Eggplant Lasagne
He's done it, again. An Eggplant Lasagne that is just out of this world!
I don't even know where to begin.
I mean... just look at those layers of lusciousness. Homemade sauce, breaded and fried eggplant, ricotta, mozzarella, more sauce, fresh basil… layer upon layer of gooeyness, covered, baked, and then sliced into platefuls of gastronomic greatness!
Love it!
In fact, I love it so much I said I wanted it for dinner again, tomorrow night!
This, and a loaf of crusty bread, is what life is all about.
Alsatian Potatoes
Tonight's dinner is brought to you by the recipe folder I have had on my computer for years. Literal years. I found recipes dating from 1997 - and I haven't finished looking at them all. I'm just a bit of a pack rat when it comes to recipes. I have them on my computer, I have them in file folders, in manila envelopes... If I cooked three meals a day for the next 40 or so years, I couldn't go through all of them.
And then I find another one.
I think I saved a goodly portion of the recipes when we were creating different recipes at work. That's pretty much the only reason I can think of for all of the edamame and tofu recipes. Neither item is on my normal pantry list...
I started going through the recipes because our friend, Bonnie, was talking about a recipe app she had gotten called Paprika Recipe Manager. It can be used for grabbing recipes from the web - I have a browser bookmark folder of a bazillion of them - as well as adding recipes of your own, so I bought it and started entering them. I did a few and all of a sudden decided what I really needed to do was create another cookbook on the website and post them all here. Share the craziness that has been collecting electronic dust for years.
The Other Stuff Cook Book was born.
The interesting thing about all of these recipes is I really don't know where most of them came from. They're mere text files for the most part without any attribution. They were really more for inspiration than actually making. That being said, a few of them - like tonight's potatoes - are easily attributable. Martha Stewart's fingers are all over this one! Others... not quite so easy.
I have just started getting them done, so check back now and again for more...
In the meantime... the potatoes were a lot of fun. The recipe takes time and lots of pots - that's pretty much how I figured it was probably Martha and not Jacques Pepin - but the end result was really good. I scaled the recipe way back and then made it as two separate pastries. If I revisit this one, I may add the chicken right into the pie and make it as a one-pot meal.
I used an onion instead of leeks and russets instead of yukon golds, and just a pinch of nutmeg.
Alsatian Potato Pie
INGREDIENTS
- 3 (about 1 1/2 pounds) Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
- Coarse salt
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 5 cloves garlic, crushed with the flat side of a large knife
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- Freshly ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 medium leek, white and light-green parts only, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced crosswise, and washed well
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 (14 ounces) frozen puff pastry, thawed
- All-purpose flour, for work surface
- 1 1/2 cups grated Comte or Gruyere cheese
DIRECTIONS
STEP 1
Cover potatoes with water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add a pinch of salt; cook until just tender, 13 to 15 minutes. Drain. Let cool.
STEP 2
Bring 3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons cream, the garlic, and nutmeg to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook mixture until reduced by half. Season with salt and pepper; set aside.
STEP 3
Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add leek; cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in parsley; season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
STEP 4
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk egg yolk and remaining tablespoon cream in a small bowl; set aside. Divide puff pastry on a lightly floured surface into two 6-by-13-inch rectangles. Set 1 rectangle on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Add half of the potatoes, leaving a 1/2-inch border all around and overlapping potatoes slightly. Top with half of the leek mixture and 3/4 cup cheese; season with salt and pepper. Repeat layering with remaining potatoes, leeks, and cheese. Brush edges of dough with egg wash. Cover with remaining dough rectangle; gently press edges with a fork to seal. Cut 2-inch slits lengthwise in center of crust, 2 inches apart. Brush with egg wash. Refrigerate until cold, about 30 minutes.
STEP 5
Bake pie until golden brown and puffy, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven. Pour cream mixture into pie vents with a funnel. Bake 10 minutes more. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.
And then we had the chicken...
This is a New York Times recipe.
Chicken in Vinegar Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups chopped onion
- butter
- 8 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breasts
- ½ cup tomato puree
- ½ cup white wine
- 1 ½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- ½ cup chicken stock
- ½ teaspoon dried tarragon
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Method
Chop onion.
Heat nonstick pan over high heat, reduce heat to medium-high and add butter. Add onion, and saute until it begins to brown and soften.
Add chicken breasts, and brown on both sides.
Reduce heat to simmer, and add tomato puree, wine, vinegar, chicken stock and tarragon.
Cover, and continue cooking until chicken is tender, about 10 minutes total. Season with salt and pepper.
Don't be put off by the amount of onions! It seems like a bazillion, but it works! I used my Passata for the tomato puree and cut back on the balsamic because I was using a thick, aged bottle that is pretty potent.
We only ate half of them, so there's leftovers for lunch or dinner tomorrow night!
Oh... I decided I'm going to use the Paprika Recipe Manager for my bazillion bookmarked recipes. That's another chore for another day...
Gnocchi with Eggs and Green Onions
Most evenings from 7pm to 9pm you'll find us at home, in front of the TV. First, it's Jeopardy and dessert, and then it's PBS and cooking shows. The 7:30 shows run the gamut from Julia Child and the original French Chef series to Hubert Keller - who we both think sucks - to Jacques Pepin.
I have always liked Jacques Pepin. I like his style, his passion for food, and his ability to change and adapt over the years while still staying true to to the food. His last show was a perfect example - store-bought gnocchi elevated to heights heretofore never seen. And ready in six minutes start-to-finish. He talks about taking shortcuts he never would have done in his youth. I can relate to that. I've finally realized I don't really need to grind the wheat if I'm going to make a sandwich. On the other hand, I once embraced canned hollandaise sauce. Never again. But I make it in a blender.
It's not often we see a recipe and immediately want to make it - as in immediately want to make it - but this one looked too good not to. And, as it turned out - it really was as good as we thought it would be.
I love it when that happens.
The only trick to the dish is whisking like mad when you add the eggs. You don't want scrambled eggs - you want a soft, creamy egg sauce. I more or less got it right but even with a couple of egg curds, it was one hellava good dish!
Jacques topped his dish with shaved truffles and truffle oil - because he's French and that's what French chef's do. I opted out of both but may drizzle with a walnut oil or something like that next time I make it - because there definitely will be a next time.
I mean... dinner in 6 minutes. C'mon!
Gnocchi with Eggs and Green Onions
- 5 eggs, beaten
- 1 lb package shelf-stable potato gnocchi
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup minced green onions
- 3 tablespoons sour cream
- 2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese
- About 1 tablespoon flavored oil, such as truffle oil, basil oil or walnut oil (optional)
Spread the gnocchi in one layer in a large nonstick skillet and add the water, olive oil, butter, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and cook for about 3 minutes. Most of the water should be absorbed.
Add the green onions and continue cooking, uncovered, for 2 to 3 minutes longer, until the gnocchi and green onions start to sizzle and begin to brown lightly.
Add the eggs to the skillet and cook, stirring constantly with a whisk, for 45 seconds, to 1 minute at the very most. The eggs should be soft and loose. Add the sour cream to stop the cooking; mix it in well.
Divide the mixture among plates and sprinkle with the parmesan cheese and a few drops of flavored oil, if desired.
Serve immediately.
And this really is a serve immediately dish. It's not going to sit around waiting for you.
Thanks, Jacques. And since we have most of your cook books, I'm sure there will be more fun food with your name on it!
Baba Ghanoush
Yesterday's it's just allergies acting up turned into today's shit, I have a cold. A doozy of a cold. I'll spare you the details of a non-stop running nose with a moustache and beard. Yes, a doozy of a cold.
I tried staying in bed but lying prone does not help the aforementioned issue. Against my protesting body's wishes, I got up.
We all know that I'm not a great patient. Victor has learned to just let me be. When I'm ready to be civil, I'm civil. So after a cup of coffee and a check of the email, I was bordering civility. We decided to head out to the garden and see if there was anything worth salvaging since we're pulling it all out tomorrow.
The tomatoes were pretty worthless, we had a dozen bell peppers, a big handful of tabasco peppers, a few jalapeños, and a dozen eggplants. Twelve more flippin' eggplants. I like eggplant. I like eggplant a lot. I just wasn't ready to see another dozen of them after the season we've had. I'm reasonably certain that had I felt better, seeing a dozen eggplants on a glorious sunny day would have made my culinary heart swell. Today, it was @#$%& eggplants...
But I also wasn't about to let them go to waste.
I knew that with this many eggplants, whatever I made had to be something that I could can. As I already have my caponata and other eggplant things downstairs, I needed something different. I hadn't made baba ghanoush in a while, so baba, it was.
The USDA does not recommend canning baba ghanoush because it's too thick and there are dangers of it not reaching temperature. I did find a site where a woman regularly cans hers at 10 lbs pressure for 45 minutes with no problems.
I decided to go for it.
The recipe is fairly basic, except I like some spice in mine so I added some tabasco peppers. I had to have Victor keep tasting it since the aforementioned cold was blocking my ability to taste properly.
Baba Ghanoush
- 10 lbs eggplant
- 1 full head garlic
- 1 cup tahini
- 8 tabasco peppers
- 1 cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp sumac
- 2/3 cup lemon juice
- salt & pepper
Roast eggplants on grill until collapsing. Cool slightly and then place pulp in a colander to drain for about 30 minutes.
Process in batches with food processor, adding bits of the various ingredients as you go. Mix everything well and place in 8 oz jars.
Process at 10 lbs pressure for 45 minutes.
It came out just fine. A dozen 12 oz jars now await some chips...
Part of the fun of making these things is creating labels for them. I usually do a Google search for different antique labels and then manipulate them for my own use. They're old, public domain images that usually have no relation to what it is I change them to. Plus, I'm not selling anything, not making any money from any of this. It's all fun.
Sadly, I can't use a stick-on label on textured jars, so these have a label tied to them. I had thought of doing a round label on the metal lid, but decided I didn't want to cut out circles. Maybe I'll buy some round labels one of these days and see how they work...
In the meantime, though, the baba ghanoush came out great - even with my limited tasting ability.
Now... if I could only stop coughing...
Fig and Onion Jam
We have friends from South Carolina stopping by, today. That means we have to cook.
We're doing a simple pasta, rolls... For dessert, Victor made a killer Almond Cake that I'll be writing about, later. But we needed something simple for an hors d'oeuvre. bruschetta of sorts... Figs. Caramelized onions. Made into a jam.
Talked me into it!
It's a pretty basic concept... cook onions and figs with some sugar and balsamic. Basic concept, powerful taste!
Fig and Onion Jam
- 2 lbs figs
- 2 lbs onions
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup fig balsamic vinegar
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 tsp salt
Thinly slice onions and place in large pot with butter and olive oil. Cook until they begin to color. Add 1 cup sugar and mix well.
Meanwhile, stem and halve figs. Add to the onions and mix well.
Add thyme, salt, and balsamic vinegar. Cook until thick.
Cool, jar, and refrigerate.
It's really good on toasted baguettes with a shaving of pecorino or your favorite cheese.
It's also great on top of a burger.
Or just with a fork out of the jar.
If you can get a hold of some fresh figs, make some, today. You will not be sorry.
Oven-Dried Cherry Tomatoes in Olive Oil
There are days when I am just not the brightest color in the crayon box...
We have a bit of an overabundance of cherry tomatoes, so I thought I'd give oven-drying a try. I searched Chef Google and found a pretty simple recipe for oven-drying and then preserving in olive oil. About as simple and basic as simple and basic can be.
What I liked about the recipe was there wasn't any canning, per se - just covering with the olive oil. My grandmother canned everything with paraffin, so I get the concept of keeping air out to prevent spoilage.
Back when I lived at Tahoe, my roommate, Steve, made a dehydrator from screens. The air is so dry at 7000 feet that we would slice up just about anything - strawberries, peaches, tomatoes - and lay them out on the screens and hang it outside. In a few days we had dried everything. Alas, things are just a tad different in the humid east.
To work I went.
I washed and dried tomatoes...
And then I sliced them and laid them out on sheet pans...
I sprinkled them with Maldon salt - because I have a lot of Maldon salt along with the 14 other salts I have from when I was going through my salt craze.
Into a 210°F oven for almost 6 hours, turning and rotating every hour.
I brought up 8 pint jars to hold the multitude, and brought up the big blue pot to boil them all in - they wouldn't all fit in anything already upstairs and they needed to boil for 10 minutes before filling with the dried tomatoes.
Finally all ready. I started this at 8:30am and it's now 3pm. Time to fill those jars.
I grab the first one out of the boiling water and filled it - with every one of the tomatoes. 7 hours and I got one jar of dried tomatoes in oil.
Not a great return on investment.
Pot went back downstairs, 7 jars and lids went back downstairs, and the lone jar of tomatoes went into the 'fridge.
Here's a link to the recipe in case you have nothing to do for six or so hours...
Tomato Sauce
It seems like just yesterday that I was lamenting the lack of tomatoes. I am officially lamenting no more.
Houston - we have tomatoes.
And I mean tomatoes! What a crop coming in. Different colors, shapes, and sizes. Different flavors and textures. Absolutely perfect for blending them all together and making a quick tomato sauce.
This is new territory for me, but I went brazenly into it almost like I knew what I was doing.
I washed them...
And then chopped them, pureed them in the blender, added a bit of salt and citric acid, and into clean jars and the pressure canner.
The end result is 5 quarts and 16 pints of sauce.
The tomatoes were uncooked before going into the canner and the pulp and liquid separates. This is a very thin sauce.
It will be great for soups and stews or as the start of a quick pasta sauce. I saved a few of the best tomatoes for slicing and dicing, but there are a lot more almost ready to come in.
Tomorrow, I'm going to oven-dry the cherry tomatoes and preserve them in olive oil. It's about a six hour process - although it's unattended most of the time.
I think that next week we'll be doing another batch of Victor's Sauce.
I'm loving this!
Stuffed Tomatoes
The tomatoes are finally coming in - fast and furious! That means time to figure out yet another way to eat them up.
Today, I blended up three gallons of tomato sauce so Victor can make sauce on Wednesday. I'll probably have at least another gallon by then so I'll be doing a lot of canning Wednesday night. I just core and chop and put into the blender - skin and all - and into gallon jugs and into the 'fridge.
I took a couple of the absolute best ones and stuffed them with a wheat berry filling. It was a bit of a clean-out-the-refrigerator salad. My favorite kind.
It had 2 cups of cooked wheat berries - I just put a cup of them in a pot, cover with water, and boil for 20 minutes - along with:
- a diced yellow zucchini
- 1 roasted red pepper
- 2 ears of corn
- scallions
- a small jar of artichoke hearts
- fresh basil, thyme, oregano, and parsely
- S&P
- olive oil
- fig balsamic vinegar
I just hollowed out the tomato and filled it with the salad.
These tomatoes are just so damned good that I am really looking forward to eating them in all of their various guises! There is just no comparison to supermarket tomatoes. None.
I work late tomorrow so I'm thinking of something simple for Wednesday... maybe grilled?!?
We shall see...
Eggplant and Pepper Lasagne
Last night we were discussing tonight's dinner - Victor had said he wanted to make an eggplant lasagne - when he asked what I thought of adding some of the hot peppers from the garden. My eyes lit up, I started drooling, and said "YES!!!" Eggplant from the garden. Tomatoes from the garden. Peppers from the garden. Basil and oregano from the garden. It just doesn't get any better.
This is how easy cooking at our house is... A comment was made and a recipe was born... And it's a recipe that will be made again and again.
This really is the secret to cooking - take something you know you like and play with it. It's just not difficult. And for all those folks out there who say they're just not creative... Yes, you are. Just go for it - to quote a famous footwear and apparel company. Seriously, the worst thing - the absolutely worst thing that can happen is you throw it all out and call for pizza.
I have to admit that I've made a few things that I'll never make again, but I haven't had to call for pizza, yet.
Tonight, Victor made his basic Eggplant Lasagne and added peppers in the layers. He seeded and fried the peppers in olive oil and then added the oil to the homemade, fresh from the garden tomato sauce. It was outrageously good.
It's amazing what you can do with a single eggplant. And there's a lot more where this one came from.
I think tomorrow night I'm doing something with short ribs. And more goodies from the garden...
Melanzane or Aubergine or Eggplant or...
Regardless of what ya call it, we have it. I think I mentioned that we had a hard time keeping up with one plant last year - so this year we planted two of them.
What were we thinking?!?
I mean... it may be time to put myself up for a Darwin Award. Well... an Honorable Mention, anyway...
They are the plants that keep on giving - and look as if they will be giving for quite a while. Time to start getting creative.
I decided tonight was going to be an all-eggplant egg-straveganza and thought a souffle was in order. When was the last time you had an eggplant souffle?!? If your answer is "never" - join the club. Neither had we.
Which, of course, meant I had to make one.
A souffle is basically stuff lightened by egg whites and baked in the oven, so I felt reasonably confident I could pull this one off. I'm good at stuff and we always have plenty of eggs in the house. Off to the kitchen I went...
There were 5 eggplants in the bowl on the table. I took the largest three and started work. One was going to be for the main course part of dinner - two for the souffle.
Eggplant Souffle
- 2 medium eggplants
- 3 green plum tomatoes
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 2 shallots, minced
- 1/2 cup dry marsala
- Robiola cheese
- Asiago Cheese
- Ricotta Salada Cheese
- Provolone Cheese
- Mozzarella Cheese
- 5 eggs
- Fresh Basil
- Fresh Oregano
- Fresh Mint
- Fresh Chives
- S&P
I peeled and diced 2 of the eggplants and tossed them in a bowl with some olive oil and a bit of S&P. I spread it out on a sheet pan and roasted it for about 45 minutes at 375°F. along with 3 green plum tomatoes and a few cloves of garlic.
Meanwhile, I sauteed the diced celery and shallots in a combination of butter and olive oil.
When the eggplant was well cooked and nicely browned, I mixed it and the garlic and the tomatoes with the celery. I then added the chopped herbs. I just picked and grabbed - probably about a loosely-packed half cup all together.
Next went the cheese. I probably used just under 2 cups of chopped, sliced, and/or shredded cheeses.
I let it cool just a bit and then added 5 egg yolks and mixed it all very well.
I whipped the egg whites with a pinch of cream of tartar to stiff peaks and then folded them into the eggplant mixture.
I buttered a casserole dish and then coated it with bread crumbs and poured the eggplant inside, leveled the top, and placed it into a 350°F oven for about 45 minutes.
This really rocked the Casbah! Really light, rich, and flavorful. Great texture and consistency. Almost like I have to start making more souffles!
And then we had the main course - sausages and vegetables...
Into the pot went a clean-out-the-'fridge assortment of veggies... the third eggplant - sliced into strips, fennel, beans from the garden, watermelon radishes, onion, celery, carrots, yellow zucchini, along with some garlic, red wine, and S&P. I covered it and let it simmer away for about 20 minutes, and then added some peeled potatoes I just cut in half and buried in the pan. A few minutes later, I added the sausage and let it cook another 10 minutes, covered. Then it went uncovered into a 375°F oven to brown the sausage and evaporate a bit of the juices.
Two totally different eggplant concepts - and they both worked well...
I wonder what eggplant ice cream would be like?
Hmmmmmm.........
Eggplant Lasagne
I now have another recipe that I never have to make. Ya know how some folks just own a recipe? They make it the best and there's just no reason to try and make it, yourself. On this coast, it's things like Marie's Jelly Strips and Joanna's Wedding Rings. I'm not going to improve on them, so there's just no reason to make them. I'm satisfied getting them when they make them.
The latest in my getting-longer list of recipes is Eggplant Lasagne. Victor owns this one. I'm just not going to bother.
I've been going crazy looking for a post and a recipe because he's made this a lot - but I'll be damned if I can find one. I can't believe I haven't documented this one, before. It's just too damned good.
The premise is quite simple - build a lasagne, but use slices of eggplant as the noodles. It's stellar.
Layers of homemade sauce, floured, breaded, and fried eggplant, ricotta, mozzarella, more sauce, fresh basil... layers upon layers of greatness, covered, baked, and then served to the salivating crowd.
It's that good.
That's a 9x13 pan. Enough lasagne for the neighborhood. I'm going to portion and freeze some tomorrow. I've been emptying out the freezer to hold our summer bounty.
There are more eggplants on the vine - and more dishes to create.
I'm thinking an eggplant souffle... I wonder if I can convince him to start making souffles?!?
Hmmmmmmm.....
Sausage, Potatoes, and Jacques Pépin
I just got a new Jacques Pépin cook book yesterday - Essential Pépin: More Than 700 All-Time Favorites from My Life in Food. With very little time to really look through it, I already know it's my new favorite go-to book.
Reading the introduction sealed it for me. Right off the bat he talked about how his cooking has evolved from a young man to a mature man to an older man. How he has changed and evolved from elaborate French to fast food his way. How he has changed and learned.
I can relate. I have run the gamut of complex and complicated to open a can to just about everything in between. And the older I get, the more simplistic I'm liking things. It's pretty much why I've gravitated to rustic Italian foods - a few good ingredients can give you a lot of bang for the buck. In his latest book, I think I'm going to be gravitating towards the rustic French a bit more. Or, rather, Jacques' version of it.
I've always liked his style, have loved his various shows on PBS, and really enjoy his approach to food. He stresses technique - not following a recipe verbatim. If you like something, add it - if you don't leave it out. If you learn how to do a few simple things, you can put a meal together with what you have. You learn how to improvise - and how to make simple into elegant with not much more than the right attitude.
My kinda cook.
Tonight's potato dish from the new book is a classic example. Paillasson Potatoes is, essentially, a big shredded potato pancake - a latke without the egg. It's cooked in a covered skillet, flipped, and cooked on the other side. My first flip resulted in a folded omelette. I unfolded, cooked the bottom a bit more for crispiness and structure, and flipped it like I knew what I was doing. Fearless.
Paillasson Potatoes
adapted from Essential Pépin
- 3 russet potatoes - about 8 ounces each
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup green onion, minced
- S& P, to taste
Peel potatoes and shred on large holes of a box grater. Place in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out most of the liquid.
Heat the oil and butter in a 10" non-stick skillet. Add the potatoes, onions, and S&P and mix and cook about 2 minutes.
Press the potatoes with a spoon to compact them into the pan. Cover, reduce the heat, and cook about 12 minutes.
Flip the potato mixture over and continue cooking for about 10 more minutes.
Slide onto a serving plate, slice, and serve.
A simple potato, elevated.
It worked really well with the sausages and eggplant. Victor harvested a couple more eggplants yesterday and made another batch of Little Gram's Eggplant. It is one of the best all-purpose eggplant recipes out there. I just heated it up and added some grilled sausages from Martin's at Reading Terminal.
So... off I go to peruse the rest of the book. I feel some more fun meals a'comin'.