Elaine: Kofte with Eggplant Salad

Ahhhhh...how I've missed cooking. All the spices really overwhelmed me during my first trimester. But now after a couple weeks have passed by, I'm feeling much better and had the best time making a mess in my kitchen again. Plus its been much cooler here this weekend which also gave me the energy to cook again. Using the grill outside made cleaning (for Mike) a little easier...it still didn't stop me from using every mixing bowl...heehee!

I felt like I was in chemistry class all over again when I was making the Turkish Baharat spice mix. In that mix, I made my own little concoction with what was in my pantry...instead of summer savory, I also cut some thyme from my back porch, and instead of pickling spice I used a combination of chinese five spice and garam masala which both have similar ingredients from my research.

I made the beef version of kofte being scared that the lamb might be too strong for my taste at the moment. Not being the best with our gas grill, I switched all the knobs to "lite" stepped away for a couple seconds, came back to hit the "ignite" button and a fireball attacked me and my pants. Luckily the lid was on, otherwise I'd have no facial hair left after this assignment. The eggplant and tomatoes were quick easy steps. Being a tomato-holic, I was kinda sad that I had to drain the delicious juices out of the grilled tomatoes. But I was extremely happy with my eggplant salad. So refreshing from how I usually cook eggplant and quite easy. Definitely making that again.

As for my kofte, I overcooked my kofte. Blackening eggplant and tomatoes are a no-brainer. However, cooking kofte on kebabs on the grill is definitely not one of my strengths. I should really stick to my trusty ole' oven. Next time.

After grilling my kofte to death, I thought some cucumber yogurt sauce would rescue my dish. So I stole some of Sam's yogurt, lemon juice and zest, chopped up some cucumbers, salted and olive oiled it and Voile! A sauce to help moisten up my meat.

I'm so glad I motivated myself to cook up this dish. Perfect summer meal. Going to snack on some leftover eggplant salad right now. Thanks Paula Wolfert!