Jill Wilcox, Special to QMI Agency Mar 19, 2015

, Last Updated: 12:04 PM ET

Eggplant is a vegetable that is a bit of a culinary chameleon. Mild in flavour, it can lend itself to many other ingredients. It can also vary in texture depending on how its prepared.

Eggplant and its many varieties are used extensively in Mediterranean cooking and this week Im providing a meatless version of Greek moussaka.

This dish typically includes ground lamb, along with eggplant and tomatoes. The topping is a creamy bchamel sauce.

This version features meaty, Portobello mushrooms in place of the ground lamb along with chickpeas to add some texture and substance. The topping is a mashed potato and cheese combination.

The seasonings that make it a classic Greek dish include garlic, oregano and cinnamon.

This easy dish can be prepared ahead and warmed up before serving. It would be ideal served with a salad of mixed greens dressed with fresh lemon juice and a bold extra virgin olive oil.

Vegetarian moussaka would be a great addition to the upcoming Easter celebration.

Vegetarian Moussaka

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Recipe: Vegetarian moussaka for Easter

By Joe Yonan Food and Dining Editor March 23 at 10:07 AM

I used to avoid making dishes in which vegetables play the part of meat. You know the ones: The burger made of ground beets, whose crimson color makes the patty look like rare beef. The mushroom medallions that evoke seared scallops. The roasted red pepper thats a ringer for a raw tuna slice.

[Make the recipe: Philly-Style Portobello, Broccoli Rabe and Cheese Sandwiches.]

That resistance was that of a new vegetarian. I was so insistent that vegetables be able to stand on their own, I couldnt embrace any treatment that referenced something theyre not. Even now, a few years into this way of eating, I mostly want to make food that celebrates vegetables on their own terms, for their own sake, rather than see them only through the lens of meat-centric cooking.

But the fact is, some one-thing-acts-like-another dishes are just too fun to skip, especially when they use honest-to-goodness vegetables.

Take, for instance, the Philly cheesesteak. There are countless places in the City of Brotherly Love where you can get a vegan version of it, often made with seitan or another meat analogue, and a soy- or nut-based cheese. And recipes for them abound.

Id rather have something plant-based but a little closer to nature. Id rather use one of the meatiest vegetables around, portobello mushrooms, instead of the meat.

Such a sandwich had been on my to-develop list for quite some time, in fact, when I saw a recipe for the same in the latest Americas Test Kitchen book, The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook (2014).

It comes together easily: Because you slice the mushroom caps thinly, and they retain so much texture when cooked, they evoke the shaved beef that is so crucial to a traditional cheesesteak. The recipe combines them with sauteed broccoli rabe and a finishing touch: shingles of American cheese slices that melt perfectly into the vegetables, turning them into a satisfying sandwich filling. (And by hollowing out the insides of the sub rolls, I increased the filling-to-bread ratio, cutting down on some of the carbs in the process.)

I couldnt think of the last time I had used processed cheese in a recipe. And its presence takes the recipe out of the realm of healthfulness, no doubt. But as an occasional indulgence and a tongue-in-cheek alternative to a real cheesesteak it works for me.

Read more:
A sub for cheesesteak lovers who dont want the steak

Story highlights Amy's Kitchen says a supplier reported that organic spinach could contain listeria The food company says it is voluntarily recalling nearly 74,000 cases of products The recall, the company says, is "out of an abundance of caution"

In a statement released through the Food and Drug Administration on Sunday, Amy's Kitchen said that it was voluntarily recalling the products after learning from one of its suppliers that it may have received organic spinach that was possibly contaminated with listeria monocytogenes.

The California-based organic and natural food company said it wasn't aware of any reports of illness connected with its products, but was recalling them "out of an abundance of caution."

The recalled products, which are listed on the FDA's website and were distributed throughout the United States and Canada, include multiple types of vegetable lasagna, tofu scrambles, spinach pizza, enchiladas, brown rice and vegetable bowls and stuffed pasta shells.

Listeriosis, a serious infection caused by eating food contaminated with listeria, primarily affects the elderly, pregnant women, newborns and people with weakened immune systems, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the United States, an estimated 1,600 people become seriously ill each year; approximately 16% of these illnesses result in death. Cervical infections caused by listeriosis in pregnant women may result in spontaneous abortion during the second or third trimesters or stillbirth.

CNN's Jacque Wilson contributed to this report.

Continued here:
Organic food company recalls products

If you can't lick them, buy them -- and build them up.

That's how giant food makers are responding to competitors specializing in "natural" and organic food. They're acquiring them. General Mills now owns Annie's; Campbell's Soup, Plum; Coca-Cola, Honest Tea; Kellogg, Kashi.

As the big food companies go natural and organic, the market evolves. The giants are introducing new products aimed at a wider audience. What was once a small, boutique business is becoming bigger and more segmented, with offerings for a variety of tastes.

For a glimpse of these changes, check out this intriguing Wall Street Journal story, "Does Organic Food Taste as Virtuous If It Goes Mass Market?" (http://tiny.cc/). The story describes:

--Honest Tea learning, while a unit of Coke, that it can attract a broader clientele by adding sugar to its beverages, even as its sugar-free green tea continues to sell best at stores like Whole Foods;

--Plum, armed with Campbell's research on consumer tastes in soup, cutting up the kale and spinach finer to avoid scaring kids away;

--Kashi coming under social-media attack for using genetically engineered ingredients and promising, after losing $200 million in sales over five years, to get rid of them;

--Annie's discovering that it can't sell an organic frozen pizza for $9 but can sell frozen mini pizza bagels and poppers for $4 a box;

--A mother in Phoenix being taught by her three-year-old that "Just because it says organic doesn't mean it tastes good."

Amid all the changes, the article hints, some things never change. Taste and price will always rank high in what the public expects of food. And big business will always think big. When Honest Tea presented its growth plans to Coke last year, the response was: "Great. How do we double or triple this?"

Read the original here:
"Just Because It's Organic Doesn't Mean It Tastes Good"