Lamb and Eggplant Casserole

I recently visited my local grocery store to pick up a half-dozen baby eggplants. When the cashier asked what I planned to do with them, I gave her an overview of my Lamb and Eggplant Casserole, a wonderful winter dish I found in a French country cookbook many years ago and revised to my own taste (feel free to do the same). When she asked for the recipe, I told her to check here on Kitchen Excursions, though I had a suspicion I'd never added it. I was right. I've since fixed that.

Cutting up lamb can be tedious. I find it easier to pick up a few leg of lamb steaks, cut them into cubes, and freeze them until I have enough to make this casserole (I do this for any recipe requiring any kind of cubed meat.) I also prefer to use baby eggplant, as it has fewer seeds than the larger eggplant.

As this casserole bakes, the eggplant and onion melt into a delicious gravy/sauce.   I sometimes serve this dish with Roasted Beet Salad with Crème de Cassis Dressing. A wonderful meal for a chilly winter evening!

LAMB and EGGPLANT CASSEROLE

3 lbs. boneless leg of lamb, trimmed of fat and cubed

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

½ cup extra virgin olive oil, more as needed

2 large onions, halved and thinly sliced

3 lbs. eggplant (about 6 baby eggplants) peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

1 13 oz. can chicken broth

1 bouquet garni (a few stalks of fresh thyme, or ½ tsp. dried thyme,

             6 parsley stems, and 1 bay leaf

TOPPING

About 2 cups of fresh breadcrumbs made from a small loaf of bread,

            such as ciabatta or boule, crust removed

3 large garlic cloves

½ cup chopped fresh parsley

5 Tbs. unsalted butter

5 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
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1.  Preheat oven to 375°.  Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Sprinkle the pieces of lamb with salt and add to the oil in batches, cooking each batch 5-7 minutes until browned. Transfer lamb to a large ovenproof casserole.

2.  Add the onions to the same frying pan and sauté until tinged with brown, 8-10 minutes. Add onions to lamb in casserole.

3.  Brown the eggplant in batches in the same frying pan with a little salt. Add oil to the pan if the eggplant seems too dry. Add eggplant to lamb and onions.

4.   Pour broth into the casserole and stir meat and vegetables. Add bouquet garni and bake, uncovered, for 1½  hours. Stir 2-3 times while baking. Discard bouquet garni. Add pepper and taste for seasoning. (Casserole can be baked a day or two ahead and chilled. Reheat, covered, in a low oven before proceeding.)

5.   Make the breadcrumb topping by tearing bread in pieces and pulsing in a food processor to make large crumbs. Slice garlic and add to food processor. Pulse until coarsely chopped. Add parsley and pulse until everything is finely chopped. Melt butter with oil in a frying pan. Add breadcrumb mixture and stir to evenly coat with butter.

 6.    Preheat broiler. Sprinkle breadcrumb topping over lamb casserole and place on oven rack about 2 inches from heat. Broil until lightly browned, 3-5 minutes. Turn casserole as needed to brown evenly. Serve as soon as possible. Serves 4-6.

Soupe au Pistou

The variations on Soupe au Pistou are as numerous as there are cooks. Here’s my take on this wonderful French classic, a cousin of Italy’s minestrone. Don’t let all the steps intimidate you. It’s an easy soup to make, and make it you should. The aroma of pistou melting into the hot soup is divine, the blend of flavors exquisite. And, it’s good for you!

The first step can be done a day ahead, so finishing the soup is a snap. For a totally vegan version, substitute veggie cheese for the Parmesan in the pistou.

SOUPE au PISTOU

Step 1:
14 cups vegetable stock or water
2 tsps. salt
4 large carrots, diced
3 medium potatoes, diced
1 large leek, white part only, chopped

Place ingredients in 8-quart stock pot. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, for 40 minutes. If not finishing soup right away, set aside or refrigerate until 20 minutes before serving.

Step 2:
4-5 packages powdered saffron
1 slice stale white bread, crumbled
1 15-oz. can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 15-oz. can pink or kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 small zucchini, diced
1 small yellow squash. diced
8 oz. fresh haricots verts (thin French green beans), trimmed and diced
1/3 cup small pasta or spaghetti broken into 1/2-inch pieces

Return soup to boil. 15 minutes before serving, add above ingredients and simmer, uncovered, until vegetables are tender. Add boiling broth or water if soup becomes too thick. Season with salt and pepper.

For the Pistou:
1 6-oz. can tomato paste
1¼ cups extra virgin olive oil
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz. fresh basil, chopped
5-6 Tbs. fresh parsley, chopped
1 cup Grated Parmesan Reggiano or Grated Veggie Cheese

Combine first five ingredients. Depending on your preference, add cheese of your choice, or divide the pistou and make both a Parmesan version and a Veggie version. (Note: I make extra pistou because I make both versions for our writers' group supper. Also, leftover pistou is delicious on pasta or in risotto.)

Serve the soup and pass the pistou, allowing each diner to stir a spoonful into the hot soup. Serve with crusty French bread and homemade croutons, if desired. Serves 6-8.

Leek and Potato Soup

Here is my version, and it's a darned good one, of a French classic. Leek and Potato Soup is a welcome and delicious break from heavier holiday fare, and it's fairly simple to make. The hardest part is cleaning the leeks, a task well worth the effort. Bon appetit!

LEEK AND POTATO SOUP

(Potage Parmentier)

4 medium leeks, white parts and 1 inch of green
4 Tbs. butter, divided
4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
5 cups fat-free chicken broth, simmering
1 Tbs. dry dill, or 2-3 Tbs. fresh chopped dill
Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
1 cup light cream

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1. Trim leeks, wash well, and roughly chop.

2. Melt 2 Tbs. of the butter in a large saucepan. Sauté leeks in butter over low heat until tender, about ten minutes.

3. Stir in potatoes. Add heated broth and 1 tsp. salt. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook slowly, covered, until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.




4. Let cool. Place in blender and purée until smooth. Return to saucepan.

5. Add cream, dill, white pepper, more salt if desired, and remaining butter. Reheat until simmering. Serve with crusty bread or Popovers. Serves 4-6.

Roasted Beet Salad with Crème de Cassis Dressing

Salad for supper? Mais, oui! This hearty, herby, French-inspired dish gets a big "Wow" whenever I serve it. It's quite hearty for a vegetarian dish, but at times I'll serve it with slices of grilled pork tenderloin. Your preference, of course.

Roasting the beets is not only easy, it concentrates their sweet flavor. I like to use three different colors - red, gold, and pink - along with mixed baby potatoes to create a colorful and delicious entrée. A crunchy baguette and a bottle of dry rosé wine rounds out this salad perfectly.

ROASTED BEET SALAD with CRÉME de CASSIS DRESSING

For the Dressing:

2 Tbs. champagne vinegar or white balsamic vinegar

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

2 Tbs. good quality Crème de Cassis

6 Tbs. dry white or rosé wine

1 large garlic clove, peeled and put through a press

½ cup olive oil (I use an Herbes de Provence flavored oil)

Salt and black pepper to taste

Combine first five ingredients. Whisk oil in until blended well. Add salt and pepper.

For the Salad:

1 to 1½ lbs. raw beets (a mix of red, gold, and pink)

1 lb. baby potatoes, (a mix of red, purple, Yukon, and/or white)

¼ cup olive oil
2 Tbs. fresh chopped rosemary
4-6 garlic cloves, peeled

Kosher salt

2 8-oz. bags of salad greens of your choice (do include baby spinach)

Fresh basil

Fresh tarragon

1 small (7-oz.) can chickpeas, thoroughly rinsed and drained

Optional Toppings:

Raw pistachio nuts

Crumbled goat cheese

Crumbled Gorgonzola

Homemade croutons
Dried cranberries and/or blueberries

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1. Set two racks in the oven and preheat to 425°. Wrap beets individually in aluminum foil. Set on a baking tray. Roast in top third of the oven for 1 to 1¼ hours, turning once, until cooked through. (Add potatoes when beets have cooked for ½ hour.) Let cool. When ready to assemble salad, unwrap beets, remove skins (suggest wearing gloves for this), and dice. Keep colors separate, as the red beets will "dye" the gold and pink beets.

2. Scrub potatoes well. Coat with olive oil, stir in rosemary, garlic, and salt to taste, and set in a baking pan just big enough to hold them. After the beets have been roasting for 30 minutes, add the potatoes to the lower part of the oven and roast until done. Shake the pan a few times during cooking to prevent sticking. Remove potatoes to plate lined with paper towels and let cool. When ready to assemble salad, halve or slice potatoes. 

3. Combine salad greens and fresh herbs on a platter. Top with beets, potatoes, and chickpeas. Place salad on table, passing dressing and toppings separately. Invite each diner to dig in and custom dress his/her own plate. Generously serves 4-5.

Petite Marmite

The name Petite Marmite, a hearty French soup perfect for a chilly winter evening, refers to the pot in which the soup is cooked rather than the ingredients. Consequently, recipes for Petite Marmite abound. After making this dish for years, I’ve come up with this delicious version. Time consuming, yes, but well worth the effort—and save any leftover broth for other recipes!

PETITE MARMITE

For the Broth:
1-2 lbs. beef soup bones with meat
2-lb. piece beef, such as bottom round, trimmed of fat and tied
3 chicken breast halves, bone-in
2 quarts beef broth
1 quart chicken broth
2-3 leeks, thickly sliced and washed well
1 large onion, unpeeled and quartered (skin will color the broth)
2 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
1 tsp. salt

For the Bouquet Garni:
2 medium bay leaves
4 parsley sprigs
½ tsp. whole black peppercorns
¼ tsp. whole cloves
¼ tsp. fennel seeds
A few sprigs of fresh thyme, or 1 tsp. dried

To Finish:
4 medium carrots, peeled and cut in 1-inch pieces
1 white turnip, peeled, quartered, and sliced
4 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 tsp. salt
Fresh chopped parsley

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1. Preheat oven to 450°. Brown bones for about 25 minutes. Turn and brown another 20 minutes.

2. Place bones and tied beef in a soup pot. Cover with broth and bring to a boil. Skim as necessary.

3. Add leeks, onion, celery, and salt to broth. Return to boil, then lower to simmer

4. Make a bouquet garni of bay leaves, peppercorns, cloves, parsley, and thyme. Add to broth. Simmer for 2 hours. Add chicken breast halves and simmer another ½ hour.

5. Strain broth, discarding bouquet garni, bones, and vegetables. (At this point, soup may be cooled and refrigerated overnight in order to remove fat.) Remove chicken and reserve.

6. When ready to serve, defat broth. Return broth and beef to simmer. Add carrots, turnip, and potatoes and another tsp. salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer another 35 minutes.

7. Bone and skin chicken. Trim well and cut into bite-sized pieces. Add to soup after vegetables have been cooking 35 minutes. Simmer about 10 minutes to heat chicken and finish cooking vegetables. Remove pot from heat. Remove beef and slice into serving pieces.

8. To serve, place meats and vegetables in bowls and cover with hot broth. Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley and serve with crispy French bread. 4 generous servings.

Rack of Lamb with Rosemary Breadcrumbs

Growing up in a "meat and potatoes" house wasn't entirely boring. On Sundays, my mother changed from frying or broiling the meat to roasting it, and instead of mashing the spuds, she baked them in the grease that pooled around a predictable pageant of roasts that rotated from beef to chicken to pork to lamb and back again.

Despite the lack of any seasoning other than salt and pepper, my mother's roast lamb was always a favorite for me, and I never gave a thought to cooking it any other way. Then I married into a family of Syrian descent and learned that lamb could be ground, used as stuffing, kneaded with wheat, braised, cubed, marinated, skewered, or barbecued with spectacular results.

Most ethnic cookbooks offer several outstanding lamb dishes. The following adaptation of an old French recipe is a long-standing favorite among the lamb-a-holics in my family. This dish can be prepared ahead and popped into the oven an hour before serving.

RACK of LAMB with ROSEMARY BREADCRUMBS

2 Racks of Lamb                                      ¼ cup fresh rosemary, chopped
4 Tbs. Olive Oil                                        6-8 garlic cloves, peeled
8 Tbs. Unsalted Butter                             4 cups fresh breadcrumbs
Dijon Mustard                                          Salt and freshly ground pepper
½ cup fresh parsley, chopped

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Trim as much fat from lamb as possible. Place lamb on waxed paper. Using a spreading spatula, thinly coat each rack with Dijon mustard. Lightly salt and pepper each rack.

One round loaf of bread (Tuscan or Boule, e.g.,) should give you four cups of breadcrumbs. Cut off the crust and reserve for another use. Tear bread and prepare in food processor, dropping in garlic cloves until well blended.

Melt butter. Place in large mixing bowl with olive oil, parsley, rosemary, and salt and pepper. Empty breadcrumb mixture into bowl and combine well with olive oil mixture. Pat breadcrumb mixture over both racks of lamb, pressing to adhere.

Place lamb in roasting pan lined with foil. Bake at 425° for one half hour. Lower heat to 350° and continue cooking for another half hour for medium well-done. Serves 4.

Pork Marsala with Mushrooms and Sage

With our resident vegetarian absent, I decided to try this French-inspired meat dish for our writers' meeting last night. It was delicious—and I hope to obtain the recipe for the chocolate soufflés our paranormal romance writer made for dessert!

PORK MARSALA WITH MUSHROOMS AND SAGE

2 lbs. pork tenderloin
1 Tbs. rosemary or vegetable oil
4 Tbs. unsalted butter
2-3 shallots, minced
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
½ lb. sliced white mushrooms
2 Tbs. fresh sage, chopped
2 Tbs. flour
1 cup beef broth
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup Marsala wine
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

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1. Trim pork of fat and silverskin. Slice into 1½ inch pieces. Heat the oil in a nonstick frying pan and brown the pork quickly. Remove from pan.

2. Heat butter in pan. Add shallots and stir until soft, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and sage. Stir 1 minute. Add mushrooms and sauté until they start to color and give off their juices, about 6 minutes.

3. Add flour to mushrooms. Cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Stir in broths and wine. Bring to a boil.

4. Return pork to pan. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, 45-50 minutes. Serves 4-6.