I meant to write about my last cook of the quarter and the beautiful results from it, but haven't had the chance with finals, Christmas, and my sister's baby shower (so exciting!! Much more about that later). But, now that I have time, I wanted to focus on a couple of recipes from the amazing meal that my housemate and I made.
It was our final cook of the quarter and we were determined to make up for our previous cook (let's just say that our previous meal didn't exactly go as planned). Determined to make up for it, we decided on a meal which consisted of beef brisket, flatbread with honey and thyme, mashed potatoes, salad, eggplant bruschetta, and a Bulgarian pastry with cottage cheese.
You may be thinking, “wow, that's a lot of food”, and honestly, it was about enough food to feed our house of 40 plus some. We really wanted to make sure we didn't run out of food. Yet despite the vast quantities, we managed to make a pretty delicious meal. One of the dishes which was particularly loved was actually our vegetarian option. We (with our mass amounts of food) ended up having enough eggplant bruschetta for everyone to try it, and they gave us tons of compliments on it. Here's the recipe so you can try it out for yourself!
Eggplant Bruschetta (adapted from the Smitten Kitchen)
Yield: About 4 salad/appetizer portions, assuming people will eat 2 rounds apiece.Ingredients:
2 to 3 tablespoons plus 4 teaspoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds eggplant (about 2 medium), cut into 3/4- to 1-inch slices
2 ounces (1/2 cup) feta cheese
2 tablespoons capers, drained
1/3 cup finely diced red onion
3 seeded, diced medium tomatoes (1 1/2 cups)
3 tablespoons minced fresh mint leaves
2 teaspoon red wine vinegar plus a bit more
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 425ºF.
2) Finely dice the 1/3 cup of red onion and place it in a small bowl. Soak the onion in red wine vinegar, just to cover. Let sit until you assemble the salad. This is intened to soften the onions a bit and make the onion flavor a little less intense, (especially important if you're like me and don't like raw onions).
3) Coat a large baking sheet generously with olive oil, 2 to 3 tablespoons. Arrange eggplant rounds in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
4)Roast, without disturbing, for 15 to 20 minutes. Flip each piece: the undersides should be blistery, dark and a bit puffy and should release from the pan with no effort. If they don't look this way, allow them to cook longer. Once flipped, sprinkle them with additional salt and freshly ground black pepper and return the pan to the oven for another 10 to 12 minutes or so, until the undersides match the tops.
5) Meanwhile, mix your feta cheese, capers, onion*, tomatoes, mint, vinegar and remaining 4 teaspoons olive oil in a small bowl. Taste for seasoning; feta cheese tends to be quite salty so this dish shouldn't need any salt. Add freshly ground black pepper, to taste.
6) When the eggplant discs are done, arrange them on a serving platter. Scoop a spoonful of the salad over each round. Eat immediately.
