Regional Recipes: Little Shoes!

I want to remind everyone that I’m hosting Regional Recipes this month, and the region is Greece! If you want to join in, you still have a few more days. The deadline for submissions is October 15th and I’ll post the round-up on the 20th. You can read more about it, including the rules, here.

My submission is Greek stuffed eggplant, also known as “little shoes,” because they look like shoes (surprise!). This is probably my favorite of all the Greek dishes I have tried. Well, this and moussaka, which are basically the same thing.



My favorite part of this dish is the bechamel sauce on top. If you are familiar with it, you probably agree it’s one of those standard sauces everyone should know. It’s perfect for topping so many different casseroles. It's got a mild, buttery flavor, but once you get the basic recipe down, you can begin to incorporate different flavors. In fact, I did a version with chopped spinach that was very delicious. I'll try to get a recipe up in the near future. In the meantime, enjoy the "little shoes".

Little shoes

Inspired and adapted from The Best Traditional Recipes of Greek Cooking (1995 version)

• 2 medium-large eggplants
• 1 pound ground lamb or beef
• ½ onion, chopped
• 1 bunch parsley, chopped (mint, oregano, and basil also work well)
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 cups crushed tomatoes
• 1 tbs tomato paste
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4 tbs crumbled feta cheese

For the béchamel:

• 6 tbs all purpose flour
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 3 tbs butter
• 2 ½ cups hot milk (low-fat is fine, but no nonfat)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• salt (I used about 1 tsp kosher salt, could have used more)
• fresh ground black pepper
• pinch of nutmeg (about ¼ tsp)

Some people prefer to hollow out the eggplants before cooking them, but I find it easier to do when they are softened. Whether you do it before or after cooking, it’s going to take some patience to scrape out the pulp without tearing into the skin. You want to end up with a nice “boat” with about ½ inch of pulp still attached to the skin. If you do decide to do it before, you’ll still need to bake the boats before filling them to ensure the eggplant is sufficiently softened at the end.

Here’s how I do it:
Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise and sprinkle each face liberally with salt to draw out some of the bitter juices. Let the eggplant halves sit for at least 15 minutes. After that time, rinse off the salt and pat dry. Rub a little oil on the faces and roast them skin side up in a 350F oven until tender but still able to hold it’s shape, about 30 to 45 minutes. If the skins start to burn, tent with foil. Once the eggplant is cool enough to touch, scrape out most of the pulp (keep a little attached to the delicate skin) and reserve it. Try not to rip the skin! It needs to be able to hold the filling.

In a large skillet over high heat, add a little olive oil and brown the lamb with the onions. Before adding the remaining ingredients, you may wish to drain off some of the fat, if there seems to be an excessive amount. Add the reserved eggplant pulp, garlic and tomato and tomato paste. Allow the filling to simmer until some of the moisture is evaporated. Don’t let it get too dry, though! Add salt and pepper to taste. Don’t be shy with the salt, I think I used at least 1 tsp of kosher salt and I think I should have used more. When you turn off the heat, add the chopped herbs. Adding them at the end preserves their flavor so you’ll actually taste it in the filling.

Arrange the eggplant in a baking dish and fill them. Set aside while you prepare the béchamel sauce.

To make the béchamel sauce, melt the butter with the olive oil in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add the flour and whisk to make a roux. Cook the roux for 1-2 minutes, but don’t let it brown. Then slowly add the hot milk while whisking vigorously. The mixture will clump, but keep whisking and it will end up smooth. Add the salt, pepper and nutmeg. Remove from the heat briefly and whisk in the eggs. Put it back on the heat and cook over low for maybe another 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Watch that the bottom doesn’t burn. The sauce should be thick, like a pudding. Adjust flavor with salt. Another option is to add 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese. When the sauce is done, spread it over the filled eggplant. If you can’t use the béchamel immediately, transfer it to a heat-proof container and press some plastic wrap on top to keep a skin from forming. Don’t wait too long to use it either. When it cools it will be quite thick and gelatinous and difficult to work with.

Sprinkle 1 tbs of the crumbled feta on top each “shoe” and bake in a 350F to 375F oven until heated through and starting to brown on top, about 30 minutes or so. Allow to cool for 10 or 15 minutes before serving. It’s best warm, not piping hot.

Depending on the size of your little shoes and the side dishes you serve (salad, roasted potatoes or bread are perfect), one half will probably be enough for each person.

Spicy Lamb Sausage

I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of making my own sausages. Fresh sausages, such as Jimmy Dean-style breakfast sausage, are pretty easy to make but I’ve been wanting to experiment with using cures and such. I’d love to make my own pancetta or Spanish chorizo, but the fear of botulism poisoning has kinda been holding me back. Well, I think I’m finally ready to face that fear.

Kind of.

Before turning my basement into a curing facility, I thought I’d try some easy fresh sausages first. Armed with my newly purchased book, Ruhlman and Polcyn’s Charcuterie (thanks Meatchip for the recommendation!), I decided to try my hand at making a lamb sausage. Ruhlman gives a recipe for merguez, which is a delicious fresh North African lamb sausage. Using their recipe as a starting point, I played around with it little and the result was a tasty fresh sausage that is somewhere between merguez and chorizo (mergizo??). The garlic and smoked paprika really came through, as did the sweetness from the roasted red peppers. Now I’m on the hunt for more sausage making ideas, so if you’ve got any, let me know!

I would have taken pictures of the cute little patties I fried up, but they were gobbled up before I had a chance. You'll just have to enjoy the snapshot of 4 pounds of sausage.

If you are at all interested in making your own sausages or cured meats, you must pick up Charcuterie. It really is so informative. And it’s so much more than sausages. They discuss smoking and brining and give recipes for accompaniments.

Spicy lamb Sausage

• 3.5 pounds boneless lamb shoulder or leg, diced
• 1 pound fat (no skin!) from salt pork*(see note), diced
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 whole heads garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 large roasted red pepper, diced
• 1 ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbs smoked paprika
• 1 tbs dried oregano
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• up to 1 tbs red pepper flakes (optional)
• ½ cup very cold water
• kosher salt, to taste

*Note: regular old pork fat will work just fine. Just make sure it has no skin on it. I only used salt pork because my local store didn’t have any pork fat available at the time and I didn’t feel like running around town looking for it. If you use regular pork fat, you’ll need to add more salt. I discuss this below.

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients (except the water and salt) and mix well. Put the bowl in the freezer for an hour to chill the meat and fat well. This will make grinding so much easier, trust me.

When the meat mixture is almost frozen, run it through a grinder using the coarse die. If you want a finer texture and more compact sausage, use the fine die. Make sure to catch the ground meat in a large bowl that is being chilled on ice. It took me about 20 minutes to get through the entire lot. In that amount of time the temperature of the meat could increase a lot, so you can see how imperative it is that the meat be nearly frozen to start. The blades also work better on colder meat and fat. Once the meat mixture is all ground up, add the water and mix well. It’s so easy if you have a KitchenAid set up because you can catch right into the metal bowl and then mix it up using the paddle attachment. No worries if you don’t have a KitchenAid. Just put some elbow grease into it. When everything is mixed well and uniform, put it all back into the fridge to get very cold if you are going to stuff it.

While it’s chilling, take a small bit and cook it up to taste if it has got enough salt. The salt pork already contributes quite a bit of salt, so you may not feel it needs more. I ended up putting in a little more (about 1 tbs for the entire lot). If you used regular pork fat, then you definitely need to add salt. According to Ruhlman’s guidelines, 4.5 pounds of meat could use about 1 to 1 ¼ oz kosher salt.

At this point, you can stuff the sausage into casings or just use it loose. Obviously (or maybe not), if you are going to stuff you should have some type of stuffing system. I really do not recommend trying to stuff by hand, especially if you are new to this. You’ll end up with loose sausages that resemble penises with tumors. (Yes, I said penises with tumors because that’s exactly how the lumpy sausages will look.) I do have the stuffing attachment for my KitchenAid, but I didn’t bother with casings and just froze usable portions. If you go the casing route, make sure you soak them for at least 30 minutes in cool water and them rinse them well before using to get rid of the brine. Once you’ve stuffed, you're ready to cook. Whatever you can’t eat in 2 to 3 days should be frozen. Wrap them well in plastic wrap then throw them into a Ziploc bag. It would be a shame if you take them out of the freezer and find they are all freezer burnt!

Wondering what this lamb sausage is good for? Try using it in any dish that calls for sausage. It's a great flavor base for soups. I'm simple; I like it fried and served with eggs and sauteed onions and bell peppers.

Clean-Out-the-Freezer-Challenge Day 3

Before I get to the food, I just need to rant about some technical difficulties I’ve been having with my Blogger template. I’ll be the first to admit that the problems probably stem from my ineptitude with all things computer related, but why is it that what I see when I’m writing the post is not what I see when I preview it? What’s more, the final post looks nothing like the two other views. I spend all this time trying to get everything just right and it usually doesn’t end up looking like I expect. All my pictures get shoved around and the text formatting is all funky. The spacing is always weird. The Blogger help pages end up confusing me more than being a help because I don’t understand half of what they are saying. I just can’t figure it out, and it’s driving me crazy!!!

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Okay, today’s freezer items were Indian vegetable smash and lamb for stewing. The vegetable smash I made back in September, and it tasted as good (maybe even better) as the first time around.

Vegetable smash

I used the lamb to make lentils and lamb. The earthiness of the lentils goes so well with the flavor of the lamb. If you prefer you can make this a vegetarian dish, which is normally how I make it.

Masoor Dal

Indian-spiced lentils

• ½ medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 knob ginger, finely grated (totaling ½ tbs)
• 2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tbs mustard oil
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 cloves
• 2 cardamom pods, slightly crushed
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• ½ tsp chili powder
• cups split lentils, picked over for stones and briefly rinsed
• 1/2 to 1 tsp garam masala
• ½ to 3/4 pound lamb for stewing (optional)

I like to cook the lamb separately from the lentils then combine them at the end. Use a pot with a lid that is large enough to cover the lamb with water. Add a cinnamon stick, 3 or 4 whole cloves and bring to a boil. Once it boils, put the lid on and stick the pot in a 325º oven for 1 ½ hours or until tender.

In a heavy-bottom pot over medium heat, add the mustard oil and about 1 or 2 more tablespoons of a neutral oil. When hot, add the onion, ginger, garlic, cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamom pods. Fry until the onions are soft and begin to get lightly browned. Turn down the heat if the garlic and ginger begin to burn. Once the onions are soft, add the cumin, coriander and chili powder. Cook for about 30 seconds to 1 minute, mixing well to coat the onion mixture. Add the rinsed lentils and stir to combine with the onion mixture. Add about 2 cups of water to begin. Bring the pot to a boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer. Allow the lentils to simmer, stirring occasionally If the lentils absorb all the water before they are done add more water, about ½ to 1 cup at a time. It usually takes less than 30 minutes to cook the lentils. Once they are done, add salt to taste and the garam masala and turn off the heat. When the lamb is done, add it to the lentils, give it a quick stir and it’s done. Enjoy with an Indian bread of your choice.