The Scaled Sunday Meal - Cooking for the week with Eggplant and Turkey

The key to a good Sunday Scale Meal is something that's easy to make a lot of, something that's healthy, and something you don't mind eating a number of days in a row. For this recipe, I decided to use Middle Eastern flavors and eggplant at the core of the meal, and top it with a hearty ground turkey mix that is very customizable and a great source of protein. The result was a super flavorful meal that was a delight to eat for lunches throughout the week.

I started by coating the halved eggplants with olive oil and za'atar, which is a middle eastern spice mix of herbs and sesame seeds. You can likely find za'atar at your local market or a specialty food store. I roasted the eggplants for about 45 minutes at 380 until the flesh was easily shredded with a fork. For the stuffing, I cooked quinoa, and sauteed ground turkey meat with onions, red peppers, cherry tomatoes, and green onion and added feta, salt and pepper once it was done cooking.

Roasted Middle Eastern Eggplant with Turkey and Quinoa Stuffing
Serves 2 for the week

Ingredients
4 large eggplants, halved
2 lbs ground turkey (ideally dark meat as it's moister)
1 large red pepper, chopped
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
4-5 green onions, chopped
1 cup quinoa
1 1/3 cups chicken broth
1 cup crumbled feta
2 tbsp za'atar
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
(Optional: Greek Yogurt and chopped parsley)

To Cook:

1. Preheat the oven to 380
2. Rub the eggplants with olive oil and za'atar
3. Roast the eggplant for 45 minutes, until the flesh is fork tender
4. Bring the quinoa and chicken broth to a boil and then cook, covered, on low for 20 minutes until all of the liquid is absorbed
5. Sautee the turkey in 1-2 tbsp olive oil in a large pot on medium high until cooked through and then remove in a large bowl
6. Sautee onion, pepper, and tomato in the pot for 6-8 minutes on medium high until onion begins to become translucent
7. Reduce heat to low and add turkey back in along with the quinoa, green onion, salt, pepper, and feta and toss so mixture is thoroughly mixed
8. If the mixture is a little dry, add a little chicken broth
9. Serve the mixture on the eggplant with a dollop of greek yogurt sprinkled with za'atar and chopped parsley

For Storage, make individual containers with an eggplant half and turkey topping for easy reheating throughout the week.

Roasted Vegetable and Pesto Pasta with Seared Scallops

One of the more versatile and flavorful sauces that you can make is pesto. Pesto is an italian sauce used on pasta, sandwiches, meats, fish, hors d'oeuvres, and anything else you can think of. Classic pesto recipes use basil and pine nuts as the main components, but you can use any herbs or greens you like such as cilantro, parsley, arugula, or even kale along with any type of nut. I've made pistachio cilantro and arugula and almond pestos, and any variation you make will have a different personality depending on which components you use. For a healthy pasta dish, I decided to make a basil pine nut AND walnut pesto (I know, I'm a wild man...) with roasted vegetables and seared scallops.

Eggplant Bruschetta

I am a big fan of eggplant. It's a really beautiful, interesting, and versatile vegetable. Eggplant can be fries, breaded cutlets, dips, sides, main courses, and even bruschetta. It melds well with all types of cuisines and flavor profiles as well, but for this dish, I wanted to do a play on an appetizer classic, tomato bruschetta.

Crispy Thai Fish with Vegetables over Noodles

Asian flavors are beautiful to cook with. They mix a balance of sweet and spicy, tangy and tart. With this dish, I was trying to capture the interesting blends of Asian style cooking and use a lot of vegetables for a healthy dish that is out of the ordinary. The dish had four components, crispy tilefish (a mild whitefish that is similar to snapper), stir fried eggplant and mixed mushrooms, cabbage and carrot udon noodles, and fried shishito peppers. While this sounds like a lot to prepare, the dish didn't take too long, and the result was a tasty dish with a lot of personality.

Simple Ingredients, Unconventional Preparation

Some of the best meals can come from unconventional cooking and seasoning methods. The other night, I had some good ingredients for dinner, but I was a bit stuck on how to cook them. I bought a whole chicken, some brussel sprouts, a sweet potato, and an eggplant. I couldn't decide on how to prepare all of the elements of the dinner, so I decided to use some unexpected cooking methods and the result was delicious.

Pretzels, Mustard, and Salmon

Earlier this summer, my roommate was in Alaska, visiting his sister. While he was there, he went salmon fishing and caught 6 salmon! He had the fish filleted and frozen and sent home to NYC. I am fortunate enough that he is very generous and offered up some of the fish for me to use. The salmon was a beautiful red color. Much darker than any fish you would buy in the supermarket.

The Least Cost Effective Sushi - EVER

I often walk into the supermarket with little idea of what meal I want to create. The other day, I was on my way to the market, and I passed a sushi restaurant I have wanted to try out. My girlfriend and I contemplated going there instead of cooking, but I said, "Nay! I will make us sushi!" I've never made sushi, so this was a bit of an experiment, but I figured it would be fun to try.

Blueberries, Scallops, and Shrimp - Small in Size, Big in Flavor

The summer brings all sorts of culinary treats: vegetables, corn, berries, and seafood. I like to use as much fresh local food as possible, and being that I'm in Cape May for the weekend, I have a great opportunity to get excellent produce and seafood. I wanted to make a delicious meal that didn't take a lot of effort or time to prepare, so I decided on some scallops and shrimp, green beans and eggplant, and corn. To give the meal a little extra color and flavor, I made a blueberry sauce to complement the shellfish (none of this took a lot of effort, I swear).