Moussaka

For me, this dish has two main advantages: it’s easy and you can make a huge pot and refrigerate it for a week. You can also add more veggies – for instance, you can replace the potatoes (or one of the potato layers) with eggplants.  For the basic version, you’ll need: 400 gr minced meat (I use a mixture of pork and beef, but if you want the healthy option, go for chicken or turkey), 6 large potatoes, 1 onion, 4 garlic cloves, 3-4 tomatoes and 1 small can of tomato sauce, 2 carrots (grated), cooking wine, oil, salt, pepper, basil, parsley (plus any other spices you like with your meat).

Instructions Prepare the meat: saute chopped onion and garlic. You can either put the meat in the frying pan, add spices and cooking wine and sear for 2-3 minutes, or simply mix in a bowl the meat with the onion, garlic, spices and cooking wine. Add grated carrots for extra taste. Set aside. Peel potatoes and slice them (big, round slices). In a big oven proof dish, arrange potatoes into one layer. Spoon one layer of meat over the potatoes.

Slice tomatoes and layer them on top of the meat. Finish with a second layer of potatoes. Add tomato sauce. If needed, use some more water (you want the whole dish to have enough liquid, otherwise it will dry up in the oven). Put in the oven for 45 minutes to one hour (or until potatoes are tender). My advice is to keep the lid on, otherwise the top layer will get really dry. Serve warm with cold sour cream or yogurt on top.

Sicilian eggplant stew – spread

Italians call this a specific southern Italian dish. Of course, in other parts of the world, it is thought to be specific to other places, like in the Balkans. Wherever you have eggplants, you’re bound to have a variation of this food considered ‘traditional’. While it’s not that easy to prepare, you can keep it in the fridge (or in a den, in a sealed jar) for a long time. It also helps with your daily veggie portion, and it goes wonderfully with crackers, biscuits, or just bread.

You’ll need: 2 eggplants, 2 bell pepper (red, yellow or orange), 4-5 roma tomatoes, 1 onion, 4-5 garlic cloves, 2 celery sticks, salt, pepper, oil. Optional: 1-2 carrots.

Instructions:

1. You can choose to roast the eggplants and the bell pepper, or not. If you choose to do so, it will take less time to cook the stew. To roast, put in the oven (on a baking sheet or something similar) for 30-40 minutes (350F) or until the skin cracks. Take them out and peel them, then cut into pieces and set aside.
2. If you do not roast – cut the eggplant and remove the skin. Cut the peppers.
3. Peel the Roma tomatoes (sink in boiling water for 2-3 minutes) – or use the canned diced tomatoes.
4. In a big pan, fry for 1-2 minutes the chopped onion and garlic. Add the peppers, the eggplants, the tomatoes and the celery. If you want extra taste, grate the carrots and add them – in the Italian version, you can also add green olives and capers. Add salt and pepper.
5. Let boil for some 30-40 minutes (more if you didn’t roast the eggplants) or until all the veggies are fully cooked and can be easily mashed. I like to mash everything, so that all the veggies blend into each other, then eat it with crackers or with mustard and paprika bites.

Yams and carrots soup

This soup is so easy to make, it would be a shame not to try it. You’ll need: 2-3 yams, 2-3 carrots, 1/2 celery root, 1 onion, 2-3 garlic cloves, 1/2 cup milk, oil, salt, pepper, curry. Optional, you could throw in other root veggies.

Instructions:

1. First, peel and cut into cubes all the root veggies.
2. Finely cut onion and fry it in a bit of oil. Do it in the pot where you’ll cook the soup, so make sure it’s big enough. Add garlic cloves.
3. Once the onion turned translucent, pour 2-3 cups of water and add all the root veggies.
4. When the veggies are soft, add salt and pepper. Mash the veggies (I do it by hand, but if you have a food processor, that works too).
5. Add the curry and the 1/2 cup milk and stir. Let boil for 5 more minutes, remove and serve hot.

Moroccan-Style Carrots

Carrots by John Morgan

With carrots, I always go for the easiest option: peel, cut and boil with 1 teaspoon of sugar and salt, then drain and add a bit of butter. But today I wanted something fancier, and since I’ve started using the steamer, I opted for this interesting recipe called “Moroccan-Style Carrots”.

You’ll need some 1kg carrots (peeled and cut in any shape or form), 1 tablespoon of yogurt, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of butter, salt and spices: parsley, cinnamon and cumin.

1. Put carrots in steamer and sprinkle with salt, cinnamon and cumin.
2. When carrots are tender (try them with a toothpick), put them on a plate.
3. Separately, mix together yogurt, parsley, lemon juice and butter.
4. Pour mixture over carrots and serve.

If  you’re not serving them right now, just save the mixture for later, in the fridge. When you want to eat, heat the carrots, then pour mixture.