Eggplant gets comfy makeover
If you don’t know what to do with eggplant but admire its dark and gleaming good looks, consider this dish from the cookbook Now and Again: Go-To Recipes, Inspired Menus + Endless Ideas for Reinventing Leftovers (Chronicle Books/Raincoast, $50) by Julia Turshen.
Paired with a tossed green salad, it would make a relaxed meal. “I am all about what goes with what,” Turshen writes in the book, which offers more than 150 recipes and 20 suggested menus.
The veteran food writer’s original plan was to write an entire book about leftovers. She finds them handy for making a new meal: “You’re already halfway there!”
Realizing people regularly asked what they should serve with her recipes, she turned to producing a seasonal cookbook featuring foods that complement each other, and added pages of ideas for enjoying leftovers.
For example: mashed cauliflower makes a soup that can be topped with fried croutons; leftover cooked rice can be mixed with feta cheese and chopped herbs, and used to stuff bell peppers.
In this comfort-food recipe, Turshen livens up eggplant by stir-frying it in cubes, browning ground pork and seasoning with ginger and soy sauce. She suggests using ground turkey or chicken as an alternative to pork.
STIR-FRIED ROASTED EGGPLANT WITH PORK
Serves: 6
6 tbsp (90 mL) olive oil
2 tsp (10 mL) kosher or coarse salt
3 1/2 lbs (1.6 kg) eggplant (about 2 large), in 1-inch (2.5-cm)cubes
2 tbsp (30 mL) canola or other neutral-tasting oil
1 lb (454 g) ground pork
1/4 cup (60 mL) peeled, minced or grated fresh ginger root 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) red pepper flakes
1 tbsp (15 mL) soy sauce
1/4 cup (60 mL) chicken stock or water
1. Place a rack in the centre of the oven and a second rack in the top third, and preheat to 425 F (220 C).
2. Drizzle two sheet pans with the olive oil and sprinkle each pan with 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) salt. Spread cubed eggplant in a single layer on the two pans, using your hands to mix ingredients together.
3. Roast uncovered in preheated oven, stirring twice and switching pans between the upper and lower racks, until eggplant is softened and browned, about 35 minutes. Set eggplant aside.
4. Place a large, heavy frying pan over high heat and heat canola oil. When the oil is hot, crumble the pork into the pan and sprinkle it with the remaining
1 tsp (5 mL) salt. Cook pork, stirring occasionally, until it loses its pink colour, releases liquid and begins to brown, about five minutes.
5. Add ginger and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until the liquid has evaporated and the pork is browned and a little bit crisp, about five more minutes.
6. Add roasted eggplant and drizzle with the soy sauce and chicken stock. Cook, stirring, just until everything is nicely combined and most of the liquid has evaporated, about two minutes. Serve at once.