STEEMIT IRON CHEF 2018 Act 02 Round 05 ~ Mini semi-cooked-and-semi-raw vegetable lasagnas
My dish for this weeks @steemit-ironchef is inspired by my love for the mediterranean kitchen. Summertime is perfect for this because all the ingredients are growing locally, are ripe and full of flavor. My goal was to create a dish that wouldn't need all these newly discovered "typical vegan" ingredients that I never heard of before I became vegetarian or later on a vegan. I refer to things like tofu, nutritional yeast, plants milk, soyghurt, Kala Namak, Agar Agar and many, many other stuff that I love now but that might be too exotic for a person who doesn't cook vegan. I assume you know what I wanted to say ...
I wanted all my ingredients (or something similar) to be available for most of my readers, things you can buy in every food store, supermarket or on every green market.
Now lets start:
Ingredients:
- a yellow and a green zucchini and an eggplant, all with about the same diameter
- three very ripe, fleshy tomatoes
- one onion and one glove of garlic
- some oyster mushrooms (button mushrooms or other mushrooms ar as good, all of them add a meaty texture to the sauce)
- one bell pepper (any color is fine except the green, I find the green ones too bitter for this)
- a cup of brown lentils (mine are Le Puy Lentils I bought in the Zero Waste Store and that are grown around this region too)
- two cups of pureed tomatoes
- some fresh (parsley, basil, dill) and dried (oregano, rosmary and thyme) herbs
- some spices (salt, pepper, a dash of pepperoni)
Preparation:
First I washed the lentils and started to cook them in salt water until soft but still al dente ( that last around 40minutes depending on the sort of lentils you use)
Then I made a simple sofrito by frying the finely chopped onions and the garlic in some vegetable oil on low heat until soft and vitreous.
I set them aside and peeled the bell pepper and the tomatoes to make them easier to digest and to give the vegetable ragout an elegant touch. I peeled the tomatoes by cutting the skin and covering them with boiling-hot water for a few minutes. The skin is easy to remove then.
I chopped the mushrooms and fried them for a few minutes in a pan with vegetable oil. Then I added the peeled and in small cubes chopped bell peppers and fried for another ten minutes.
I chopped the tomates into pieces. I didn't remove the seeds because they contain the most amount of lycopin which is an healthy carotinoid and the most amount of natural glutamat that brings a rich umami flavor to the dish.
I added the fresh chopped parsley, dried oregano, thyme and rosmary, a good amount of salt and fresh ground pepper and some pepperoni seeds. I mixed it with the pureed tomatoes and let it cook for a few minutes.
When the lentils where soft I stirred them into the ragout as well as the sofrito and let it simmer on very low heat until I prepared the eggplant and the zucchini.
Eggplant has to be fried or cooked to be delicious. I wanted to reduce the amount of oil because the hubby is on a low carb, low sugar and low fat diet. I kind of mixed these ways of preparation. I heated a small amount of water and a dash of vegetable oil in a large pan and "fried" thin slices of the eggplant in it. That way they turned nice and soft without sponging too much oil.
I didn't cook the zucchini but only cut them in slices.
To serve the dish I stack up the zucchini and eggplant slices alternating with the vegetable ragout. Pretty easy but attractive. Done!
I would love to hear what you think about my dish, especially from you who don't cook plantbased on a regular base. Is this something that looks and sounds appealing to you or do you feel that there is something missing. Thank you again @progressivechef for this weeks theme. That was carried out easily. I cook vegan everyday anyway ... 😉. Everyone who would like to choin this week's challenge or in general can read the original post with all the rules here: STEEMIT IRON CHEF 2018 Act 02 Round 05 : Contest now OPEN!!!. I would love to see your entries!
Have a beautiful rest of the week and a relaxing summer weekend! ☀️
What a beautiful meal! I'll be over for dinner lol. Seriously, I'll have to try your lasagne recipe, I have not had good luck so far. That too is one of my weaknesses, but I would really like to find an alternative. Love your post! Happy vegan day @pusteblume! :)
Thank you!
This looks fantastic!! All the best for the competition, you've definitely earned a reward for this delicious composition 😊
Thank you! You're soo sweet to say this! 😘
For me, I like to soak eggplants before cooking, it gives them a better fried taste, but it's easier if you cut them on their length in thin slices and add salt gently on one face, wait 20 minutes just when you see water's pouring out spontaneously from slices in little drops, you just have to rinse them thoroughly to remove all the water and throw them in a hot pan with a good cooking oil. But this recipe seems also very yummy, thanks!
Yes, for most of my recipes I prefer this kind of preparation for eggplants as well. But this time I tried to reduce the amount of oil for the hubby ... ❤️
Thank you for your advice and kind words!
Depends how mature or bitter your eggplants are, doesn't it?
True! But it seems like all the eggplants you can buy here in the middle of Germany are adopted to middle european taste and not bitter at all anymore anyway. So usually you can skip the step with the salt and rinse and so on ...
Yes, we get the long skinny lebanese style, which don't need the salting.
Yes, we get the long
Skinny lebanese style, which
Don't need the salting.
- lucyho
I'm a bot. I detect haiku.
Hey, did you see my answer to you qualified as a haiku?
Sure, I did! 😄 Congratulations! This bot is so funny! I like him a lot.
There is so much to discover in Steemit, I had never seen that before.
I've seen a few of these haikus since like two or three weeks or so. I had one too already! 😄 It's a funny idea. I like that bot so much!
Your food is always so appealing my friend and it's easy to see how much love and care you put into your cooking...that's the secret of amazing cuisines actually!
Superb entry!
Thank you so much! Sorry for the delayed answer. I was on holidays with my parents and my sisters family. We spent so much time together. There wasn't much left over for electronic devices ... 😉
This looks so yum- I love lasagne!
Thank you! ☺️
This looks really tasty, I like how u kept it pure and simple with the ingredients.
That was my goal this time! Nothing complicated! Thank you!
Your ideas and recipes are always impressive! Minimal and nourishing!! Yummy ♥♥
Thank you for your support and your compliment! I appreciate your support!
Your dish looks so delicious My friend @pusteblume!
It has been an excellent presentation, it is really provocative ♥
Thank you so much! 😘
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