Mind-boggling bounty

Celebrate Succot with eggplants and peppers.

By FAYE LEVY
eggplant 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
eggplant 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
When supermarket ads announce that they are featuring eggplant and peppers, they signal to me that it's a season for special eating pleasures, just in time to celebrate Succot. Now is our best chance to enjoy eggplants and peppers in different colors and in liberal amounts, throughout the menu. Eggplants and peppers, used on their own or partnered together, are good from starters to sweets. Yes, sweets - Moroccan cooks make eggplant into sweet preserves flavored with cinnamon and cloves, and they can be delicious. French chefs make red peppers into a refreshing sorbet. For most Israelis, the first dishes that come to mind for using these vegetables are less exotic - eggplant salads with tehina or mayonnaise, marinated peppers with garlic and olive oil and eggplant-pepper-tomato side dishes like French ratatouille. But there is such a mind-boggling array of choices that it's fun to try as many different ones as possible, while both are at the peak of their seasons. Both eggplant and peppers are wonderful matched with meat or chicken for main courses. I don't mean just the standard Succot stuffed vegetables. There are plenty of easier ways to pair peppers and eggplants with meat, with equally luscious results. Benny Saida gives plenty of ideas in Food from the Balkans (in Hebrew), a region that is rich in wonderful recipes for these vegetables. For Greek meat patties with eggplant and peppers, he stews browned beef patties with grilled peppers, fried eggplant slices, slices of spicy kabanos sausages and chopped tomatoes. He combines browned chicken pieces with fried eggplant, fried peppers, sautéed onions and tomatoes as a savory stew. Fried eggplant enhances his flavorful rice pilaf baked with a beef and chickpea stew. An Egyptian specialty called eggplant under chicken, wrote Levana Zamir in Foods from the Land of the Nile (in Hebrew), features fried thick eggplant with slices of sauteed onion, chopped tomatoes and garlic, and is accented with lemon juice, allspice and cardamom. A somewhat similar Armenian stew featuring eggplant and lamb is also flavored with garlic and lemon, according to Gerard Markarian, author of 100 Recettes de Cuisine Traditionnelle Arménienne. Most of these traditional recipes call for the more common green peppers but during this season, when peppers of other colors are plentiful, you can substitute them or combine them with green ones. I find that peppers and eggplant go so well together that even in main courses that feature only eggplant, you can safely add sweet peppers, especially red or yellow ones, and they will enhance the dish. LAMB WITH EGGPLANT AND RED PEPPERS I like to add sweet peppers to this Mizrahi meat and eggplant recipe that I got long ago from a friend in Jerusalem, who makes it with either lamb or beef. Instead of frying the eggplant slices the traditional way, I usually broil them; it's easier and uses much less fat. The dish is plenty rich from the meat. If you'd rather use beef than lamb, cook it for at least two hours or until tender, before adding the eggplant. Serve the lamb with bulgur wheat pilaf, fine noodles or rice pilaf. 3 Tbsp. olive or vegetable oil 2 sweet red peppers, cut in strips 1 large onion, chopped 900 gr. lamb shoulder, excess fat removed, meat cut in 2.5-cm. cubes 900 gr. ripe tomatoes, peeled, or an 800-gr. can tomatoes with their juice 4 large garlic cloves, chopped 1 cup water 1⁄2 tsp. ground allspice, or to taste salt and freshly ground pepper 2 medium eggplants, cut in crosswise slices 1 cm. thick 1 Tbsp. lemon juice 1 or 2 Tbsp. chopped parsley (optional) Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a heavy stew pan. Add peppers and sauté for 7 minutes; they will finish cooking later. Remove from pan. Add another tablespoon oil to pan and heat it. Add onion and sauté over medium heat for 5 minutes or until beginning to turn golden. Add lamb cubes and sauté lightly until meat changes color. Chop fresh or canned tomatoes and add to the pan. Add garlic and bring to a simmer. Add water, allspice, salt and pepper and bring to a boil, stirring often. Cover and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour or until lamb is tender; add a few tablespoons water if pan becomes dry. Arrange eggplant slices in one layer on a foil-lined baking sheet or broiler pan. If eggplant doesn't fit, cook it in two batches. Brush or spray eggplant lightly with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil for 7 minutes. Turn over, brush or spray again with oil and broil about 7 minutes or until barely tender. When lamb is tender, add lemon juice to sauce, taste it and adjust seasoning. Add pepper strips and eggplant slices to pan, spoon a little sauce over eggplant, cover and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Serve hot, sprinkled with chopped parsley. Makes 4 to 6 servings. GRILLED CHICKEN AND EGGPLANT IN TOMATO CILANTRO SAUCE This dish is a combination of a barbecue and a stew. Instead of frying the chicken as the first step as is usually done for stews, I grill or broil the meat. I use boneless chicken so the meat will cook quickly and evenly. After this step, the chicken needs only brief braising to absorb flavor from the savory tomato sauce accented with garlic and allspice. If you like, add grilled sweet peppers, following the note at the end of the recipe. Substitute dill or parsley for the cilantro (fresh coriander) if you prefer. 1 to 2 Tbsp. olive oil, plus a little more for grilling eggplant and chicken 1 large onion, chopped 900 gr. ripe tomatoes, peeled, or an 800-gr. can tomatoes with their juice 6 large garlic cloves, chopped Salt and freshly ground pepper 1⁄2 to 1 tsp ground allspice, or to taste, plus a little more for sprinkling 1 cup chicken broth 500 to 650 gr. eggplant (1 large or 2 medium), cut in crosswise slices about 1 cm. thick 500 to 650 gr. boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts 2 to 3 tsp. lemon juice (optional) Cayenne pepper to taste (optional) 4 Tbsp. chopped cilantro (fresh coriander) Heat oil in a stew pan. Add onion and sauté over medium heat for 7 minutes or until golden. Chop fresh or canned tomatoes and add to the pan. Add garlic, salt, pepper and 1⁄2 teaspoon allspice and bring to a boil, stirring often. Stir in broth. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring often, for 20 minutes or until thickened. Prepare a grill or heat broiler with rack about 10 cm. from heat source; or heat a ridged stove-top grill pan over medium-high heat. Brush grill rack lightly with oil. Brush eggplant with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add enough slices to make 1 layer in grill without crowding. Grill or broil for 3 or 4 minutes on each side or until nearly tender. Rub chicken with oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and allspice on both sides. Grill or broil chicken until nearly tender, about 5 minutes per side. Remove chicken skin if you like. Cut each chicken piece in 3 or 4 pieces. Quarter eggplant slices. Taste sauce for seasoning, and add lemon juice, cayenne and more allspice if you like. Stir in 3 tablespoons cilantro. Add chicken and eggplant to stew pan and spoon sauce over them. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer, occasionally stirring gently, for 5 minutes or until done. Eggplant should be tender when pierced with a fork. Cut into a thick chicken piece; its color should be white, not pink. If sauce is too thin, remove eggplant and chicken with a slotted spoon and simmer sauce until thickened. Serve eggplant and chicken in sauce, sprinkled with remaining cilantro. Makes 4 servings. Chicken with eggplant and grilled sweet peppers: Preheat broiler with rack 5 to 10 cm. from heat source. Put 2 or 3 whole sweet red or green peppers, with core and stems still on, in broiler or on grill. Broil or grill peppers, turning them every 5 minutes, until their skins are blistered and all over and slightly charred, for a total of about 15 minutes; do not let them burn. Transfer peppers to a paper or plastic bag and close bag. Let stand for 10 minutes. Peel peppers using paring knife. Halve peppers; be careful because they may have hot juice inside. Discard seeds and ribs. Do not rinse peppers. Cut in strips. Heat in sauce before serving. Faye Levy is the author of Feast from the Mideast and Healthy Cooking for the Jewish Home.