Carrots with Pine Nuts--Italian Way

There is a carrot dish probably in every culinary tradition. There is also one in Polish cuisine. We cut carrots in cubes, cook in a little bit of water, and thicken with butter and flour at the end. I love carrots prepared that way, especially with typical Polish dishes, for instance meatballs or chicken and potato puree. And I eat it always like that when I go back home. My mother makes it from very sweet and young carrots that she buys at the farmers' market and serves them always with meats.

But somehow I do not prepare carrot this way anymore at my home here. Most often I make Thai style carrots with roasted almonds or recently even more often I make carrots with pine nuts, a dish that comes from the Italian tradition. Carrots prepared this way are a bit drier, rather sautéd than cooked to a very soft stage and that is what I like a lot about this dish. I enjoy vegetables more when they are cooked al dente rather than completely soft or mushy as we often do it in Poland.

I remember my Italian friend cooking carrots in a very similar way, almost without water, but she did not add pine nuts. I also like to add chopped sage, which makes the mild carrots almost spicy. They taste great just with roasted baby potatoes or as a meat accompaniment.

Carrots with Pine Nuts

Ingredients:
1 lb of carrots,
1 medium onion, chopped,
2 tbsp pine nuts,
2 tbsp olive oil,
1 tsp brown sugar,
4 tbsp Marsala or any red wine,
salt and freshly ground black pepper,
1 tbsp chopped sage(optional)

Preparation:
1. Peel off the carrots and cut them into slices.

2. Heat the oil in a medium pan and add onion. Fry for about 3 minutes. Add carrots and sprinkle with sugar. Let the vegetables caramelize a bit.
3. Add about half a cup of water, salt and pepper, and let it all cook on a medium heat until most of the water evaporates.
4. Add red wine and let it cook again for about 3 minutes. Turn off the heat, add pine nuts and chopped sage if used. Serve warm.

Indian Eggplants in Coconut Sauce

Very often, especially during the summer, I buy eggplants, preferably, the smaller Italian eggplants, and make all kind of dishes from them. My favorite are two: Afghan, topped with yogurt sauce, and Italian, stuffed with ricotta and finished with fresh basil.

But although at the Asian store I often pass by a stand with baby Indian eggplants, only recently I bought them for the first time. I did not know any particular recipe calling for them but my culinary intuition was telling me that they would of course taste great in Indian spices but also cooked in the coconut milk. I did not want any tomato in it as all the eggplant dishes I make already call for them.

The most popular recipe for cooking these eggplants in coconut milk also called for broth and curry powder or a mix of different spices. I chose to use a combination of spices and finish it with fresh green curry leaves. They gave that dish a very unique taste that may be intriguing to those who are not familiar with curry leaves. This rich and spicy, but also a very delicate dish, as baby eggplants flesh is even more delicate than in the regular eggplants, became instantly popular in my home.

Yesterday, I made it again, but instead of curry leaves, which are not always easily available, I used coriander leaves, which I always have in my refrigerator. A friend, who happened to taste my dish last night, liked it a lot. That encouraged me to share this recipe today, as despite many spices it calls for, it is a very easy and wonderful dish.

Indian Eggplants in Coconut Sauce
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
2 lbs (about 12) baby eggplants,
1 medium onion, chopped,
4 garlic cloves, grated,
about 1 inch fresh ginger root, grated,
1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk,
2 cups vegetable broth,
4 green cardamom pods,
4 cloves,
about 2-inch long piece of cinnamon,
1 tbsp ground coriander,
1 tsp ground cumin seeds,
1 tsp ground fennel seeds,
2 tsp turmeric,
salt and pepper to taste,
1 green chili, chopped,
2 limes,
3 tbsp vegetable oil,
1/4 cup chopped curry or coriander leaves.

Preparation:
1. Wash and drain eggplants. Cut off the stems and cut each eggplant into four pieces. Sprinkle with salt and set aside for 10 minutes.

2. Heat oil in a large frying pan with high walls. Add chopped onion, grated ginger, and grated garlic. Fry for about 3 minutes until onion becomes transparent.
3. Once eggplants release some juice, dry them with a paper towel and add them to the pan. Fry for about 3 minutes until eggplants dry a bit. Add ground coriander, cumin, fennel, and turmeric. Fry until spices coat well the eggplants. Add the rest of spices--cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon stick, and mix with eggplants. Follow with chopped green chili. Let it fry for another minute.
4. Add two cups of broth to the pan and let it boil. Pour in a can of coconut milk and bring it to boil. Turn the heat to low and let everything simmer for 15-20 minutes until eggplants become soft. You need to try them a few times as they should be soft but not overcooked and mushy.
5. Add ground pepper and salt to taste. Add chopped curry or coriander leaves.

Serve with rice and lime wedges (to be squeezed over the eggplants).

Cauliflower Salad--Crispy and Spicy

When I saw these very white and fresh cauliflowers on the seasonal display last week in almost every food store in the area, a long forgotten salad came to my mind. Somehow, I have not made it for a long time. Attracted to many vegetables that I did not know in Poland I have tried something new all the time and sometimes these familiar and beloved vegetables became forgotten. These days I eat cauliflower mostly when I am in Poland. It is usually made in my favorite and most classic way--with butter and breadcrumbs, accompanied by a tomato and onion salad.

But cauliflower is a very versatile vegetable that can be served in many different dishes. This salad is one of them. I ate it for the first time years ago in Switzerland. One of the international organizations cafeteria was serving it for lunch. My mum liked it so much that we replicated it at home. Then, years ago, we made it pretty often. Here I do not remember making it ever although it could be a nice accompaniment to grilled meats, or served alone as a spring lunch salad.

As I did often in other case, I made some changes in the original recipe to make it lighter. The original salad was made with mayonnaise but since these days it is not "cool" to eat mayonnaise, I mixed it with yogurt, which tastes very nice with curry that is used to spice up the salad. But if you are not afraid of calories you can fallow the original recipe. It is also important not to overcook the cauliflower. It should be just blanched and still rather raw and crunchy.

Crispy Cauliflower Salad

Ingredients:
1 medium cauliflower,
1/3 cup Greek 2 percent yogurt,
1/4 cup mayonnaise,
1/2 tbsp medium hot curry powder,
1 tsp turmeric,
salt and pepper to taste,
1/3 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves (optional).

Preparation:
1. Separate small cauliflower florets from the the whole head. Cut off the stems as much as possible to leave only the pure small florets.

2. In a large pot boil water with 1 tbsp of salt. Put in the cauliflower florets and bring the water to boil. Soon after the water boils drain the cauliflower on the colander. Let it cool it completely.
3. Meanwhile, make a dressing. In a small bowl mix yogurt and mayonnaise until they combine (or you can use just the mayonnaise). Add spices and make a smooth sauce. If you like, chopcilantro and sprinkle it over the cauliflower. Let in marinate in a refrigerator for about half hour and serve.