Stewed Eggplant and broiled salmon with mashed culliflower

Stewed eggplant and broiled Salmon with mashed cauliflower

I was sharing with a co-worker today that when I first learned about my dietary challenges I was afraid to eat at a restaurant, in fact, it took me one whole month to make an attempt at dinning out and that resulted in me sending my food back twice. Anyway I have come a long way since then but that does not mean it is any easier. Sharing this story today reminded of a more recent experience I had.
My friend took his nephew and I to a new, trendy restaurant for breakfast because he knew they had gluten free waffles. Now my friend and his nephew are both very familiar with my diet and both check ingredients rigorously before offering me anything to eat. They must have been excited to see the words “gluten free” on a menu because they missed that the waffles were made with soy milk. No harm though I found something else that was just as delicious. So any way When the waitress returned she made a comment about no one ordering the gluten free waffles that we asked about, when I told her the reason was because I couldn’t have soy either she said to me “ oh my god you poor thing, I thank god every day that I can eat whatever I want because I don’t know what I would do.” Now, I know that she was probably sincere about her pity for me but as my friends nephiew stated “ would You stare a handicap person in the face and say Im so happy I have my legs?” hopefully not. Now I have only been gluten free for about five months so I still have the taste of waffles in my memory. Instead of saying im sorry and leaving it at that she decided to kick me while ii was down
Im not mad at the lady im just telling the story to make a point. People do not understand how difficult it can be to have dietary restrictions. Even when there is a specialty item ( and I do mean one) on the menu they still almost always include another food that could be dangerous to someone. Soy is one of the top seven foods that people have allergies to. Yet why is it that soy is 95% of the time used as a substitute for dairy? What about rice milk, or coconut milk?
Well until the restaurant industry gets a clue that the number of people in this country with food sensitivities is steadily increasing, I will continue to experiment with making my own delectable dishes. And I am more than happy to share them with anyone willing to read this blog. So on to my recipe.

Ingredients


Stewed eggplant Salmon
~ one medium eggplant ~frozen or fresh salmon
~garlic ~ white wine

~one can stewed tomatoes ~fresh squeezed lemon juice
~one small onion ~ honey
~rosemarry ~garlic
~red pepper flakes ~olive oil
~basil
~black pepper


What I did
I cant decide if I like eggplant better with or without the skin but this time I pealed it. I started by cutting the pealed eggplant into ½ inch slices and rubbed each slice down with salt, this technique draws some of the water out of the vegetable and eliminates some of its bitter taste, it also keeps it from absorbing too much fat. I let it sit for about 15 min before rubbing the salt off with a wet paper towel.
I cut the slices into smaller strips and began to sauté them in olive oil. Once the eggplant began to soften I added the garlic, onion, stewed tomatoes, crushed red pepper, basil and rosemary. I turned the heat down to low and simmered for about 20 min , stirring frequently so it wouldn’t burn on the bottom.
Next the salmon, this is even easier that the stew. In a small bowl I mixed the white wine, lemmon juice minced garlic, and honey, until the honey was well blended with the other liquids. I sprinkled the salmon with olive oil and poured the liquid mixture over top, place it in the broiler and in about 5 min it was finished. The sauce gives the salmon a sweet glaze over top that is not too over powering. The lemon in the juice compliments the fish and the wine tames down the sweetness.Watch the broiler very carefully food tends to go from almost done to burnt an crispy very quickly, but if used correctly it can be a great tool to have .

I served my salmon on top of the stewed eggplant with a side of mashed culliflower ( culliflower boiled in gluten free chicken broth until soft enough to mash into a potato like texture).

The result:
Turned out excellent if I do say so myself. The salmon’s mild flavor was exemplified byt the sweet lemon glaze. The eggplant in the stew turned out to taste a bit creamy which was different for me but the rosemary and red pepper flakes complimented it very well. All in all a success and I highly recommend anyone try it. The amounts of liquid to mix will vary depending on how many salmon files you are cooking, when trying to measure just remember it’s a glaze not a soup. For mine I used about a 1/8th of a cup wine, a table spoon honey half of a lemon squeezed and one clove garlic. I actually had enough left over after cooking to reuse for the next time I make this dish.

Well that’s my post and I hope you enjoy!

Roasted red bell pepper with sweet sausage and shroom stuffing

Ok here is my first post.....I will have pictures to add soon , maybe by tonight but at least you have the recipe. If you follow along for a while you may pick up on a few tipps about how i like to cook but ill give you a heads up,

1. my vegetable combos usualy are created by whatever i have left in my refridgerator, but i
almost always have red peppers, onions, garlic and mushrooms on hand.
2. i use more garlic than i think anyone in the world
3. brown rice is one of your best friends if you are gluten free.
enough about me, here is my recipe, hope you enjoy it.

Ingredients List:

~Red bell Pepper(s)
~ sweet Italian sausage ( be sure to check the ingredients list as sneaky gluten or dairy ingredients tend to find their way into ground meet, I go with trader joe’s brand because they list even the threat of allergens and cross contamination)
~one small onion
~ garlic
~brown rice
~extra virgin Olive oil
~Marjoram
~black pepper
The amount of each ingredients really depends on your taste and how many people you are feeding, so use you r best judgment.

What I did:

I try to remember to start my brown rice before anything else because it always takes the longest to finish. (see note about my favorite way to cook rice. )

The next step was to start to roast the red bell pepper. I had one really long bell pepper so I just cut it in half then de-seeded it so it made two little pepper cups , perfect for stuffing. I rubbed both the outside and inside with a little olive oil and placed in the oven at 350. Ideally I would have covered the peppers with tin foil, but I was out of tin foil so instead I just kept a close eye on them, turning every once in a while so that one side didn’t soften faster than the other.
Finally, once the prep work was done, I started on the stuffing. The sweet sausage wasn’t really greasy so I needed to add a little olive oil to the pan, once it was browned I added the veggies and seasoning. I cut the veggies in large chunks (except for the garlic which was minced to get the most bang out of it,) mushrooms tend to absorb all of the flavors in the pan so larger chunks give you a burst of all of the ingredients at once.
Just about the time my veggies were nice and soft the rice had finished cooking, I added the rice to my mixture and sautéed together for just about five minutes, enough time to marry the flavors.

I pulled the peppers out of the oven and carefully filled them with the stuffing. Topping the stuffed peppers with a little bit more of the black pepper and marjoram I Placed them back in the oven to crisp the overflowing stuffing (only about 5 to 10 more minutes. )

Serve with a side salad of mixed greens, tossed with a little bit of walnuts, dried cranberries, oil and vinegar.

For salad dressing I tend to keep it simple. When you get into the fancy flavored salad dressings you are more likely to find an ingredient that is risqué to a restricted diet. I will eventually try some home- made salad dressings but for all intensive purposes old faithful ( oil and vinegar ) will do just fine.



The result :
If a dish has garlic and mushrooms in it, it is very difficult for me to be dissatisfied with the end result. However, I will say that in this particular recipe the savory flavor of the stuffing complimented the sweetness of the red bell pepper very nicely. And serving a salad as the side eliminates overpowering the main dish.
As far as nutritional value goes I usually choose red bell peppers over green, not only because I like the sweet tangy flavor better, but because they actually have 11 times the beta carotene and double the vitamin C of green bell peppers. Mushrooms pack in the potassium and iron while the brown rice supplies your fiber. And lets not forget the ever so popular ( but I believe, still unproven) heart benefits of garlic. In short it turned out to be delicious and nutritious!

Variations :
Next time I may experiment with a little bit more colorful vegetables in the stuffing , maybe some asparagus to throw things off a bit. I would also like to replace the rice with quinoa to add additional nutrients to the dish. Although brown rice is loaded with fiber, quinoa offers significant amounts of Iron, potassium, protein and Folacin, not to mention a list of other essential nutrients.

Note about rice:
I love rice, but it has taken me a very long time to perfect making it. A few years ago A friend’s dad showed me his trick to making the perfect rice and it has not lead me wrong yet.
1. Poor however much rice you want in to your pot
2. Rinse with cold water THREE times.
3. Poor enough water into the pot so that when the rice is settled evenly on the bottom of the pot you can rest the tip of your finger on the top of the rice and the water reaches the first crease of your finger. Confusing? I hope not cause it is very easy and works like a charm.
4. Turn your flame on high till the water boils, cover and turn to low for 20 min then voila!!!!
For darker colored rice you may need to add a little more water and it will take longer than 20 min, just eyeball it till little holes form in your rice from the water being all absorbed.

Warning! Avoid the urge to lift the cover and do not stir or fluff during cooking .