Food Lust People Love

Sunday, September 13, 2026

Miso Gochujang Peanut Roasted Eggplant

A lovely side dish, suffused with flavor, this miso gochujang peanut roasted eggplant is super easy to make. Crushed peanuts add a welcome crunch!

If you’ve been reading along here for a while, you probably know that, like a lot of children, I did not like, detested, abhorred eggplant growing up. That all changed when my mom’s close friend, Lilian, a second generation Italian American made her eggplant parmigiana for me.

The thing is, eggplant is relatively tasteless until you add seasonings or spices to it. But, now as an adult, I realize that is one of its best attributes! Just about every cuisine worldwide has eggplant dishes in its repertoire, with their own twist of spices, sauces and fillings. It’s so adaptable, adding extra hidden veg to sauces and stews or being the star of a dish.

Last summer a good friend gave me a new cookbook, Dominique’s Kitchen by Dominique Woolf who was the winner of Jamie Oliver’s show The Great Cookbook Challenge, where 18 contestants cooked to win a contract to publish their cookbooks. It is, as described in its tagline, “easy everyday Asian-inspired food.”

Dominique shares a recipe for a roasted eggplant dish with garlic, soy sauce, gochujang and honey that sounded intriguing. I bookmarked it but never quite got around to making it. Then recently, I read Ella Risbridger’s new cookbook, The Kitchen Book and came across her recipe for eggplant, roasted whole, with garlic, miso and sesame oil. This recipe is my mash up of the two.

Miso Gochujang Peanut Roasted Eggplant

As mentioned above, this recipe is adapted from two recipes, one in The Kitchen Book by Ella Risbridger and another from Dominique’s Kitchen by Dominique Woolf. I highly recommend both books.

Ingredients

2 eggplant (My two weighed 1 lb 10 ½ oz or 754g)

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 fat cloves garlic

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 teaspoons miso

1 tablespoon gochujang

1/3 cup or 50g shelled, roasted peanuts

Cilantro leaves, to garnish, optional

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and line a baking pan with baking parchment or a silicone liner.

Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise. Use a sharp knife to cut a diamond pattern in the flesh, taking care not to pierce the skin.

Put them on your prepared baking pan and brush the eggplant with the sesame oil.

Put the pan in your preheated oven. Bake for about 40-45 minutes, or until the eggplant are soft and blistered. I did five minutes on broil/grill at the end.

Meanwhile, peel then grate the garlic cloves into a small heatproof bowl. Add the butter.

Microwave in 10 second bursts until the butter is melted. (It took mine just one minute.) Swirl every 10 seconds.

Stir in the miso and gochujang until smooth.

Crush the peanuts in a mortar and pestle or with a rolling pin in a bag. You want some fine dust and some small bits.

Take the roasted eggplant out of the oven.

Fork the flesh to break it up.

Spoon over the garlic-miso-gochujang butter, and fork it right through.

Sprinkle with the crushed peanuts.

Garnish with cilantro leaves, if desired.

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday Fun and today we are sharing recipes with peanuts and/or peanut butter in celebration of National Peanut Day which is today! Many thanks to our host, Amy from Amy’s Cooking Adventures. Check out the link list below.

Congress Kadlekai Spiced Peanut Snack by Sizzling Tastebuds
Frozen Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles by Karen's Kitchen Stories
Homemade Butterfingers by Amy’s Cooking Adventures
Miso Gochujang Peanut Roasted Eggplant by Food Lust People Love
Peanut Butter Muffins by Mayuri's Jikoni
Skrewball Brownies by A Messy Kitchen
Thai Chicken Pasta Salad by A Day in the Life on the Farm
Vrat Shengdanyachi Amti - Peanut Curry by Sneha's Recipe
Warm Peanut Butter Sauce for Dipping by Our Good Life

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin this Miso Gochujang Peanut Roasted Eggplant!

Tuesday, September 8, 2026

Small Batch Sourdough Bagels #BreadBakers

Made with active starter, these small batch sourdough bagels are boiled then baked for the chewy bite we all look for and love in a good bagel.

Food Lust People Love: Made with active starter, these small batch sourdough bagels are boiled then baked for the chewy bite we all look for and love in a good bagel.

It’s been a while since I’ve made bagels since we spend some much time during the year in Houston, where my hometown favorite New York Bagels, the best bagels of my childhood, are available a mere drive away.

But since this month’s Bread Bakers host chose bagels as our theme, I decided I couldn’t miss the chance to try my hand at sourdough bagels. I am very pleased with how these turned out and, at least while we are in the Channel Islands, I’m sure I’ll make them again.

Small Batch Sourdough Bagels

This recipe makes six bagels. I sprinkled mine with poppy seeds but you can choose whatever toppings you fancy. Or leave them plain. I adapted this recipe from one on Kimmy’s Joyful Kitchen.

Ingredients

For the bagel dough:

½ cup or 125g active sourdough starter

2 1/3 cups or 291g all-purpose flour

½ cup or 60g whole wheat flour

¾ teaspoon fine sea salt

2 teaspoons unsulfured molasses or treacle

2/3 cup or 156ml cold water – you may not use all of it

1 teaspoon olive oil for greasing the mixing bowl before proofing

For boiling the bagels:

1 tablespoon molasses

2 teaspoons baking soda

Method

Make sure you use an active starter, one that has been fed within the last 12 hours and stored at a temperature between 70-80°F or 21-26°C.

Add the sourdough starter to the bowl of your stand mixer, along with the flours, molasses, salt and just a ½ cup or 120ml of the water.

Use the dough hook to mix the ingredients to form a ball of dough. It takes a few minutes to come together and you might need to add just a little bit more water, if the dough is too stiff or dry. I ended up adding two tablespoons and the dough was perfect.

Knead for about five minutes, then take the dough out of the bowl and continue to knead the dough by hand for a couple more minutes, then form the dough into a tight ball. Oil the mixing bowl with and place the dough ball in it. Roll it around to coat.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a plastic shower cap. Leave to sit at room temperature, ideally 70-80°F or 21-26°C for 6 hours.

After 6 hours, put the covered bowl with the dough in the refrigerator for a slow overnight rise.

In the morning, remove the bowl from the refrigerator and leave it to rest at room temperature for about an hour.

Divide the dough into six pieces. Roll each piece into a tight ball with your cupped hand.

I like to weigh the whole ball of dough then weigh the individual pieces to get them more even but if you want to eyeball it, go ahead. My dough weighed 620g so each piece was either 103 or 104g.

Cover with cling film and leave to rest for 10 minutes.

To shape the bagels, lightly flatted each ball. Make holes in the center by sticking your thumb through and gently easing the hole open with thumb and fingers. Twirl the dough around on your finger to enlarge the hole.

Place the bagels on a parchment or silicone liner covered baking sheet and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature for 3-5 hours or until doubled in size.

It was a warm day so mine took about three hours to double.

When you are ready to boil and bake, preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C.

Bring a large pot of water (about 2 quarts or just shy of 2 liters) with 1 tablespoon molasses and 2 teaspoons baking soda to a slow boil.

Place one bagel in the pot and boil on each side for just 45 seconds or so.

Return the bagel to the baking sheet and top with your favorite bagel topping right away, or leave them plain.

Repeat this for each bagel. Once all the bagels have been boiled and decorated, put the baking pan in your preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Mine were in for 27 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool before cutting.

We love ours with cream cheese.

Enjoy!

It’s the second Tuesday of the month which means it’s time for my Bread Bakers friends to share recipes. This month, as I mentioned above, we are baking bagels. Many thanks to our host, Renu of Cook with Renu. Check out the links below.

Sourdough Bagel Bites from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Cinnamon Crunch Bagels from Karen's Kitchen Stories
Everything Bagel Sandwich with Halloumi and Pickles (Homemade Bagels) from Cook with Renu
Keto Cottage Cheese Bagels from Sneha's Recipe
Gluten Free Onion Bagels from Passion Kneaded
Small Batch Sourdough Bagels from Food Lust People Love
Sourdough Blueberry Bagels from A Messy Kitchen

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Small Batch Sourdough Bagels!

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

Roasted Stuffed Chicken Parcels

These roasted stuffed chicken parcels are made with skin-on, boneless chicken thighs, filled with buttery bread dressing and roasted until golden and crispy.

A couple of years back, I popped into my nearby Island butcher just to see what was fresh and on special. I ended up buying a few of his lovely meaty pork sausages but something else in the display case caught my eye.

I had to lean in for a closer look and to read the price label because I had never seen anything quite like it before. Turned out to be stuffed chicken parcels, looking pretty much like the ones I’ve made here. No idea what their stuffing was like because I didn’t buy any but they were so cute that I knew I had to give them a try myself.

Roasted Stuffed Chicken Parcels

I stuffed mine with half of my classic buttery bread dressing recipe, which I’ve shared the method for again here. If you need photos of the process, you can find those by clicking here. Use the ingredient amounts given below though which are perfect for stuffing about five chicken thighs.

Ingredients

For the stuffing:

1/2 loaf quality sandwich bread with soft crusts (about 10 oz or 280g)

1/4 cup or 57g butter

1 onion, diced

2 slim stalks celery, de-stringed and diced finely

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

1/2 cup or 120ml chicken stock (made from stock cube is fine!)

1 tablespoon salt-free poultry seasoning

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the chicken:

5 chicken thighs, deboned, skin on

fine sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

cayenne pepper, optional

trussing string

Olive oil for the roasting pan

Method

For photos of the stuffing method, click here.

Cube the bread and put it in a large mixing bowl.

Put the butter in a large pan with the chopped onion and celery.

Melt the butter over medium heat and cook until the onions and celery are soft and translucent, stirring occasionally. Add a good pinch of salt, a few grinds of black pepper, along with the cayenne and poultry seasoning.

Pour the buttery celery and onions over the bread cubes in the mixing bowl. Use two spoons like salad tongs to toss and combine.

Sprinkle on the parsley. Add the stock and toss again to combine.

Check for seasoning and stir in more salt and pepper as needed. Depending on the saltiness of your stock, you might not need much (or any) salt.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Note: I found it impossible to find boneless chicken thighs with the skin still on here so I had to debone them myself. If you find yourself in the same position, you need a sharp knife, but it’s easy. Click here to find deboning thigh instructions on Serious Eats. Do not remove the skin!

Lay the chicken thighs out skin side down. Season them with a sprinkling of salt, black pepper and cayenne, if using. Divide the stuffing between the thighs.

Fold the chicken thigh meat and skin over to enclose the stuffing. Turn the parcels over and secure with trussing string.

Drizzle a little olive oil in your roasting pan and tuck the parcels in. Season the outside with a sprinkle of salt and a few good grinds of black pepper. Add a sprinkle of cayenne, if desired.

Roast in your preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes or until the skin is a lovely golden brown and the chicken is cooked through.

Remove the trussing string and serve hot.

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 18th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter R. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the R recipes below: