Roasted Eggplant Salad

Roasted Eggplant Salad  with pomegranate, pine nuts, and tahini sauce
Roasted Eggplant Salad  with pomegranate, pine nuts, and tahini sauce
Roasted Eggplant Salad  with pomegranate, pine nuts, and tahini sauce

Cooking this salad makes me feel like Ottlenghi, and you will too if you're in the right mindset. 

While eggplant is a summer crop, I like it best when it’s been roasted in the oven for sometime, making it something I prefer to cook when it's a bit cooler. Biting into a forkful of cold romaine lettuce on a snowy day? No thanks! We can do better, and in this case, better is roasted. This roasted eggplant salad is exactly the kind of thing I want to make for lunch when there’s a chill in the air.

Topped with parsley, pomegranate, and a creamy tahini sauce, it’s also vibrant with wintery colors: red, green, and soft white. It goes great with the side of roasted chicken, quinoa, or hummus… buuuut we eat this as a whole meal, split between two people. 

Roasted Eggplant Salad  with pomegranate, pine nuts, and tahini sauce
Roasted Eggplant Salad  with pomegranate, pine nuts, and tahini sauce

Roasted Eggplant Salad

Published December 7, 2017 by

Serves: 2 as a main course, 4 as a side   |    Total Time: 45-50 minutes



Ingredients:

  • 2 medium eggplants (Italian variety) 
  • 2 large shallots 
  • 3-4 tablespoons olive oil (or cooking oil of choice)
  • Sprinkle of salt
  • Sprinkle of garlic powder
  • 1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley 
  • 1/4 cup pomegranate perils 
  • 1/3 cup toasted pinenuts 

  • For the Tahini Sauce:
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 3 tablespoons tahini
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin 
  • 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 
  • 1/16 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • Salt to taste

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Slice eggplants into 1/2 inch thick rounds, and arrange in an even layer on a baking sheet (or two). Slice shallots into wedges, and add to baking sheet. Brush everything with olive oil, and then sprinkle with salt and garlic powder. Place in oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, until eggplant is golden and cooked through. TIP: You can add the pinenuts in the last 3-5 minutes to get them nice and toasted if they are not already. Watch them closely to avoid burning.
  2. While the eggplant is cooking, make the tahini sauce: combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until smooth, seasoning with salt to taste.
  3. Assembly: use a spatula to transfer cooked eggplant and shallots to a serving platter. Sprinkle with parsley, pomegranate, and pinenuts. Then, drizzle with tahini sauce. Serve warm.

Roasted Maple Chai-Spiced Cashews

Maple Chai-Spiced Roasted Cashews

Thirty minutes before friends were set to arrive, I heated maple syrup in a skillet until it was sticky. I was making this salad from Saveur Magazine. No more than five minutes later, the cashews were candied and slowly disappearing while they cooled. (Who? Me? Steeling cashews from the pan? Never! 😏)

The cashews from that salad reminded me of the honey sesame cashews Trader Joe's sells in it's trail mix section. But better, because maple syrup. All things maple syrup are better, right? 

Those cashews sat in my mind for the next week. My eyes had been opened to something new: homemade maple cashews, and the flavor possibilities were endless. Maple Cayenne Cashews. Maple Cinnamon Cashews. Maple Rosemary? It could work. 

Maple Chai-Spiced Roasted Cashews
Maple Chai-Spiced Roasted Cashews

But the flavor profile that really got me excited was Maple Chai (you know how I love all things chai-spice). 

While I did no gifting of these cashews, and we ate most of them while they were still warm, they would also make a pretty little gift. Can you picture a mason jar filled with Maple Chai-Spiced Cashews tied up with a festive bow and a little name tag? Cute! And so sweet, in more ways than one. 

Roasted Maple Chai-Spiced Cashews

Published November 30, 2017 by

Serves: 8   |    Total Time: 10 minutes



Ingredients:

  • 2 cups roasted, unsalted whole cashews 
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup 
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt 
  • 1/16 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/16 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/16 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 pinch ground anise
  • 1 pinch ground cloves

Directions:

  1. Prepare a baking pan with parchment paper or a Silpat (affiliate link!). Set aside.
  2. In a small bowl, combine cardamom, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, anise, and cloves. Stir to combine.
  3. Heat maple syrup in a skillet over medium-high heat for about 1-2 minutes, stirring, until it begins to thicken. Reduce heat to medium-low, and add spice mix to syrup, stirring to distribute.
  4. Now, add cashews to skillet. Stir using a spatula or wooden spoon until all cashews are coated. Scrape cashews with maple syrup onto lined baking sheet and spread out into a single layer, breaking up large clumps. Allow to cool 5-10 minutes.

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Green Chile Smother Sauce

Green Chile Smother Sauce

This green chile smother sauce was created for a good friend after we went to a Mexican restaurant and fell in love with their smother sauce. The Mexican restaurant is a little hole in the wall across the street from the DMV. You wouldn’t think much of that little restaurant if you were just driving by, but those that know it love it. The burritos come stuffed full of ingredients, making them bigger than anyone person could ever really need. And key to this story, each burrito gets coated in smother sauce.

What is smother sauce, you ask? Well, it’s a sauce, for smothering. But it can be used in a kajillion ways (I’ll share some ideas later in this post). Mostly, it’s a spicy sauce that you can pour over burritos, tacos, eggs—really anything. 

Green Chile Smother Sauce
Green Chile Smother Sauce

This green chili sauce is really similar to what you would use in my Pork Chile Verde. It is the sauce to smother every burrito, tamale, and taco with. Basically, it is everything. Still need ideas for how to use it? 

  • Green enchilada sauce (do you have leftover turkey still? Enchiladas are the answer)

  • Green eggs in purgatory

  • A hot sauce for your breakfast (fried eggs or omellete)

  • Serve as a salsa

  • Slow Cooker Pork Chile Verde (use this sauce in place of the tomatillo, onion, garlic blend that the recipe calls for: they are pretty much the same thing)

  • A starter for guacamole

  • A smother sauce for burritos

...just to name a few.

Green Chile Smother Sauce

Green Chile Smother Sauce

Published November 21, 2017 by

Serves: 6   |    Total Time: 20 minutes



Ingredients:

  • 8 medium sized tomatillos
  • 4 cloves garlic 
  • 1 yellow onion
  • 1 tablespoon avocado oil
  • 2 cans hatch green chiles (I use the hot ones, but feel free to use mild if you prefer)
  • 1/2 cup cilantro 
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • Juice of 1 lime 
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon ground coriander
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano

Directions:

  1. Preheat your over to 475°F. Peel the papery outer skins from the tomatillos, wash them, and slice them in half. Cut the onion into 4 to 6 large wedges. Arrange them all on a sheet pan along with the garlic cloves. Brush with 1 tablespoon avocado oil, and place in oven. Roast until the tops of the tomatillos are browned, 10-15 minutes.
  2. Add roasted tomatillos, onions, and garlic to a blender along with canned green chiles, cilantro, lime, spices (cumin, coriander, oregano, and optional cayenne), salt, and pepper. Puree. Mixture should be similar to a less chunky salsa.
  3. Store sauce in jars until ready to use. Stays good in fridge for 1 week.