Easy to Make, Healthy Salad, Mostly From Cans

Yes, I call this salad "Easy to Make, Healthy Salad, Mostly From Cans." And it's not an oxymoron.

It can also be titled Corn, Bean and Tomato Salad, Corona Lock-down Recipe #4, because the canned food was delivered to us as part of the senior citizen care package at the height of the corona lock-down. Following are the first three recipes I developed with canned food from the carton:

• Cooking With Canned Beans, Corona Lock-down Recipe #1
• Cooking With Canned Pineapple, "Apple-Pineapple Compote," Corona Lock-down Recipe #2
• "Sauerkraut Salad," Corona Lock-down Recipe #3

If you had inspected my pantry before getting these COVID-19 "care packages," you'd have found almost no cans, not even tomato paste. The few cans would have been "food gifts" from the Purim mishloach manot. But suddenly I found myself with all sorts of canned food and decided to make up recipes.

This salad is also a great vegetarian-vegan "one pot meal." It contains protein plus raw and cooked vegetables. Of course you can substitute different types of beans and vegetables and add more fresh salad. Just looking at it you can probably guess almost all of the ingredients:

canned corn
canned white beans
diced tomato
diced onion
coarsely ground pepper
dehydrated dill
dressed with a bit of olive oil and lemon juice

Yes, that's it. Think of the recipe more as inspiration than an exact recipe. Try it, and tell me how yours turned out and how you varied it. Enjoy in good health.

Attractive, Easy to Make Healthy Shabbat or Anytime Food

Bake and serve dishes are favorites for my Shabbat Menu. Here are a couple of Attractive, Easy to Make Healthy Shabbat dishes you may like. I'm vague about quantities and ingredients, because I don't measure, and I also don't obsess about having specific ingredients. That's my approach to cooking:

• be flexible, spontaneous
• don't obsess

When I have an oven, not something I take them for granted*, baked vegetables are on the menu. I have a variety of bake and serve oven pans, so that even the simplest of baked vegetables can look very fancy.

The photo on the right shows "orange vegetables," baked with just a bit of cinnamon and oil. On a "bed" of onion slices, no need to cut exact anything, I placed carrots, sweet potatoes and pumpkin in that order. I bake them in a medium oven, heat from the bottom, until they look baked and are soft.

Tonight's main course is pretty much a "one pot meal," besides being "bake and serve." It doesn't include any carbohydrates, so if you eat carbs, have them on the side with salad.

I layered onion and squash, maybe eggplant, too, on the bottom of the baking pan. I used chopped/minced turkey (500 gram, just over a pound) with onion and a small 100 gram container of tomato paste, plus garlic.

Spread the turnkey on top, with a large spoon and then, as you can see, top with fresh tomatoes. I then added just a spoon or so of vegetable oil and then baked it in a medium oven, heat on top, until it drew from the sides of the pan.

You can substitute ground meat, beef, chicken or a combination. Consider it a version of a meatloaf or musaka.

Cooking should be enjoyable and creative.

Shabbat Shalom UMevorach

Have a Peaceful and Blessed Shabbat

*During the year before our kitchen was renovated, we didn't have a functioning oven.

Baked Vegetable Omelet

On Friday I had a Baked Vegetable Omelet. Since I had the oven going it seemed like a good idea to bake lunch, instead of using the stove top.

It's one of those things I couldn't even imagine doing before having my kitchen redone/renovated. I had spent the previous year without a functioning oven. Now, thank Gd, I have two turbo ovens, one for meat and the other parve, in which I can bake more than one thing at a time. Having two ovens makes a kosher kitchen very easy to cook in. We hardly eat anything dairy, so the second oven has remained parve, meaning neither meat nor dairy. I make lots of side dishes, fish, cakes and challot in it.

While vegetables for Shabbat were baking in the oven I took a smaller oven pan, covered it with baking paper, and then cut onion, squash, pumpkin, cabbage, tomato and two eggs. I topped it with a bit of vegetable oil, and then into the oven it went. Once I could see that the eggs looked cooked, I checked the vegetables with a fork, to see if they were soft. I don't pretime my cooking, since there are too many variables.

My lunch, Baked Vegetable Omelet, was delicious, and the pan didn't even get dirty.

Pre/Post Yom Kippur Meal

Since we have a rather empty nest, just my husband and myself, I don't need to cook as much as before when the house was full of kids and guests. And we still have lots of big pots.

Don't get me wrong; we do have guests, but not as many as in the past. Also, nowadays, my cooking experiments aim more for efficiency than impressive. That's why I decided to try a Pre/Post Yom Kippur Meal, serving (almost) exactly the same meal before and after the Yom Kippur 25 hour fast. Of course, this dish is perfect any time you want an easy hearty one-pot meal.

I don't have many real Jewish Food traditions, especially as pre/post fasts or Succot and Shavuot, which weren't at all celebrated by us. I didn't grow up with kreplach, which is what many Jewish families eat as Pre/Post Yom Kippur Meals.

For some strange reason, as I was trying to figure out what to serve Tuesday night before Yom Kippur, barley popped into my mind. The experts say we should have a complex carbohydrate as a main part of the pre-fast meal. I decided to cook up chicken with barley and vegetables, a one-pot meal, which can even be a soup.

Before the fast, I served it with a salad, and breaking the fast I heated up some ratatouille, I had in the fridge. I also served myself some of the liquid with a bit of whatever came along as a soup, while my husband had his chicken soup. It was delicious, satisfying and so easy to make and serve. I tried to calculate cooking exactly what we needed for the two meals. In the end there's some barley left over, which can be "recycled" into a new soup with added vegetables.

Ingredients:
chicken, I cut it into large serving size pieces
about a cup of barley
onion, cut
2 carrots, cut large
2 large squash, cut large
seasonings, paprika, black pepper, garlic, parsley, a pinch of salt
water, of course

Instructions:

1. add all ingredients to a large pot, leaving a good inch before top, so it won't boil over
2. bring to a strong boil and then turn down flame to simmer for an hour or so
3. Yes, that's it!

Easy and Healthy Cucumber Salad

We ended up with too many cucumbers, so, before they could go bad, I quickly made a "Cucumber Salad." Of course I had never made one before, so I had some research to do. Cucumber Salads used to be mainstays of Israeli summers, and I started googling "Cucumber Salad."  I was surprised to discover that Google claims it's a German dish.

I read a couple of recipes, internalized the general idea and got to work.

Ingredients:
cucumbers, sliced relatively thin
red onion, also sliced relatively thin
dehydrated dill, fresh is better but I didn't have any
barely a teaspoon of light brown sugar
a couple of tablespoons of vinegar
1 tablespoon of tamari sauce
freshly squeezed lemon juice from a quarter of a lemon

Instructions:
put cucumbers, onion and dill in a bowl
add sugar and then the rest of the ingredients
let it "sit" for a few hours
eat and enjoy

The recipes I saw online were a bit more complicated. I've simplified it. You can also spice it up a bit more. 

Pickled, Super Easy Homemade Pickles

The other day I discovered a bag of almost totally frozen cucumbers in the back of the refrigerator. Even though here in Israel, cucumbers aren't all that expensive, I still didn't want to throw them out. You must have heard the saying:

If life gives you lemons, then make lemonade.

So, I took those frozen cucumbers and made pickles!

I made the pickles the easiest and quickest way possible. I don't measure. I just cut, poured and sprinkled.

Ingredients:

• cucumbers
• fresh garlic
• an onion
• coarse salt
• I should have added a few peppercorns but forgot
• dehydrated dill and kusbara, (Coriander, also known as cilantro or Chinese parsley,) fresh would have been even better
• vinegar
• boiling water

I brought it to a boil and then let it simmer over half an hour. After it cooled I stored the pickles in a glass jar in the fridge. 

My husband even agrees that the pickles taste fine. And they don't have that over-salty chemical taste you frequently find in store-bought pickles.

If you're on a low salt diet, you can make low salt pickles at home. Get the flavor from the onion, garlic, dill and vinegar. 

Another advantage to the cooked pickles is that they just take a couple of hours from beginning to eating them. And don't forget that if I hadn't made pickles I would have thrown out the cucumbers.

Super Simple Salad

My favorite type of food preparation is "easy." The other night I had promised to bring a salad to the potluck dinner my book club enjoys before we get into the meat of the book discussion. Since another member said she was brining a green salad, I decided to make mine a "Walking Salad," as my mother used to call it, a Simple Salad, just cut vegetables, perfect for noshing.

I was planning on using carrots, too, but I forgot. As you can see, the tray was full without them.  And I bought a kohlrabi, but it was rotten inside.

This salad has mushrooms, red pepper, cucumber and tomatoes. That's it.

Simple salads like these are very popular in my community. Whenever we have an event with cakes and cookies there are salads like these, too. I get a kick out of seeing young children filling cups with carrots, cucumbers and peppers, as if they're candy.

Pasta-Chickpea Salad, Pre and Post-Fast Meal

One of the popular suggestions for pre-fast meals is to eat complex carbohydrates, which take longer to digest. The experts consider that a good idea before fasting. So, on Friday I decided to make a Pasta-Chickpea Salad. Of course I had to make sure I had enough time to soak and cook the chickpeas, which I did. You can "cheat" by getting a can of them.

Cooking Chickpeas
First I leave the chickpeas in a covered pot full of boiling water for a couple of hours. Then I pour out the water, add new boiling water and simmer on the stove until chewable. Leave covered for another hour or so.

Pasta-Chickpea Salad Ingredients

• cooked pasta, drained
• cooked or from a can chickpeas, drained
• cut tomatoes, large diced
• diced onion
• olive oil, coarse salt and coarse pepper
• optional other salad vegetables and leaves and/or grated cheese

Mix all of the ingredients together. Yes, it's that simple. It's a simple "one-pot" summer meal. Which additional ingredients do you add? I'd love to hear.

PS for the post fast, fast-breaking breakfast meal, I heated up the salad, since my husband prefers warm pasta.

Lovely Lentil and Mushroom Dish

Here's another super easy vegan/vegetarian dish that can be either a side dish or a main course for those who need a protein and there's nothing else.

Cut an onion, some garlic and a few mushrooms. Put in a pot. Check then add a cup of lentils. Add a spoon of oil, then three cups of boiling water, cover and simmer until the water is almost absorbed. Add a bit of salt and pepper. Turn off the flame and leave for another twenty minutes.

That's it. It's that easy. Cooking doesn't have to be a lot of work.

Optional: Add carrots, squash and other vegetables, too.

Sweet Vegetable Soup Sans Sugar

Yesterday was a fast day on the Jewish Calendar, the postponed 17th of Tamuz, which commemorates the beginning of the loss of Jerusalem and destruction of the Holy Temples. It's a daylong/light fast, beginning with the first light of dawn and ending in darkness. Being that (in the northern hemisphere) we're in early summer, when day's are longest, it feels like it goes on forever, and we finally eat after my usual dinner time. I like to break fasts on vegetable soup. And I enjoy spending the last few hours of a fast puttering in the kitchen preparing homemade vegetable soup.

Before I left for a morning's learning in Matan, Jerusalem, I left some chickpeas to soak in boiling water for the soup. Chickpeas take a long time to prepare, unlike lentils. But I figured that the day would be long enough for the chickpeas to soften.

A few hours before the fast ended, I decided it was time to go to the kitchen and turn the chickpeas into a soup. My soups are never the same. I don't measure, and I rarely plan.

Since I knew there was plenty of pumpkin and sweet potatoes in the fridge, I decided to base my soup on those ingredients. In Israel it's very popular to make an Orange Soup, which then gets blended into a creamy sweet soup. But I don't have one of those blender sticks, and I davka like to chew...

I added more boiling water to the chickpeas and put it on the stove to cook. Then I cut up onion and garlic and added them to the chickpeas.

Next I took out the pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots, squash and some ginger root, which I store in the freezer.

I cut up all the ingredients and added them, too. Now, I do have a system when it comes to cooking different sorts of vegetables together. There is a big difference in cooking times between carrots and pumpkin, for instance. Carrots take the longest to cook, so they go in first. After that the sweet potato, squash, ginger and pumpkin.

I added some vegetable oil and boiling water, covered and then lowered the heat to a simmer. Once I could see that the vegetables had begun to soften I added a bit of coarsely ground pepper and some coarse salt. That was it.

The soup cooked for about 40 minutes. And then I left it to finish by itself, no flame. It was absolutely delicious, very sweet, not savory.

Salad Could be a Meal

This salad could be a complete meal, if you're trying to cut down on carbohydrates. The seeds have protein. It can also be a side dish, served with any sort of meal.

The ingredients:
shredded raw beet
pumpkin seeds
fresh parsley
mushrooms
cucumber
tomato

The dressing:
olive oil
freshly squeezed lemon juice

This colorful and tasty salad was my contribution to our book club's pot luck dinner meeting. This month we read Rebecca. I find that the best way to make sure that there's something low carb at the meal is to bring it myself.

Thank Gd, The Chiropractic Adjustments have Helped

Not that long ago, I blogged about my neighbor, Dr. Azriel Gordon's Chiropractic Clinic. I had gone to the open house to celebrate his new location. I listened to his talk with half an ear, not having a clue that I'd soon be one of his patients.

"Gd laughs," as the saying goes.

When a pain in my hip caused my knees to ache and make normal life totally impossible I gave Dr. Gordon a call to set up an appointment. That evening I trudged down the hill to his clinic, which was a bad mistake. I should have found a ride. By the time I got there, I could barely move. And the pain in my knees was excruciating.

Dr. Gordon began by reminding me that a well-treated body should last over a hundred years. Oh, boy, had I just permanently abused it...? Chiropractic healing concentrates on keeping the spine supple and healthy. Everyone knows that a break in the spine paralyzes sections of the body, so it makes sense that blockages will also have dangerous effects restricting movement and causing other damage. I knew quite a bit about chiropractic care, because my brother-in-law in New York has been a chiropractor close to forty years, and he has helped me a number of times. But since a trip to New York wasn't realistic, I had no problems calling Dr. Gordon.

When I got ready for my adjustment, I couldn't even take off my shoes. So, since they were soft, he allowed me to keep them on. Dr. Gordon worked very hard trying to relax/release my spine and move the bones of my hip joint into the proper position.

One thing I wonder about is if there are many female chiropractors. I haven't heard of any. The profession demands great physical strength. Women do well as massage therapists, dealing with soft tissue, but the type of work that Dr. Gordon does is much more physically demanding by the therapist. 

Part of my "treatment" was that Dr. Gordon helped me get a ride home. He told me not to overdo things. I realize that I had gotten in such bad shape, because I hadn't gone for help when the first discomfort began.

The next day I began to feel better and started doing various stretches to get my spine healthy again. I do have a very extensive dance background, which makes it possible for me to know what to do. Other people really do need much more professional guidance.

A week later, I returned for another adjustment by Dr. Gordon. By then I could comfortably walk down to his clinic, but I asked a neighbor to drive me home.

Since then I've been doing daily twists and stretches, while gradually returning to my walking routines. The big difference is that I stop when there's discomfort, but the discomfort has been much less frequent and doesn't reach the pain I had previously. My goal is to be totally cured of this "hip" problem, and I'll return for what Dr. Gordon calls tune-ups. Call 054-4849094 to make an appointment or ask more questions.

In the meantime, I feel that I'm doing well, thank Gd, with gradual daily improvements.

Yesterday I comfortably walked a lot and at a good pace, B"H, thank Gd.

Turkey "Meatballs" in Homemade Tomato "Sauce"

I've been getting more and more turned off by the commercial tomato pastes and sauces, since they're all produced with various chemicals, additives, sugars etc. Here in Israel you can get nice juicy red tomatoes for under $1 per pound, even in our small local supermarket. So I buy a bag, cut them up and cook with garlic, onion (whatever herbs and spices you want) and vegetable oil in a covered pan. That's my "sauce."

I added a bit of boiling water. If I had a "stick blender," I'd probably liquify it. When it got nice and mushy, I mixed the ground turkey with raw egg a diced onion, parsley and garlic, of course. You can add whatever herbs and spices you like. I used to add matzah meal but don't any more. The meatballs still stick together and have less starch, plus no gluten this way.

Next I double-spoon it into the boiling sauce and cook until it changes color.

Now, it's all ready to be reheated when needed.

I haven't yet decided whether to serve with a pasta or rice. And of course there will be additional vegetables and a salad on the table.

Horseradish All Year Long

Many people Jews associate eating sharp strong horseradish only with the Passover Seder. If they have it during the year with gefilte fish, it's usually sweetened or diluted with beets. I davka like the pure horseradish all year long.

When my husband makes it for the Passover Seder, he uses the "coffee bean grinder" on our rather ancient Moulinex blender, adds a bit of vinegar, and it lasts a couple of months after Passover. I usually have some in the morning on my eggs. But that stock doesn't last forever, and the time had come for me to grind some more.

Yes, it's my job to peel and cut the horseradish root into chunks. And those chunks go into the food-processor. I use the cutting blade. And when the pieces are as small as they can get, I put them in glass jars and add vinegar. The jars then go into the refrigerator.

This should last a couple of months, and then I have to prepare more.

PS there are people who consider this condiment medicinal. It sure adds flavor.

Sprouts, Do You?

Do you eat sprouts, lentils, beans, seeds etc?
Do you sprout them at home or buy them sprouted?
Do you eat them fresh or cooked?
What's your favorite type of sprout?

I have neighbors whose children are athletic champions, and the family is more than vegan, they're raw food eaters. One of their dietary proteins is sprouts.

I've been getting a periodic supply from the newest member of our family who's vegan and sprouts lentils pretty regularly. But I haven't yet taken the plunge and tried doing it myself.

From what I understand you don't need expensive equipment, but even though I've heard the instructions, I keep chickening out. Oops, maybe a punny word.

Maybe I'd get some of the weight off if I have sprouts as my vegetarian protein more often instead of the sesame paste, but the fat in the sesame paste makes the meal more satisfying. And if I add a good olive oil I'd be increasing the calories...

Any suggestions?

Horseradish and Ginger, Two Powerhouses

horseradish to the left and ginger to the right

Horseradish and Ginger. At first glance these two roots look a bit similar, and they'd be even moreso if the horseradish was fresher. I've been eating both everyday recently.

It used to be that we only bought horseradish root before Passover, and then we, or my husband more exactly, would grate* it, add some vinegar and it would be our ceremonial "bitter herb" at the Seder and the condiment for gefilte fish.

During the big Russian (USSR) exodus of Jews to Israel over twenty years ago, new immigrant neighbors discovered that we had freshly grated horseradish and requested portions for medicinal reasons.

Horseradish is a powerful and pungent plant that is connected to a wide variety of health benefits, including its ability to aid weight loss, lower blood pressure, alleviate respiratory conditions, build strong bones, improve immune system health, stimulate healthy digestion, promote heart health, and lower the chances of neural tube defects in infants. Perhaps most notably, horseradish can prevent cancer due to its extremely high levels of glucosinolates. For complete article click here.

One Passover a few decades ago I began putting horseradish on all sorts of foods, even my breakfast omelet, and since then I try to keep a stock all year long.

More recently I've discovered the joys and flavors of fresh ginger root. It adds a totally delicious "punch" to many foods, from fruit salad to chicken to an Israeli favorite, "orange soup." I've been cooking it up in my omelets every morning. Yes, everything seems to go in my omelets.

Ginger Root Benefits
Ginger root (Zingiber officinale) is well known as a remedy for travel sickness, nausea and indigestion and is used for wind, colic, irritable bowel, loss of appetite, chills, cold, flu, poor circulation, menstrual cramps, dyspepsia (bloating, heartburn, flatulence), indigestion and gastrointestinal problems such as gas and stomach cramps.
Uses
Ginger has been well researched and many of its traditional uses confirmed. It is a warming remedy, ideal for boosting the circulation, lowering high blood pressure and keeping the blood thin in higher doses. Ginger is anti-viral and makes a warming cold and flu remedy.
Ginger is a powerful anti-inflammatory herb and there has been much recent interest in its use for joint problems. It has also been indicated for arthritis, fevers, headaches, toothaches, coughs, bronchitis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, to ease tendonitis, lower cholesterol and blood-pressure and aid in preventing internal blood clots. For complete article click here.

The ginger root should be frozen for storage. I have a feeling that if I do the same with the horseradish it will keep longer. Enjoy, and tell me what you do with those great healthy and tasty roots.

*Well over forty 40 years ago I bought a simple Moulinex blender which has a coffee bean grinder. Since then, the grinder does the horseradish grating. And during the year, when I want freshly grated horseradish, I use my food-processor.

Horseradish for All Year, Not Just Passover and Gefilte Fish

Over twenty years ago, when there were lots of newcomers, olim chadashim, from the USSR here in Shiloh, suddenly during, or just after, Pesach many knocked on our door asking for their favorite "natural cure," freshly grated horseradish. Word had gotten out that we had the "real stuff" in our house. The bitter herb horseradish at our seder is from the root, ground well in the "coffee bean grinder" of our Passover Moulinex blender bought in the early 1970's. My husband adds some vinegar, and it stays potent a few months until I use it up. I eat it with my morning eggs and other foods.

This year's horseradish was finished months ago, and I had asked my husband to buy me a new root. Unfortunately I took my time in preparing it, so it wasn't all that fresh when I finally grated it the other day.

I had to carefully peel it with a sharp knife, and then I threw the peels into the garden...

Actually, I shredded it in the food processor.

Then I put it all in a glass jar and added some vinegar.

And then I served it as a "dressing" on my fish and vegetables!

It was a very healthy, tasty addition to the meal!

More about horseradish:

Horseradish

Creative Vegetable Cooking

There are many people who have complained about my recipes, because I just can't give exact ingredients, temperatures, times etc. Sorry, for those of you who are too terrified of making "cooking mistakes." I guess that my cooking style would never work in a restaurant, because I pretty much never reproduce any food/dish exactly.

Maybe I'm exaggerating in this, but not by much. In recent years, not even my cakes are measured exactly, and cakes are more like a "chemistry formula" than vegetables. But I've discovered that after decades, pretty close to half a century of cooking, I've developed a "feel" for even my cakes and cookies. And since even the famous 1, 2, 3 cookies my kids adore, are really best and easiest produced with a food scale, I so rarely make them that I haven't replaced my broken scale for years, and I have still managed to make an irresistible version of them sans scale.

Back to my "Creative Vegetable" dishes. They don't need a scale, and you don't have to count, measure etc. All you need is a good covered pan/pot or an oven. I don't have a microwave, but I have no doubt, and would love your reports, that my creative vegetable dishes can just as easily be made in a microwave. 

Recently I've been on a fresh ginger kick. I even slice it into my quick oatmeal. I keep some root in the freezer and slice off a bit with a sharp knife when I want to cook with it. Leave it out for a few minutes to make it easier to slice.

The other day I "sauteed"* it up with onion, carrot, apple, mushroom and cabbage, plus some cooking oil.

When I bake my vegetables, I spread the same ingredients on a baking dish, bake 'n serve ones are fantastic, dribble some oil on top and then bake in a hot oven until seems ready. You may have to lower the oven's temperature, depending on your oven. Ditto about turning off before fully cooked, unless you're cooking more things afterwards.

I'd love to hear your reports of how your versions of my recipes are. So please don't be shy. Comment with reports and questions.

* my concept of "sauteing" is to put the cut vegetables in a good pot or pan, add some oil, cover and cook on low heat until softish. Turn off the stove when almost ready, because the pan's heat will continue the cooking for another few minutes.

Kosher KP Food for 52Frames

For this week's 52Frames challenge/theme we had to photograph Food, Extra Credit for a "favorite recipe." So I made a "one pot meal" version of my baked vegetables by adding pieces of chicken breast.

"One "Pot" Bake and Serve Meal!"
This is one of my very easy "one pot, bake and serve" recipes. Add chunks of chicken breast, onion, squash, pumpkin and whatever else you want, like mushrooms, cauliflower etc into a baking pan. Add a bit of oil and bake in a medium to hot oven until the chicken looks done and the vegetables are soft. For a vegetarian option, leave out the chicken.

Give it a try, and tell me how you made it and how well and tasty it came out.

This week, I just had the one shot. I haven't had time to spend on photographing various foods. Yes, it's almost Passover, and this recipe is good for Passover, strictly kosher for Passover, as well as for all year long. No Kitniyot (legumes,) no "Gebrochts," which if you don't understand the term, you don't have to worry, no chametz etc.

Easy, Tasty and Impressive Eggplant Recipe

This past Shabbat we had a guest who is on a "no nightshades diet," so I had to separate the nightshade vegetables from the others in cooking and also in the salad. I have a number of friends who find their lives better sans nightshades. One of them wrote a bit of it up for me awhile ago:

A Jewish Grandmother : Here it is! The First Person Anti-Arthritis By Not Eating Nightshade Vegetables Report

Since I did have eggplant and other nightshades to cook, and my husband expected to eat them, I cooked them separately. As you can see here, I took the eggplant, sliced it and placed slices of tomato and fresh garlic. Then I poured a bit of oil on top, wrapped them well in foil and baked them until soft, in a pan, so the juices wouldn't drip all over.

It was very easy to make, impressive to serve and delicious, too. Also Kosher for Passover!!