Deviled Egg....plant, Mushroom Bread, DIY Skyr, Skyr-ziki

Deviled Egg.... plant
Thanks to my old friend and dock-mate Houseboat Jim Visone, for the definitive name of this Mediterranean-style dish!   I've always just called it Stuffed Eggplant.   I've been making it for years, can't recall where I first saw it.  Super tasty, and open to a zillion interpretations and variations.   

Dinner for two:

1 Medium to large Eggplant
1-2 cups Other Veggies -- celery, onion, bell pepper, carrot, tomato, parsnip, etc.
1-2 Tbsp Spices -- Italian, Latin, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern,  etc.
1/2-3/4 cup cooked Protein -- canned tuna, chicken, diced ham or even Spamtm, shrimp, etc.
Bread cubes or Panko as needed
1/2 cup Shredded Cheese for topping

Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise, and using a sharp knife cut around the edge of each half and across the length and width with cutting through the skin.  Leave about a 1/4" wall.  With a spoon, remove the "meat" and start sauting it is a splash of oil.   Reserve the eggplant "shells" for stuffing.

Chop the other veggies and add them to the saute pan, along with 1/2 cup of water or broth.  

When the veg is just about done, add your protein of choice.  If you want to keep this a vegetarian dish, then chickpeas make a good protein addition here.

Now you'll want to add a slice or two of cubed bread or 1/2 cup more or less of Panko or other bread crumbs to absorb any free liquids and 'tighten up' the stuffing.

Then spoon the eggplant shells full -- pack it down pretty good, so you use up all the stuffing.  Top the mounds with shredded cheese, and bake the stuffed eggplant at 400F for 20-30 minutes until the cheese is all nice and crusty. 

Mushroom Bread
I wanted something that wasn't another 'cheese heavy' pizza or calzone , which featured a nice crust and mushrooms.    Throw in some spinach for Sally and some shallots for me,  and some cheese for both of us (but not too much).  The result?  This seriously stuffed quick bread.

2-1/4 cups Self-Rising Flour (or AP plus baking soda)
1/2 tsp Salt
3 Eggs beaten
1-1/2 cups Milk or milk plus lemon juice for "buttermilk"
6 Tbsp  Canola or Vegetable oil
8 oz Whole Mushrooms, quartered, plus more if you want
1  Shallot, chopped
2 cups Baby Spinach
1 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded

Spray or line an 11" round baking tin.

Saute the mushrooms and shallot in a bit of butter, and, when browned nicely, add 1/4 cup of water, the spinach and cover.  Cook for 4-5 minutes more to wilt the spinach.  Drain and cool.

Mix together the flour and salt.  In another bowl mix together the eggs, milk, lemon juice if using, and oil.    Stir together the liquid and the flour mixtures.  Fold in the mushroom mixture and form a 'shaggy' dough/batter.  

Transfer the dough to the baking tin and spread it around.   Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes, to an internal temp of 190F. 

EXCELLANT!   Not exactly what I was looking for, but very tasty! 

I wanted something that would be similar to a calzone, but this stuffed bread is a great consolation prize!   

Next time, I'll use half the flour and other batter ingredients, but the same amount of mushroooms,  so the result will be more like a stuffed pizza than a filled bread.  


DIY Skyr
Skyr is an ancient food which dates back to at least the 800s in Iceland.  I keep calling it "Icelandic Yogurt".  Well it is... sorta.  It's also sort of a soft cheese, like Lebanese Labneh.   

Unlike conventional yogurt, Skyr is made with no-fat "skim" milk instead of whole milk.  We eat a lot of Skyr since discovering it a few years back.  And... prices being what they are, I decided it was time to try and make my own Skyr.   The process is simple, but a little time consuming.   Well worth the effort!  You need:

1/2 gallon No Fat Skim Milk
1/4 cup "starter" --  "live Active Culture" Skyr -- I used Siggi'stm American-made skyr

You do not need rennet to make Skyr -- the Norse didn't use rennet, and you don't need it either.   Rennet is used in making cheese.  It comes from the stomach lining of ruminants like cows; there are modern vegetarian versions as well.  What rennet does is speed up the separation of the curds (the part you'll eat) and the watery whey (which can be used for other things if you're so inclined).  Curds, when pressed into blocks or wheels, and aged, become cheese.;

To make your own Skyr, you'll also need cheesecloth, a colander/strainer, a $10-12 instant-read thermometer, and a temperature controllable "cooker" like an instant pot or crock pot-- although you can do it with an ordinary stockpot as long as you are careful when heating the milk not to actually scald/burn the liquid.

Test your cooker's temperature setting with a 1/2 gallon of water and the thermometer.  Set the temperature for 185F and give the cooker some time to bring the water up to temperature.  Remember 185 on the dial may not be the same as 185 on the thermometer; trust the thermometer.     My cooker's 200F setting gives me 187-188F every time.  Experiment to find a cooker setting which gives you 185-195 and will hold that temperature for at least 10 minutes.  Holding the temperature for ten minutes is the critical factor of the whole process!  That's what kills off the "bad" bacteria before we cool the milk and introduce our own special skyr bacteria.

1.  Heat the milk to 185-195F, slowly, stirring as you go to prevent the milk from scalding and sticking to the bottom.  That stuff is nasty!  Keep the milk at temperature (+/- a degree or so) for at least 10 minutes.   The Icelanders didn't have thermometers.  They probably used the old "hold your finger in the hot liquid and stop heating when you can't count to ten" method.

2.  Take the milk off the fire, and let it cool down to 85-100F.  The Icelanders probably cooled it to "body temperature" (using another finger).   As it cools below 120F, ladle a cup the warm milk into a bowl (I used my 2-cup measuring cup) and whisk into it  1/4 cup of active culture skyr.  Then pour that into the main pot of cooling milk. 

3.  Wrap the pot of "in0culated" milk in a heavy towel (to help moderate temperature, and set it in a warm, draft-less place for 12-15 hours to ferment and thicken.  No more than 24 hours.

4.  After the Long Wait, it's time to get rid of the whey (save it for other things if you want).   Line your strainer with a double layer of cheese cloth (or a 'clean' Viking shirt) and place it over a big bowl.   Scoop the fresh curds with a slotted spoon into the strainer and drain for another 2-6 hours (the longer you drain, the firmer the final product.  You can move your draining rig into the fridge if you want at this point (medieval Icelandic houses were cold, so they just set the skyr in a corner to strain).  Check periodically make make sure that the whey doesn't come up to the bottom of the strainer,  and pour it off.  

I let my first batch ferment for 13 hours and then strained it for 6.  The result is a little 'softer" than Siggi's -- but VERY tasty -- not nearly as acidic/tart as the commercial product.   

The longer I strain, the firmer the skyr will be.  I'm pretty happy with the result, but as a test, next time I think I'll strain even longer -- say over night.  If I start a batch early in the morning, it can ferment all day and then strain all night!

I got about 4 cups of skyr from a half gallon of skim milk.  Milk plus a few cents for the cheesecloth came to about $3.50 -- less than half the price of Siggi's at my grocery.  I'll certainly be making more... 

5.  Transfer your skyr to storage containers, preferably sealable glass.  Skyr will keep in the fridge for at least a week or ten days.  

Low on fat, high in protein, skyr is a great 'food' by itself when topped with berries or a drizzle of honey. 

Skyr-ziki   
Like tzatziki, but not the quantities, and skyr instead of drained yogurt.

1 Cucumber, peeled, halved, seeded, chopped and drained
"Some" Skyr... half a cup?
1 clove Garlic. minced
1/2 tsp Lemon juice
1 dash each, Salt & White Pepper

Stir it all together and chill.

 I served it as a side dish with a Sunday Lunch of air-fried salmon filets and fried potatoes.