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1 medium to large eggplant
With a sharp knife peel eggplant, leaving peels as wide as possible. Reserve peels. Dice remaining eggplant, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast at 375°F on greased baking sheet for 12 minutes. Remove. Roast peel on same sheet 3 to 5 minutes or just until soft. Do not overcook.
Roast peppers on barbecue or on direct flame on top of stove or in a 450°F oven until black. Put immediately in Ziploc bag, seal and let cool. When cool, peel black off peppers. Do not rinse. Try to leave pepper pieces as large as possible.
With cookie cutters of different sizes (I used Jewish stars) cut out shapes from roasted peppers and eggplant skin and reserve. Cut out as many as you can. (It helps if you have small cutters.)
Dice the remaining eggplant peels and peppers to add to batter. Grate yellow squash.
In large frying pan, sauté onion in oil until golden. If using stock, add 1/2 cup at a time and cook onions until stock evaporates. Repeat 1 or 2 more times. Add mushrooms and continue sautéing until mushrooms have reduced in size and liquid has evaporated.
Slice artichokes, add to pan and cook together briefly.
Remove onions, mushrooms, and artichoke slices, but don't wash pan.
Wash spinach thoroughly and spin dry. Add to pan and cook just until spinach is wilted. Remove spinach and squeeze very dry. Wrap in paper towel and squeeze again. Chop spinach.
Separate eggs. Beat yolks until thick and yellow. Add salt and pepper, nutmeg and red pepper flakes. Melt butter or margarine. Let cool somewhat and add very slowly to egg yolks as they beat.
Clean bowl and beaters and beat egg whites stiff.
If using matzo, break up into small pieces. Soak farfel or matzo in water very briefly, just until soft, and drain thoroughly.
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except the egg whites. Then fold in egg whites, a third at a time. Microwave a little bit and taste for salt and pepper until you are satisfied. (If you have used stock, you will need less salt.)
Grease a 9" or 10" springform pan well with vegetable shortening. Place pepper and eggplant cutouts around the sides of pan. If they slip, use more shortening as "glue" and press against the sides of pan. Make sure the colorful outside of vegetable is facing out.
Pour batter carefully into the pan so as not to disturb the pepper and eggplant cutouts. If you use a 9" pan, you will have some left over. (The better to taste, my dear. Just pour it into a small greased baking dish and now you have a preview.) Level off the top and place remaining pepper and eggplant cutouts in pretty design on top. Dot lightly with thin butter or margarine shavings.
Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes at 350°F. It should be firm in the middle. (You can make this a day or two ahead to this point. On day of serving, let it come to room temperature and heat covered in 350°F oven until warm.) Let cool briefly. Run a knife around the sides, being careful not to disturb the cutouts. Remove sides of pan carefully and take bows. Slice like a pie.
Poster's Notes:
I had cooked it originally for 1 hour and found it was kind of mushy in the middle (although still delicious - kind of like a very tasty creamed spinach). Next time I will go longer. I am also toying with the idea of doing it in a water bath so it is not overly firm on the outside. Stay tuned!) If you do it in an oblong pan, the hour should be enough.
Posted by Judy Bart Kancigor
Nutritional Info Per Serving: N/A
7 peppers, different colors (I used red, green, yellow and orange)
2 jars marinated artichoke hearts, drained
8 leaves fresh sage, chopped fine
2 tsp. fresh rosemary, chopped fine
2 small yellow crookneck squash
2 medium onions, chopped
1/4 cup oil
1 to 1-1/2 cups homemade vegetable or chicken stock (optional)
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 to 1-1/2 lbs. fresh spinach
9 boards matzo or 3/4 lb. farfel
9 eggs, separated
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. nutmeg (preferably fresh grated)
1/4 tsp. red pepper
1 to 3 teaspoons salt or to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 bar butter or margarine (2 oz.), melted
At long last here is the recipe I concocted for Passover, a takeoff of my sweet Matzah Schalat with the pineapple rings and other fruit, made the same way in the springform pan, loaded with vegetables. Instead of decorating with fruit, I roasted peppers in 4 colors and eggplant skin and made cutouts with cookie cutters for the sides and top.