It’s a great day in the kitchen surrounded by eggplants !!! Today we are making one of my all time favorites, papoutsakia. Equally interesting, last night Emeril was cooking the exact same dish on his show. i couldn’t believe it, it’s really a village dish in greece and not common in the touristy places. I was thrilled ! of course, I think our version is even better : ) but his looked dang good. mostly I thought it was funny that Emeril was cooking up the same thing we’re making today : ) So back to the actual dish … papoutsakia is the greek word for little shoes or slippers. Basically you shell the eggplant and fill with a mixed ground meat mix and top with a thin layer of bechamel. Today we had some lovely ground lamb from Crider farm and pork from Okfuskee (yes they now raise piggies!) and of course some ground beef from Murray Cohen’s farm. The mixture is divine and the eggplants from Piedmont Biofarm are almost too pretty to eat. Come on by and enjoy our local harvest – this is a great time of year to eat locally if you’re in the carolinas!
Stuffed Eggplant (Papoutsakia) - Piedmont Biofarm eggplant stuffed with a mix of local beef, lamb and pork and veggies. Then we top with a dollop of bechamel. ($4.75 ea – combo plate 2 papoutsia with a side salad or braised greens $12) GLUTEN FREE : )
French Lentil Soup – french lentil soup with chopped veggies – good on a cool evening. ($3)
Greek Chicken Soup (Avgolemono) – our homemade chicken broth and orzo soup finished with local eggs and fresh lemon juice ($3.50) btw .. emeril made an avgolemono dish last night too – we call it youverlakia … he might need some of our local eggs to make it super rich … but it still looked tasty : )
Braised Sensopai - Asian collards from Piedmont Biofarm braised with a few sweet potatoes and tomatoes (sm $3 lrg $5)
FROZEN YOGURT – our thick greek yogurt, Busy Bee Farm honey and …..
Orange Baklava
Blueberry Lemon