It’s been my desire to bring you more Italian food like I did in the early days, and this is a keeper. I’m going to make it again tomorrow because veal and eggplant are wildly compatible. Don’t be afraid to make Italian food more often. This has no grains, is keto friendly and gluten free.

I’ve been busy in the kitchen this week coming up with approachable, simple dinners that still provide joy for all the senses and to help encourage you and your family to cook together and stay joyfully connected.

Nothing bonds people more than good food, and Italian food has a special allure.

You can use ground beef or any ground meat with this recipe.

I’ve been enrolled in the masterclass for Alice Waters and I so resonate with her passion for cooking from the senses, not so much the recipe.

This stuffed eggplant just happened in the kitchen, as I began tasting and thinking through how to make the two ingredients (ground veal and eggplant) that I was focusing on work together.

Most of the time in the kitchen, I don’t start with any notes, but I will have mentally focused on what I want to accomplish. I wanted something new with ground veal. I had already made veal meatballs here with ricotta and mozzarella  and  pork and veal bolognese here   It was Retro Rose who suggested I stuff an eggplant.

Italian Stuffed Eggplant is Fast and Flexible

This entire dish takes about 30 minutes, but it will create those Italian flavored aromas that draw everyone into the kitchen.

• Eggplant
• Olive Oil
• Ground Veal or Ground Beef (can even add loose Italian Sausage)
• Fennel powder or fennel seed
• Fresh Herbs or Italian Seasoning
• Tomato or tomato sauce
• Mozzarella Cheese
• Pecorino or Parmesan

I used ground veal, but you can change this up and use ground beef or add in some some ground pork. Some of you prefer ground turkey and that will work also. My mom adds in some loose Italian sausage for extra flavor. I kept the spices simple using fennel powder and some Italian seasoning. Fresh herbs are best if you have them, and basil would be my preference.

While this is a fast and flexible recipe, there are things to consider when cooking with any ground meat.

How to Cook Ground Veal

Veal has amazing flavor, but can be dry because it’s lean and it’s usually packed tight. You will need to use your hands to loosen it up and soak it in some milk. I use the “milk” trick for almost all of my ground meat recipes, but especially the leaner meats. You can also add in a little olive oil instead of milk. 

Garlic loves eggplant, so I’m a little more generous than usual. Just be sure you do not brown the garlic. The rule is, if it browns, throw it out and start over. Better to lose a few cents than a few dollars in your food.

Use medium sized eggs or beat your egg and add gently, perhaps not using it all. This is because there are no grains in this veal to soak it up. You can add in 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, but I’m keeping this grain free for all the gluten free, keto readers I have and because that’s how I eat it. 

How to Prepare the Eggplant for Italian Stuffed Eggplant

There are three ways you can do this, and I chose the easiest and the way Alice Waters probably would.

Cut the eggplant lengthwise, scored on the diagonal, and placed flat down with a tiny bit of olive oil and sea salt. After about 20 minutes, give it a check. Some eggplant gets soft faster than others. Oil the pan first so it doesn’t stick. 

While the eggplant is in the oven, it’s time to mix  and cook the meat. Once the eggplant is cooked, it’s incorporated in with the meat. I would use about 2/3 to 1 pound of veal per eggplant. You may have some left over and you can put that in a small baking dish.

You can choose a number of ways to top the eggplant. Today, I chose cheese, but you could also top with panko or Italian breadcrumbs.  In one version, we simply topped with pecorino. I used about a tablespoon of tomato sauce, but you could simply slice some tomato, or skip it altogether. 

You only need to bake it until until the cheese is melted.

You can also use fresh tomatoes and fresh mozzarella with a little basil for a caprese take.

Let me say this about eggplant and veal. It’s a remarkable combination of flavors. Veal is known for it’s flavor, and eggplant heightens that and brings moisture so this nearly melts in your mouth. You’ll also love my veal meatballs!

More Recipes from Spinach Tiger

• Italian Spaghetti Squash Casserole with Sausage & Mushrooms
• Three Cheese Spaghetti Squash Lasagna
• Italian Eggplant Soup
• Keto Fried Eggplant
• Baked Keto Eggplant Parm
• Veal Meatballs with Ricotta and Mozzarella
• Eggplant Bread Pudding
• Eggplant Pepperoni

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Italian Stuffed Eggplant with Ground Veal

Italian Stuffed eggplant with ground veal can be a great lunch or dinner. With or without a topping of mozzarella cheese, veal loves eggplant.

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• For Eggplant
• 2 eggplants
• sea salt
• olive oil for brushing

Veal or Ground Beef

• 1 pound ground veal or ground meat of choice
• 1 teaspoon seasalt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cup chopped basil
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 1/3 cup grated pecorino romano or freshly grated parmesan I tend to use both
• 1 teaspoon fennel powder Order Here can use 1/4 t fennel seeds or skip
• 1 egg
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 4 garlic cloves minced

For Eggplant

• 2 tablespoons tomato sauce optional
• 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

Roast Eggplant

• Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Rinse eggplant and dry with clean towel.
• Cut eggplant lengthwise. Leave stems on.
• Score eggplant in cross hatch pattern, making sure not to cut into skin.
• Season with salt. Brush with olive oil.
• Place face down on baking sheet.
• Bake eggplant for 20 minutes. Check to see how done it it. This will all depend on size. I baked mine for 30 minutes.
• While eggplant is baking, cook veal.

For Ground Veal or Ground Meat

• Loosen veal with hands. Season with salt and pepper. Pour milk over. Let it soak In.
• Mix in herbs, spices and egg.
• In large frying pan, saute onion for five minutes until softened, but not browned. Add garlic, and be careful not to brown.
• Add ground meat, making sure to break apart and cook on low until meat is cooked through, continuing to stir.
• Take eggplant out of the oven. Cool for a few minutes.
• Scoop out all insides of the eggplant, carefully, so as to not break the skin.
• If there is excess water in the baking dish, use paper towel to sop up.
• Add eggplant in to the ground meet.
• Top with tomato sauce, which is optional.
• Top with some mozzarella cheese.
• Bake for ten minutes or until cheese is melted.
• Serve with grated parmesan cheese.
• Active Prep time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes

Notes

I usually use a mixture of parmesan cheese and pecorino romano. The pecorino is a sheep’s cheese, more tangy and salty. Parmesan is a cow’s milk cheese. Only use high quality.

The post Italian Stuffed Eggplant with Ground Veal appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Veal Meatballs with Ricotta Cheese and Fresh Mozzarella

While I was making these veal meatballs with ricotta cheese and gooey mozzarella, I was gearing up for the Academy Award’s Red Carpet, which I look more forward to than the awards themselves.

In all the years I’ve lived, I’ve watched things in the world get better, while other things get just plain stupid.

The Red Carpet Might Take Itself  Too Seriously

You can no longer ask women at the academy awards “who” they are wearing or “what” they are wearing, unless you get into some SERIOUS questions, because supposedly it insults women. I think it was Reese Witherspoon who started the campaign “ask me more.” This article lists many of the serious questions that the women want to be asked.

One actress wants to be asked ““What social cause are you most passionate about and why?”

Oh my goodness, while all of that is “nice” that is not what the red carpet is for. It’s not the Miss America contest, nor is it an Oprah interview. It’s the red carpet, the one time that glamour IS the reason people are tuning in. In this world of social media, the actresses have a million and one opportunities to champion their causes and become known.

Don’t tell me that women who fretted over make-up, botox injections, cheek implants, jewelry and well, not hair this year, but that’s another story, will feel badly if you talk to them about their appearance. They want to be on that best dressed list. It’s part of the fun, and we need fun.

. Movies are powerful, but their main draw is a place of escape and for sheer entertainment.

We need the red carpet and we care about those dresses!

Doesn’t this picture of the extremely talented Jennifer Lawrence just make you smile?

Next thing, someone will tell me is that I can’t eat veal, but even if they do, I’m not listening.

I’m swooning (mostly) at red carpet fashion and I’m eating veal.

Veal Meatballs Process

When I made these veal meatballs, I was spinning many plates, and made them in steps over two days. I mixed and baked the meatballs on Saturday, placed them in a dish of tomato puree overnight and then on Sunday added the cheese and baked. It almost felt like not cooking!

This is a meal to serve with crusty bread and a salad, when you are craving comfort food Italian style. This could even be a party dish, a heavy appetizer, or game day nosh. It’s man food with a woman’s touch, and a hearty family meal.

I did a little looking around the other day and discovered my most popular category is my Italian food category, which has over 120 Italian recipes. I’ve decided to dig a little deeper and make more Italian food here.

So tell me, do you want more Italian recipes, and what recipes are you most interested in?

Please connect with me on instagram, where I take you on a culinary journey of what we’re eating and drinking in Nashville, and all the things that get whipped up in Spinach Tiger’s kitchen. Just click on my IG feed below.

More Meatballs from Spinach Tiger

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Veal Meatballs, with Ricotta and Fresh Mozzarella

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground veal
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup grated pecorino cheese
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• salt
• pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 1 large can tomato puree
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 8 mini fresh mozzarella balls or 1 cup shredded mozzarella

Instructions

• Pour milk over ground veal
• Season with salt and pepper
• Add egg, parsley, grated parmesan, bread crumbs and very loosely, gently mix together. You don't want the meat to be compacted, as that will make the meatballs tough.
• Form into small balls.
• Place foil or parchment paper on baking sheet.
• Bake meatballs for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.
• From here, you can place in your own favorite tomato sauce or do the following method.
• Mix white wine with tomato puree. Put meatballs in sauce and refrigerate for several hours to overnight.
• When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Scoop ricotta cheese into baking dish in various places.
• Do same with mozzarella.
• Bake until heated through and cheese is melted about 20 minutes.

The post Veal Meatballs, with Ricotta and Fresh Mozzarella appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

A good bolognese is one of the easiest dishes to make and one to easily get wrong. The easy is that most of the “getting it right” is cooking bolognese for at least 3 hours. If you really want to taste it at its peak, you will refrigerate it, heat it up and then get is full flavor and understand why this is a classic dish in Italy eaten so many ways.

Today, it’s a simple dish with spaghetti. It’s a great topping for crepes, polenta, wider noodles and inside lasagna. If you’re eating grain free, top it on potatoes, spaghetti squash or just eat it out of the bowl like I do.

I’ve told you about bolognese sauce before, taking up Marcella Hazan’s recipe and that’s still my inspiration for this sort of lighter version. I used mostly veal, threw in some ground pork, but, you could use ground turkey, ground beef etc. If you do use ground turkey, though, please throw in some pancetta or bacon to give some added flavor and fat.

Keep in mind that a true bolognese is not a tomato sauce with meat (the American meat sauce). It’s a meat sauce with some tomato, so in this case, I used diced tomatoes.

You can start this in a heavy dutch oven or big frying pan, and convert over to a crock pot, but whatever you do, don’t thrown all this in a crock pot at the beginning. One of the reasons, I don’t care too much for crock pot cooking is that almost all dish have to be started on top of the stove, and in that case, I just keep the dutch oven on very very very low for several hours. That’s where the crock pot can come in handy.

The only other suggestion I’ll make is to make a triple batch and freeze. If you’re already going to all the trouble of opening up a bottle of wine and chopping vegetables, you might as well  the most out of it.

I love you, my readers, and I would love to connect with you. Please find me on Instagram (where you get to see some non-food fun we do around here) and some food pictures that never make it. I also do some quick videos on Periscope with the name, SpinachTiger. xoxo

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Veal and Pork Bolognese with Spaghetti

A authentic Italian Bolognese made with ground veal and ground pork, white wine.

Course Veal Pork Bolognese

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 3 hours hours

Total Time 3 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 1/2 pounds ground veal
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 tablespoons butter
• black pepper freshly ground
• 2 cups whole milk
• freshly ground nutmeg
• 2 cup dry white wine
• 3 cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes with juice chopped
• 2 tablespoons parsley or fresh basil
• 1 pound spaghetti
• freshly ground parmigiano reggiano

Instructions

• Melt butter into oil on medium heat.
• Add onions. Cook for a few minutes.
• Add carrots, celery. Saute for five minutes.
• Add meat, breaking up as necessary.
• Once meat is cooked through, add milk, and ground nutmeg.
• Once milk is evaporated, add wine.
• Once wine is cooked down, add tomatoes.
• Cook on low in slow cooker for 6 hours or on top of stove very low for three hours minimum.
• Add in fresh parsley or fresh basil, but remove before serving.
• Serve on pasta of your choice with parmigianna reggiano, freshly grated.

Notes

You can serve this with one pound of spaghetti.

More Great Recipes and Ideas for Bolognese

Bolognese over Polenta from the Paupered Chef

Bolognese with Crepes from Gavin’s Cooking

Green Lasagna with Bolognese from Spinach Tiger

Sloppy Joe’s with Bolognese from Spinach Tiger

The post Veal and Pork Bolognese with Spaghetti appeared first on Spinach Tiger.