Kate’s Cooking: fun with vegetables and an interesting salad

Hello everyone and my apologies for a week’s delay in this column. I have had a very rare bad cold which I don’t think was the flu. Although I must say that I went to have an H1N1 flu shot and within a week had gone down with this ghastly cold. I have not had a serious cold since 1998 – I rarely get them. However all is well now and onward and upward with the columns I write. I must say it is gratifying to have my cats all curl up with me in bed although I get the short end of the stick as far as bed space is concerned.


Today I have given you two yummy recipes – both use great vegetables and fruit and the salad is an interesting mix. For those of you who like aubergines (eggplant) then you will just love the stuffed aubergine recipe. I like to encourage the growing of vegetables and all vegetables used in these recipes can be grown in a normal garden or large garden pots.

STUFFED AUBERGINES (eggplant)

4 medium-sized eggplants
2 peppers (any color – mixed colors look nice)
2 small onions
¼ cup butter or margarine (approx.)
1 to 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs (preferably grain bread)
1 cup grated cheese of choice
ground black pepper

**remove the stalks from the eggplants and cook in boiling water for about 15 minutes – drain and put in cool water until they can be handled easily. In the meantime, remove the stalks and seeds from the peppers. Reserve about ½ a pepper and chop the rest into fairly small pieces. Peel and chop the onions into fairly small pieces. Melt the butter or margarine in a pan and add the peppers and onions and cook for about 3 – 5 minutes. Add the breadcrumbs and cheese and pepper and set aside for the moment. Halve the eggplants and scoop out the flesh and chop and add to the onion/pepper mix. Fill the eggplant shells with the vegetable mix and arrange on a greased ovenproof dish or tray and cook in a moderately hot oven for about ½ an hour. Slice the reserved pepper in long thinnish slices and place across the eggplants before you put them in the oven. This is a delicious dish - enjoy.

PPP SALAD

This is an interesting salad which I like. Instead of using traditional mayonnaise you might like to use a dressing of choice. I particularly like a dressing called Light Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette which is made by a company called Wishbone. It is not expensive and very useful for a myriad of cooking recipes especially for a rice flavoring. All amounts of ingredients used in this salad are approximate and can be changed by personal choice. This salad is nice served in individual lettuce leaves as an accompaniment to white meat. Chill for a while before serving.

1 generous cup of diced, cooked potatoes
½ cup smaller pineapple pieces
½ cup green peas (cooked or not)
½ cup diced cucumber (optional)
2 tablespoons chopped nuts (of choice)
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon of chopped Italian parsley
Mayonnaise or vinaigrette
Parsley or watercress for garnish (optional)

**mix together the first six ingredients. Mix a little mayonnaise or vinaigrette and serve adding garnish - if desired.

NOTE: this salad can be served hot – it is really quite nice but don’t over cook it. Enjoy.

Well, that’s it for today. Keep well and happy and safe out there.

Happy cooking – Kate.