I suppose I could have called this a casserole, but there's just something about the term "casserole" that automatically turns people off. I think we're conditioned to think of the canned tuna, mushy noodles and peas we all ate as kids. A casserole is really just layering a bunch of ingredients in a big casserole dish and baking it. But still, the word...
The farmer's market is still in full swing. Sadly I didn't get there until around 11:00 so a lot of the stuff was gone, and I wasn't able to get any berries (which is what I really wanted). I still came away with a couple of bags of those yummy donut peaches, an eggplant and some new squash I'd never seen before. It resembled an acorn squash, except that the skin was white with green stripes on it. I couldn't remember what the farmer called it, but I did a Google search and figured out it was a sweet dumpling squash. It was softer and sweeter, similar to a delicata squash, but shaped exactly like an acorn squash. I baked it up and put some of it on my salmon salad for lunch, but saved the rest and put it in the sauce for this dish. Slightly sweet, and so tasty. I could easily just eat it plain with some balsamic drizzled on it.
BTW, when I was shopping this weekend I came across some canned, wild caught salmon that had only two ingredients: salmon and salt. The whole can was $3, so I decided to try it. BAD IDEA. I was expecting something similar to canned solid tuna. What I got was pieces of fish smooshed together that still had the skin and bones. I don't mean the occasional bone, I mean a full skeleton. Trying to remove bones from a fish filet that has been cooked and processed, then smushed together in a can is NOT an easy feat. Once I got it all de-skinned and de-boned as best I could it was pretty tasty, but frankly I'd rather just cook the damned fish. Oh well, live and learn. It's still not bad for an emergency meal you need to put together quickly.
My BF said this dish "looked kinda weird, but it was tasty." I don't think the boys liked it because 1) there were leftovers and 2) I caught my oldest eating cereal shortly after I went upstairs to get ready for bed. Caught like a kid with his hand in the cookie jar. I liked it, though, and my BF liked it so I guess that's still a win. I used my mandolin to cut the eggplant into strips about the size of french fries. If you don't have a mandolin, you can still cut it into strips with a knife. I don't think it would take much longer, either, just try to get them as uniform as you can so they cook evenly.
Ingrediets:
1 medium eggplant (I chose one that was longer and thinner), cut into strips
Drizzle olive oil
Sea salt & ground black pepper
1 sweet onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 lb grass fed beef
2 T. chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
Sea salt & ground black pepper
For the sauce:
1 cup raw, unsalted cashews
1 sweet dumpling squash (or delicata would work, too), seeded and baked until soft
1 T. honey
1 T. apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp onion powder
Sea salt and ground black pepper
Approximately one cup packaged coconut milk (not the canned stuff), more or less as needed for consistency
Directions:
Preheat broiler. Arrange eggplant strips in a 13x9 baking dish. Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper. Toss with tongs. Put under the broiler, tossing with tongs every 3-4 minutes, until eggplant is soft. Watch it closely so it doesn't burn. When done, set oven to 350 degrees.
Drizzle a little more olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until caramelized. Add beef and cook, continuing to stir frequently until almost cooked through. Add chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt & pepper. Adjust seasonings if necessary.
Add meat mixture to baking dish, spreading evenly over eggplant slices.
For the sauce, put cashews in a blender and process on low until mostly broken up. Add squash, honey, vinegar and spices. Add a little of the coconut milk and begin processing on high speed, adding additional coconut milk until it reaches a pourable consistency. Drizzle sauce over the meat (you may end up with leftover sauce - save for another recipe).
Bake for 15 minutes or until heated through. Let stand a few minutes before serving.
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