Eggplant Lamb Meatloaf With Cottage Cheese Food

MAMA'S OH-SO-SAVORY LAMB AND EGGPLANT CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Place eggplant in a colander set in a bowl or the sink; sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and toss to coat. Let eggplant stand for at least 1 hour. Rinse off the bitter liquid and excess salt and drain well.
• Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in onion and celery; cook and stir until onion has softened and turned translucent and celery is fragrant, about 5 minutes.
• While vegetables are cooking, combine ground cumin, oregano, rosemary, paprika, mint, salt, and black pepper in a small bowl or mortar and pestle and mix well; this is the lamb seasoning (see Cook's Note). Set seasoning aside.
• Stir eggplant cubes and garlic into the vegetables in the skillet, mixing well, and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and sprinkle with half of the lamb seasoning mixture. Reserve remaining seasoning. Stir gently and cook for 5 minutes more.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 2-quart casserole dish.
• Pour chicken broth and half the can of tomato sauce into the skillet and simmer for 10 minutes; add a little water if the sauce starts to get dry. Transfer the sauce to the prepared casserole dish.
• Return the skillet to the stove over medium-high heat and heat the reserved tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Place ground lamb into skillet and sprinkle with remaining seasoning mixture. Brown lamb in the hot oil, stirring frequently, until the meat is evenly browned; it should look like imperfect meatballs.
• Gently transfer the lamb to the casserole dish, pushing it down into the vegetable mixture so that it is at least partially submerged. Stir fresh lemon juice into the remaining tomato sauce and pour the sauce over the casserole.
• Bake uncovered for 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending upon how tender you like your vegetables.

MAUREEN ABOOD'S EGGPLANT WITH LAMB, TOMATO AND PINE NUTS

Steps:

• Heat broiler and line a baking sheet with foil or parchment.
• Brush both sides of eggplant slices with 2 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt. Arrange slices on prepared baking sheet and broil in batches until they are deep mahogany brown, turning once halfway through, 5 to 7 minutes per side.
• Adjust the oven to 375 degrees with rack positioned in the center.
• In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the remaining olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until translucent, but not browned, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add ground lamb or beef, stirring frequently and breaking up meat into very small pieces with the side of a metal spoon. Season with remaining teaspoon salt, cinnamon and pepper. Sauté until meat is just cooked through. Taste and add more salt or pepper, or both, as needed.
• In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add pine nuts and reduce heat to medium-low. Stir nuts to coat them with butter and continue stirring constantly until nuts are golden brown, 2 to 4 minutes. Keep a close watch over the nuts; they can burn quickly once they begin to brown. Transfer nuts to a bowl while still warm and salt them lightly.
• Coat a 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking dish with remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Spread 1/2 cup of tomato sauce in the bottom of the dish. Lay 1/3 of the eggplant slices in a single layer over the sauce, covering as much surface area of the bottom of the dish as possible. Spoon half the meat evenly over eggplant. Pour 1/3 of the remaining tomato sauce evenly over meat. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the pine nuts. Layer again with eggplant, meat, tomato sauce and pine nuts. Finish with a layer of eggplant and cover with more tomato sauce, sprinkling top with pine nuts.
• Pour 1 cup warm water around the perimeter of the baking dish. (Sauce will thicken as it bakes.) Cover pan with foil and bake for 90 minutes. Remove foil and top eggplant evenly with mozzarella. Bake for 15 minutes longer, uncovered, or until the cheese is bubbling and golden. Serve eggplant warm, over rice.

EGGPLANT PARMESAN MEATLOAF

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• For the meatloaf: In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, basil, Parmesan, tomato-basil sauce, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, garlic, eggs and onions until combined. Press the mixture onto the bottom of a nonstick baking sheet. Bake until cooked through or when an instant read thermometer registers 160 degrees F when inserted into the meatloaf, 20 to 25 minutes.
• For the eggplant: In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. In batches, add the eggplant slices and cook until lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the slices over and season with the salt and pepper. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes longer.
• Arrange the eggplant slices on top of the meatloaf in a single layer. Spoon 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of the tomato-basil sauce into the center of each eggplant slice. Top with the mozzarella and bake until the cheese is just melted, an additional 5 minutes.
• Cut into 6 to 8 squares and serve with additional tomato-basil sauce.

LAMB-AND-EGGPLANT (AUBERGINE) LOAF

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Pierce eggplant with a fork; place on a baking sheet, and bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until tender. Let cool; peel and finely chop.
• Place a small nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add onion and garlic, and sauté 3 minutes or until tender.
• Combine eggplant, onion mixture, cheese, and next 9 ingredients (cheese through egg whites) in a large bowl; stir well. Crumble lamb over eggplant mixture, and stir just until ingredients are blended.
• Pack meat mixture into an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until meat loaf registers 160°. Let meat loaf stand in pan 10 minutes.
• Remove meat loaf from pan; cut loaf into 12 slices.
• Sandwich suggestion: Serve leftover meat loaf slices in pita bread halves with cucumber slices and plain low-fat yogurt.
• Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 2 slices).

COTTAGE CHEESE ROAST (VEGETARIAN MEATLOAF)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Grease a loaf pan.
• In a large bowl, combine cottage cheese, eggs, vegetable oil, soup mix, walnuts, cereal and onion.
• Spoon into prepared pan.
• Bake for 60 to 70 minutes.
• Let the 'roast' rest for 5 to 10 minutes; turn out onto serving platter.

COTTAGE MEATLOAF

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a 9x5-inch loaf pan with aluminum foil.
• In a large bowl, combine ground beef, ketchup, tomato juice, salt, pepper, red pepper, eggs, bread crumbs, onion, and mustard for meatloaf until well mixed. Press meat mixture into the prepared pan.
• In a separate bowl, combine ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar for topping until smooth. Spread brown sugar mixture over meatloaf.
• Bake in preheated oven 35 to 45 minutes, until no longer pink. Drain off fat. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

MEATLOAF WITH GROUND LAMB

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large skillet, sauté the onion, garlic, thyme, and basil in the olive oil until the onion is soft and almost golden. Take the skillet off the heat and let the mix cool slightly.
• Crack the eggs into a large bowl and beat. Add the breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper.
• Add the ground meats and your cooled onion, garlic, and herbs.
• Add the worcestershire sauce and ketchup (or tomato paste).
• Mix everything together and place in a greased loaf pan. Make sure you pack it down tightly.
• Bake for 60-65 minutes.
• Let it cool for 5 minutes. Drain the fat and serve!

COTTAGE MEATLOAF

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine first 12 ingredients. Mix until thoroughly blended.
• Add bread crumbs and rice. Mix again.
• Line a 9 x 5 in loaf pan with foil. Press in beef mixture and shape.
• In a seperate bowl mix topping ingredients, mixing well. Spread over top of meatloaf.
• Bake 400 degrees for 45 minutes or until done.
• Drain off fat. Let meatloaf rest for 5 minutes before serving.

COTTAGE CHEESE MEATLOAF FROM 1968

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients except the Parmesan cheese until well blended.
• Press the mixture into a shallow baking pan about 8 inch square.
• Baked in a 350 degrees F oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle the Parmesan cheese evenly over the top.
• Return to the oven and continue to bake for 15-18 minutes longer. Let stand for about 5 minutes before cutting in squares to serve.

COTTAGE CHEESE MEATLOAF

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients except Parmesan cheese.
• Mix ingredients lightly till well blended.
• Press lightly into an 8 by 8 pan.
• Cover with waxed paper & microwave on high for 12 to 14 minutes, turning dish once (if no turntable).
• Drain fat, if needed.
• Sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese & cook uncovered on high for 1- 2 minutes or till cheese melts.
• Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

EGGPLANT, LAMB AND RICE CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450°F Place eggplant halves, cut side down, in a roasting pan. Add 1/2" of water to pan and bake 20-25 minutes, until tender. Reduce oven temp to 400°F
• While eggplant in roasting, heat a large dutch oven over med-high heat. Add ground lamb and cook, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until browned, 3-5 minutes. Transfer to colander to drain off fat. Set aside.
• Add oil to the dutch oven and heat over med heat. Add onions and cook until golden, about 5 minutes. Add red peppers and garlic and cook for 2 minutes more. Stir in tomatoes and their juice, oregano, thyme, cinnamon and cloves. Simmer, breaking up the tomatoes a bit with the spoon, until mixture has thickened slightly, 3-5 minutes.
• Scoop out eggplant flesh and chop coarsely. Stir rice, beef broth, chopped eggplant and lamb into tomato mixture. Bring to a simmer, then cover the pan and place in oven. Bake 30-35 minutes, or until rice is tender and liquid has been absorbed. Season with salt and pepper. Dot with feta cheese and serve.