heat at medium to medium low, add in the cumin, cayenne, garlic and salt then mix well. Add in corn, stir and cover for a minute. Add in the tomato sauce, shrimp, chicken stock/water and stir to mix well. Cover and let cook for 5 to 7 minutes (over cooking will make the shrimp rubbery). Turn off the heat and pour contents of skillet in to a heat proof bowl, let sit for 5 min to cool down. Mix in the Parmesan cheese and check salt taste, add more if necessary. Keep to the side.

In another skillet, warm the tortillas one at a time with a drop of olive oil. Remove tortilla from skillet to a flat surface, fill with the prepared shrimp mix, roll and place seam side down in a baking/casserole dish. Repeat until all six are completed. Pour the enchilada sauce over the prepared enchiladas, sprinkle with cheese and bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the oven, set at 400 degrees. Once the cheese is melted and slightly browning around the edges, remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes before serving.

You can also add some chopped cilantro, diced tomato and sour cream as garnish if you like. I served these enchiladas with black beans, cilantro lime rice (re-purposed from the night before) and an avocado tomato salad. As always, feel free to try your own variations...point is to make things quick and easy from what is available in your freezer or pantry.

Happy Cooking!

Tips & Tricks

I think at some point I was going to do a series of "quick tips" but didn't really get around to it. In between longer posts, recipes and articles, I will be adding in some Tips and Tricks you may find useful in the kitchen... or otherwise.

My first tip/trick is a HUGE time and energy saver! If you go back to my recipe for Masoor Ki Daal, you'll remember I said to mash the cooked daal until it forms a paste... well if you happen to have a hand blender/kitchen stick (here is what I have) USE IT. No more spending your time or effort (mashing can be pretty tiring) hand pureeing your lentils!