...And Don't Call Me Sugar

I tried my hand at sugar work today.  I've seen it all the time on Food Network Challenge and documentaries about the International Chocoloate Showdown or whatever it is called.  It looks very hard.  I don't even bake cakes, much less work with sugar in a sculpting capacity.  But one day when I was researching something about sugar for some reason, I don't even remember what, I came across a few websites where people were talking about how to do simple, beginner sugar work that didn't look too complicated.  This one, for example, seemed like a doable project.  Also, pretty.

What the heck, right?  It's only a couple of cups of sugar.  I stuck two straws to my counter and laid a ton of wax paper on the floor.  Heated the sugar, flicked the fork around a bit, and hey... what do you know?  I had spun sugar!  After I had plenty, I poured the remaining melted sugar into a bowl of ice, which I'd seen somebody do on Ace of Cakes to make a coral reef.  When I was done with that nonsense, which didn't quite look like a coral reef, by the way, I returned to my spun sugar.  I needed to gently fold it so it resembled a little nest.  Well, it was too cold and brittle by this point and mostly broke up in my hands.  Boo!  I had waited too long.  I didn't realize when the directions said to let it cool a little and then form it that they meant more like 5 seconds and not 5 minutes.  Lesson learned. 

I tried to salvage what I had and after some fiddling I did end up with sparkly little discs that I served with my granita for dessert tonite.  And, several oddly-shaped pieces of amber-colored hard sugar that I am telling Dan is candy. 

Despite the shenanigans I'd say my foray into sugar work was actually a minor success.  I did get the sugar to the right consistency for the project, after all, and for my first time nothing tragic or horrible happened.  I'm going to give this another try for sure.  I even have a shiny new Silpat for this very thing. 

Happy eating!

Roasting and Freezing Peppers

I have been enjoying fresh roasted chiles (that's 'chile' with an e, meaning peppers, not 'chili' with an i, meaning a stew made with said chiles) all winter because I froze my extras last year. 

Every summer, huge road-side signs screaming "fresh chiles!" herald the beginning of Hatch chile season here in Denver.  Bushel after bushel is carted up here from the vast chile hordes to the south and we can get as many as we want for pretty dang cheap.  Hatch vary from mild to medium and from red to yellow-green.  They are the pride of New Mexico, and I never tried a fresh one until I moved to Denver.  We weren't aware of such things as "Hatch chile season" in Michigan.  We were too focused on things like Asparagus season and Morel season and Cherry season - things that, in turn, my Denverite husband had never heard of.

I love the idea of buying lots and lots of peppers when they are cheap-o, but with just Dan and I to eat them, plus illness making it so I'm not able to cook every day, that many peppers would just go to waste.  But not if I freeze them!  I can just freeze the fresh chiles, but one thing I like to do is roast them before freezing.  It is super easy, and super delicious.  The same idea goes for roasting bell peppers... if you find a really good deal on them, grab a bunch, roast them, and you won't have to buy them in the jar.  If doing a very small batch, one to several chiles, I like to do it on the stove.  A larger batch may be easier in the oven.

It has to be a gas burner, of course; electric won't work.  You just fire up the burner on low heat and place the pepper on the burner, turning occassionally to try to get every side charred.  If your stove's grate is a little sparse and won't hold the chile, or your chile is very small, you can put another metal grate (like a draining rack) on top of that to help hold them.  But if you use a grate with thinner spokes, keep an eye on it... if it starts to glow, ummm, take it off the heat.  Quickly.

For oven roasting, just crank the oven up to 400 or 450 and place the peppers on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil.  You can drizzle a little oil and salt on top, depending on what they'll be used for, but generally I like to just roast them as-is.  The time really depends on the size of the pepper... for small chiles, 5 or 10 minutes might do it; for very large bells, maybe up to 45 minutes.  You just want to roast them until the peppers are a little dark on the outside and very fragrant.

Speaking of fragrant, isn't that the best thing about roasting your own peppers?  They smell so great.  Every time I pull one out of the freezer and nuke it for a few seconds to defrost it, my kitchen gets filled with the roasted chile smell, and it's just heavenly.

Once the peppers are roasted, place them in a paper or plastic bag, or a covered bowl for 10 minutes.  This lets the steam from the hot peppers loosen the skin and makes them easier to peel.  To peel, just wipe the peppers with a paper towel.  If some skin is difficult you can scrape it with a knife.  Be careful, though, not to cut the peppers or scrape off any of the actual flesh.  Do this on a paper towel because it is a messy job.  If freezing, just let them cool a little and place them in the freezer in a plastic baggie.  I like to freeze them whole and stem and seed them after thawing.  But you could also take the time now to slice them or cut them into whatever size and shape you will be using them, so when you pull them out of the freezer there is no further prep.

Right now in my freezer I have not only roasted Hatch chiles but also roasted jalapenos and roasted green bells.  What to use them for?  Well, whatever, really.  I love making a cream sauce with the roasted jalapenos, like I did for my Rio Zape-bean and rice cakes.  The other day I pureed roasted Hatch chiles with feta and cilantro and used it as a filling for mini spring rolls.  I used the same filling the next day in cheese enchiladas along with my usual cheddar cheese.  Roasted bells are great for all sorts of things, from Greek salads and sandwiches to roasted-pepper soup.  And of course everyone is familiar with mild green chiles being made into that lovely New Mexican green chile sauce we all enjoy.

If you have never roasted your own peppers and chiles before, give it a try, you may be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is for something so yummy.

Happy eating!

By George, I Think She's Done It!

I've tried many times to emulate the delicous coconut-broth Thai soups.  What I have been trying to do is get that typical Thai-broth flavor, which is tangy and herby and spicy.  I finally got my recipe correct tonite!  I quickly wrote down what I did so I would never forget.   It really came out yummy and I'm thrilled.

This is a base broth that can have things added to it - veggies, meat, tofu, whatever.  You could also add curry paste to the base broth.  The broth is good on it's own though, too.  I was thinking it would be good next time I have a cold instead of noodle soup.  Here's the recipe:

Coconut-Lime Broth
1 tbsp veg oil
2 tbsp sweet onion, sliced thin
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
2 c veggie stock
1/2 c water

2 kaffir lime leaves

2 tbsp cilantro, roughly chopped

1 tbsp fish or oyster sauce (I use vegetarian oyster sauce and it's great)

1 lime, zest and juice

1/2 c coconut milk

1/4 tsp ground chiles or to taste

1/4 tsp salt

Cook slivered onions, garlic and ginger in a little oil for one minute.  Add the rest of the ingredients and stir.  You can add whatever chiles you want, or leave the heat out if you wish.  Simmer a few minutes.  Salt to taste.  Don't eat the lime leaves.

I sauteed sliced King Eryngii mushrooms and baby eggplant in some garlic oil and placed the veg in wide bowls.  I served them that way and spooned the coconut-lime broth over the veggies at the table with some fresh cilantro on top.  Very pretty and also very tasty! 

Happy eating!

Poor Man's Cherry Sangria

I was prepping things before starting to make dinner a couple days ago and realized I still had a little red wine left over from a previous meal, and figured I should use it up.  I could have just served a couple glasses of wine, but no, I just have to play with my food, so of course I set my heart on making Sangria.  Y'know, cuz I can't ever make anything easy on myself. 

Thirty seconds later I realized I didn't have any of the usual things I would put into Sangria.  So instead, I winged it with what I had.  And hey, it actually was pretty tasty, albeit a little, ahem, untraditional.  Here's my fabulous recipe for what I am calling Poor Man's Cherry Sangria:

10 frozen cherries, pitted and halved
2 cups red wine
2 tbsp brandy or cherry brandy
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp frozen concentrate fruit punch (still concentrated)
1/4 cup water
1 tsp powdered sugar
1/2 cup lemon-lime soda

Put the cherries into a jar or pitcher and muddle them a little.  Pour in everything else except for the lemon-lime soda; stir, and let it sit for an hour or two in the fridge.  Just before serving add the soda.  Pour into ice-filled glasses.  Don't forget to divide up the cherries, too!  They are delicious.  Makes 4 servings.

Happy eating drinking!

w00tage!

Well, I'm just giddy today.  I woke up and grabbed a little breakfast, sat down to check my email, and discovered that Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo was kind enough to post my recipe for Half-and-Half Bean Soup in the Rancho Gordo monthly newsletter!  I really hope the recipe is good enough for that... I love it, and I hope all those other Rancho Gordo fans do, too. 

Steve was also kind enough to post a link in the newsletter to my little blog here, and I am honored!  Thanks so much, Steve!  For anybody who is coming here from the RG newsletter... welcome!  Take a look around and let me know what you think! 

Thanks again, Steve! 

The Continuing Story of My Rancho Gordo Addiction

One thing you guys have heard way too much about on this little blog'o'mine is Rancho Gordo.  I discovered Rancho Gordo beans last summer, and since then I've been totally in love.  I've never been remotely interested in dried beans before, but suddenly I'm a freaking fanatic, and that's pretty much all due to how awesome Rancho Gordo's beans are.  I know, you all think I'm a big weirdo.



Ojo de Tigre Beans

 I'm especially excited because when I recently went onto their website to see if there were any new beans I wanted to try (their stock is always changing due to availability and seasons), I saw that they finally had Ojo de Tigre beans in stock!  Ojo de Tigre, or Tiger's Eye, are this beautiful bean to the left.  I had heard of them and saw that Rancho Gordo sometimes had them, and was just waiting until they became available.  I'm thinking I should make some sort of creepy Eye stew out of my Ojo de Cabra and Ojo de Tigre beans.  (Goat's Eye and Tiger's Eye.)  Does anybody else think that that would be funny?  Or is it just me??

I am also excited about the fact that my recent bean-soup experiment, the Half-and-Half Bean Soup, came out so well.  I used two RG beans for that soup, and I was so excited about it, that I wrote to the RG peeps to ask if there were some place on their website that I could submit a recipe.  The lady who wrote back told me that there is no such thing currently, but that it's a good idea.  She also told me to go ahead and email the owner, Steve Sando, with the recipe and maybe he'd post it.  So I did that, and who knows?  Maybe he will. 

I am curious if anybody else who reads this blog has ever tried RG beans or if they have tried other similar exciting bean companies... if so, please let me know about them!  Or, if you have any great bean ideas, let me know... cuz I have another big pile of RG beans heading my way.  And despite their total beauty, I am so gonna eat em all up!

Happy eating!

Redesign

As you can all see, I have redesigned the look of my little blog.  I think it's a little easier to read and that it looks sharp.  Also, all the pics decorating the top of the page are ones I've taken (except the one of me which of course somebody else took), and they are all of my own food.  It took a while to get it right but I think it looks nifty.  Please leave some comments as to what you guys think of the new look of the page!  I'd love to know what you think.

I don't generally get a lot of comments on my posts, but I want to officially invite all of you to leave comments.  I'd love to hear anything and everything you think about what I'm talking about.  Criticisms too!  If you are out there, I'd love to hear from you!

Salt 101

"Salt is what makes things taste bad when it isn't in them." - anonymous (as far as I know)

In my cooking adventures over the last... well, many years, I have learned a whole heck of a lot about salt.  It is one of those things that is so basic, many recipes don't even include it in the ingredient list, even though it's essential to that recipe.  Why is salt so damn important?  Are we just addicted to it here in the U.S.?  Let me tell you, most assuredly, that it isn't just addiction.  Although, yes, many of us are.  But it's everywhere because it's so essential. 

When you add salt to foods, it doesn't just make them salty.  Sometimes it might not make them salty at all -- in fact, in many foods, if you can taste the salt, there's too much salt.  There are many different scientific perspectives on the whats and whys of salt.  But one thing on which many scientists agree is that salt sortof "electrically charges" your tastebuds for eating.  If you add a little salt to something, it actually makes that thing taste more like itself.  It enhances virtually any flavor for this reason.  Even sweet flavors are helped along by a slight touch of salt.  In most foods, if you've omitted the salt, your food will be bland, no matter what else you did to it.  Salt helps us taste the flavors of foods.

But salt is bad for us, right?  Well... maybe.  Salt itself is not the problem; Sodium is.  As a preservative, Sodium is found everywhere in our groceries: boxed foods, canned foods, jarred sauces, instant things, all-in-one frozen bags, microwavable dinners, etc.  It's the sodium from these foods that make our diets overfull of the stuff.  The crappy chain restaurants with the college kids in the kitchen that aren't cooking, just reheating frozen and pre-mixed stuff, aren't helping, either.  Do you have any idea how much sodium is in TGI Friday's Alfredo sauce?  Do you know how much sodium it would have if it were made the real way?  "Less" is an understatement.  My point is, that pretty little salt grinder sitting on your dining room table is NOT the culprit.  Stop hating it, and enjoy it.  That huge bag of potato chips soaked in salt (that you really should not have eaten in one sitting.  Ahem.) is way more the criminal here.

There are an endless variety of types of salts, and these days they aren't too hard to get a hold of.  Except, of course, for the price.  Specialty salts can get super expensive.  Are they worth it?  Well that's all relative.  If you feel like you really need to have a certain type of salt and it's worth it to you to spend 17 dollars an ounce, then go for it.  But for a gourmet meal, you absolutely don't have to.  The salts available to everyone at the grocery store for cheap are great.  People eons ago waited for the salt caravans to come so they could get blocks of salt harvested from the salt flats, and paid an amazing sum to get them.  Now salts, like spices, are widely available, and we can all get as much as we could ever want.  Aren't we lucky?

Regular old table salt in the blue paper canister is in most of our kitchens.  You know, the iodized kind.  But why is it iodized?  This has to do with health.  Remember how you vaguely recall being told in elementary school that a hundred years ago there were a ton of diseases that we don't have to worry about anymore?  Well some of that is due to iodized salt.  Table salt would normally not be iodized except that long ago they discovered that iodine helps prevent some diseases.  One by one, places started putting iodine in their salt as a way for everybody - since everybody uses salt - to get iodine in their diet for cheap.  Now we don't have to worry much about our iodine intake, thanks to salt.

But table salt is not the only salt out there, and iodine isn't great for all salt applications.  You can still get regular ol' table salt without the iodine in it, for whatever reason, and salts for brines and pickles are also iodine-free, as that's no good for that application.  One very popular salt is kosher salt.  This salt is not actually kosher (unless there is the little kosher mark on the box), but is instead is the type of salt used in the making of kosher foods.  Kosher salt is preferred by many chefs and cooks because of it's large size and crystalline structure.  For example, it's pretty and noticeable, so it's nice as a finishing salt. 

 Lately, unrefined and specialty salts have been making an interesting blip on the culinary radar.  Fleur de Sel has been around a while, but now there are so many other types of unrefined sea salts around that it's hard to keep track.  I've come across black Hawaiian sea salts, pink Hawaiian sea salts, various river salts, smoked salts, truffle salts, Asian salts, South American salts.  The list is never-ending.  Do you need them?  Well, that's up to you.  Having a combo of Kosher and regular table salt in your kitchen will probably allow you to do anything with salt you wanted to do.  But, it can be pretty to have a nice grinder of beautiful sea salt on a table.  Or, if you taste a salt and think it would be perfect for the dry rub on your chicken, go for it. 

One nice option if you want to find some interesting salts but don't know what you would use or what you'd even like, is to find a local spice shop that allows sampling.  We are lucky here that we have Savory Spice Shops, who carry several types of salt and always let us try them out before buying.  But there are plenty of places across the country that sell spices this way.  Look around, you may be surprised.  Just go in and find the salts, and give a few a try, not unlike tasting wine.  Have some water and maybe a few (unstalted) crackers with you so that you can clear your palate (i.e., rinse the flavor out of your mouth) between each sample.  Just put a little in your palm and use your finger to put some on your tongue.  If you find one you love, get a little.  Sometimes it's not about flavor but about the look you want to put on your dining room table.  That's fine, too.  There's nothing wrong with enjoying food because of it's appearance.  Whatever you like, it's all good.

One example of a specialty salt: Hickory-smoked salt, the kind that's actually smoked instead of fake flavor just added.  It's often very strong and therefore doesn't have a lot of applications it won't overwhelm.  When used very sparingly or mixed with another "plain" salt, however, you can add a touch of smoke flavor to some dishes.  The bonus here is, that means you don't have to buy very much of the expensive smoked salt... a tiny baggie has lasted me for months.

Speaking of baggies, you should make sure you are storing your salts the right way.  Like most spices, it is best to keep salt in a closed contatiner in a cool, dark space, and away from humidity.  Don't keep your salt (or your spices) right above your stove; while convenient, that heat-cool-heat-cool process ruins your spices and salt much much faster.  For that reason, I don't like to use humongous salt and pepper shakers.  Use a nice small-ish one and refill it more often, keeping the refills tucked away from the heat and light of the counter or dinner table, and it'll be fresher longer.

This is some of what I've learned about salt(s) over the years.  Some of it may be old hat to many of you, but hopefully somebody learned something.  And remember - don't leave salt out of your dishes!  Whatever you are cooking, salt makes it more yummy.

Happy eating!

Soup's On, Part VII: Half-and-Half Bean Soup

I made a great bean soup today that may be one of the best soups I've ever made.  I've never done a soup like this before, and it turned out so well!  I'm really excited about it.  What I did is make two types of blended bean soups, a darker one and a lighter one, and served them in the same bowl, next to each other.  It was a time-consuming process because I used dried beans, but it required very little actual work, as most of the time is spent soaking or boiling the beans.  Even the fact that I was essentially making two soups didn't make it that hard because I just did the two at the same exact time with many of the same ingredients.

I used some of my fabulous Rancho Gordo beans.  The two I chose were Yellow Eye beans, which are a white bean with a yellow "eye" (not unlike blackeyed peas, but light yellow) for the light side; and huge, beefy, dark-colored Scarlet Runner beans for the dark side.  Canned beans would work fine, too, and other types of dried beans, as long as you have a white or light-colored bean for one side and a black or dark-colored one for the other.

After soaking the beans overnight and draining them, I cooked them each in separate pots with aromatics, just like you would for any other dried bean prep.  They each got a couple peppercorns, a bay leaf, a garlic clove, a piece of carrot, and onion.  The Scarlett Runners also got a whole dried chile.  They got boiled until they were fully cooked, then drained, the pot liquor reserved, and the bits of bay leaf, carrot, etc. picked out.

I made each soup essentially the same but with different flavors.  For the dark bean soup, I sauteed minced garlic in a mix of canola and olive oil with some chopped roasted chiles that I had roasted back in the fall during chile season and then put in my freezer; it makes using fresh roasted chiles easy throughout the winter.  I added in the beans and about equal portions of veggie stock and the Scarlett Runner pot liquor.  I then added in salt, pepper, and a little chile powder.

For the lighter side, I sauteed minced garlic in just canola oil and like the first soup, added the beans and equal parts veggie stock and the Yellow Eye pot liquor.  I wanted to keep the color light, so I made sure to not mix any of the black Scarlett Runner pot liquor into the light-side soup.  I didn't use roasted chiles for that side; instead I used a little ground green chile powder and several grinds of white peppercorns.  I also added some coriander and cumin, and of course salt.

Each soup got blended with an immersion blender and then thickened a little with some corn starch.  To make the half-and-half look, you cut a paper plate to the shape of the bowl, or use a thin plastic cutting board, or whatever works.  It has to be thin and flexible and fit the shape of the bottom of the bowl.  You just hold it in the bowl and spoon each soup into one side of the bowl.  Remove it, and you have half-and-half soup!  You can swirl the soups together with a toothpick, straw, or other thin thing to make it interesting. 

The light side soup was milder, whereas the dark side was smoky and spicy.  Each one is delicious alone, but a spoonful of a little of each was perfect.  It really worked well, which I was thrilled about since I'd never even done it before.  I'm really happy with my creation!  There's plenty of each left over, too, so we'll have some for yummy leftovers all weekend.

The fact that this soup is super cheap makes the whole thing even better.

Happy eating!

Soup's On, Part VI: Curried Peanut Soup

I tried my hand at inventing a new soup yesterday.  I'm sure plenty of other people have made something like this before, but for me, I never have, nor have I ever seen a recipe for such, so for me, I was inventing it.

I sauteed chopped onions and carrots in butter with salt, pepper, and garlic, in butter and olive oil until very soft, then combined it with veggie stock and peanut butter and pureed it with my (new for Christmas!) immersion blender until very smooth.  I also spiced it up with a combination of a few different curry spice blends as well as cinnamon, dried chiles, turmeric, and a little cocoa-based chili powder.

The veggie stock I used was a little different than normal.  With the various veggies and the usual bay leaf and peppercorns, I also threw in curry leaves and kaffir lime leaves, because I knew I was using that batch of stock for the curry-peanut soup, and thought those flavors would be nice.  I also used extra black peppercorns for the extra spicy kick.

Anyhoo, after blending the stock, onions, carrots, and peanut butter together and adding the spices, I taste-tested the soup and thought it needed a little tang to go with the herbiness and nuttiness.  I had been planning on using milk and flour to make the soup creamy, but after the taste test I thought that maybe yogurt would add the tang I thought the soup needed in addition to the creaminess.  So I added a few big spoonfuls of yogurt and pureed again.

The soup came out good but I think it had a touch too much peanut butter.  Dan said he loved it and ate two big bowlfuls.  I definitely think it was good enough to make again, but I'll probably make just a few changes.  A little less peanut butter and a little more stock.  And maybe a little ginger in the soup would be good.

Happy eating!

Email Alerts

If any readers would like email alerts whenever I post a new article, just leave a comment or message me some other way and I'll hook you up.

Thanks!
-Lairdriin

Veggie Pancakes

I love my mother's potato pancakes, but tonite for dinner I made a variation of them.  I had only one potato, but I did have half an onion, half a zucchini, and a friggin' boatload of carrots.  So I made veggie pancakes with all four of the veggies instead of just potato pancakes.

I think any ratio of the veggies would work as long as the onions are a minority.  Amount-wise I ended up with mostly carrots, then potato, then zucchini, then onion.  Just as with the usual potato pancake recipe, I grated all the veggies and then strained out as much liquid as I could.  Then I mixed in a beaten egg and a little flour, along with salt and pepper.

I made small patties out of the mixture and sauteed them in a little canola oil on high heat on each side until golden brown.  I quickly discovered that with non-potato veggies, I needed more egg and a little more flour to compensate for the lack of starch that is normally abundant in just-potato pancakes.  Some of them fell apart a little while cooking.  It was too late to fix this batch, but next time I do this I will add more egg and flour to hold them together a little better.

I served them as I do potato pancakes with plenty of sour cream (no applesauce though).  I was a little worried that they would be too carroty but as it turns out they were delicious.  Really delicious!  Almost as delicious as the regular potato pancake recipe -- and in our family that is saying something.  And for a bonus, these veggie pancakes have an extra nutrition kick what with the carrots and zucchini.  I actually would like to try them again with mostly zucchini instead of mostly carrot next time.  But for a quick throw-together based on what I happened to have in the fridge, these were definitely a success.  Luckily I have plenty left over, so I am looking forward to a yummy veggie pancake snack later tonite.

My Veggie Pancake experiment DEFINITELY counts as a success.  Happy eating!

Laurie's Famous Eggplant Parmesan

I have been making eggplant parm in my own way for years now... 13 or 14, I think.  When I first started making it, I copied my mother's recipe for the most part, but I liked things a little different, so I played around with options and it didn't take very long until I had the method that I use now.  The first time my sister Julie tried it - 11 years ago or something - she went home and raved about it to my parents, and then they asked me to cook it for them, too.  I know it's the best, because honestly, if something you are making isn't your favorite, then why are you making it that way?  But it's gotten many accolades from many different people over the years, and since I recently mentioned it in my post about lasagna, I figured I would share my recipe here, in case anybody else wants to have the best eggplant parm in the world.

"Parmesan" means in the method of Parma.  Veal parmesan, eggplant parmesan, chicken parmesan, whatever.  It includes breading and frying the whatever-you're-having, and usually baking it with sauce and cheese.  I don't like the baking it part, because after the frying you have this nice, crisp exterior, but if you drown it in sauce and bake it for a while, it obviously loses it's crispness.  This omission is one of the three ways I differ from regular parmesan.  The other two ways are that I cut the skins off the eggplant; and that I cut the eggplant thick and then cook it only lightly, so that it's not a thin mushy pile of ... well, mush.

Here is an actual recipe, although this is the first time I have EVER attempted to suss it out in recipe form, literally.  I just go into the kitchen and do my thing, so if any of these amounts don't work out for you, please just change it.  It's all approximate, k?

Laurie's Famous Eggplant Parmesan

1 medium-sized eggplant, fresh, firm
3/4 c bread crumbs (Italian style or plain plus seasoning)
3/4 c grated parmesan cheese (kraft in the can is best; actual parmaggiano-reggiano doesn't work well for this type of application)
2 eggs
canola or other veggie oil
tomato sauce of your liking (I like something simple and w/o chunks, lightly seasoned)
mozzarella cheese, shredded
more parmesan or parmaggiano-reggiano (for the finishing element, real parmaggiano DOES work great)

1. Cut off the very top and bottom of the eggplant and slice the eggplant into discs, about 1 1/2 inches thick.  Slice off the skin of the eggplant trying to cut off as little flesh as possible and keeping the eggplant in basic disc shape.  Lay the eggplant discs out on a tray or plate in one layer and lightly salt all the discs.  Set them aside for about 10-15 minutes.  The salt will pull some moisture out of the eggplant.
2.  In the meantime, in a medium sized bowl combine equal parts grated (canned) parmesan and bread crumbs.  (If using unseasoned bread crumbs, add a pinch each of: dried basil, dried parsely, and granulated garlic.)  Add a pinch of salt and black pepper.  Mix well.
3.  In a separate bowl, crack two whole eggs and whisk well. 
4.  Heat a half inch of canola oil in a non-stick sautee pan on medium heat.  Near the pan, line up the egg, breadcrumbs, and a plate or tray that has a few paper towels on it.
5.  With paper towels, dab the eggplant discs dry.  One by one, dip a disc into the egg, shake off excess, then dip into the breadcrumb mixture.  Coat well with the breadcrumbs, then drop carefully into the hot oil.  The oil should sizzle a little; if it doesn't sizzle, heat it up before continuing; if it really pops and screams when the eggplant goes in, turn down the heat.
6.  Don't overcrowd the pan with eggplant; leave a little space between each one.  Cook each disc until it is golden brown on one side, then turn it over carefully with tongs.  As you pull discs out, place them on the paper towel plate.  If you are making a large batch, you can transfer some to a very low oven while you continue the rest.
7.  When you are ready to serve, plate the eggplant discs, spoon a little very hot sauce alongside the eggplant, and sprinkle the whole thing with room-temp shredded mozzarella and a little parmagianno-reggiano.  This way you get melted cheese for the top of your eggplant without having to bake it and lose the crispness.  Serve it right away.  Or better yet, serve all those components at the table (piping hot of course) so that everyone puts it together themselves and the eggplant stays crisp even longer.

I like to serve eggplant parmesan with pasta on the side.  Sometimes I go nuts and I also make veggie Italian sausage with peppers and onions.  Then the plate is eggplant parm, pasta, sausage, peppers and onions, tomato sauce, and mozzarella cheese.  It's a lot of food, but it's YUMMY.

There you have it.  That's how I do eggplant parm.  If you try it, I hope you enjoy it.

Happy eating!

Eggplant Lasagna

I had used about half a large eggplant to make my eggplant parmesan, and I was trying to decide what to use the rest of the eggplant for.  I could make more parmesan, but then I realized that I had a few lasagna noodles left in the pantry, and plenty of mozzarella leftover from the parmesan, so I figured what the heck, I'd give lasagna with eggplant in it a try.  I've made lasagna plenty of times, but never with eggplant in it. 

I usually make lasagna with lots and lots of cheese.  I didn't actually have any ricotta in the house, so I made some with the milk we had.  (Yeah, I'm that crazy, spending hours making lasagna AFTER spending hours making my own cheese.  Somebody commit me or something).  I didn't get much ricotta, but it was enough for one layer.  I normally would do two very thick layers of ricotta, but for this lasagna I had one ricotta layer and one thinly-sliced eggplant layer.  The skins don't need to be cut off of eggplant for something like this, or for eggplant parmesan, etc., but I personally like the skins off.  I also like to salt the sliced eggplant and let it sit for 15-20 minutes or so, to draw some of the moisture out of the eggplant.  This helps the eggplant from becoming too mushy.

For lasagna, I like to make a simple tomato sauce without too much seasoning and without chunks in it.  It also helps to have a little water in the sauce so that as the lasagna cooks, it doesn't become too dry.  The noodles get cooked a little less than al dente in boiling water, so that they can finish cooking in the oven.

After building the lasagna with multiple layers of noodles, sauce, eggplant, and cheese, I topped the lasagna with plenty more sauce and lots and lots of mozzarella.  Baking time always varies depending on how thick the lasagna is, but I always cook it until it has darker, crusty edges.  Those are the best parts, the crusty edges.

My eggplant lasagna experiment was great, even though I did miss the extra cheese.  I just love love love the taste of eggplant! 

Happy eating!

Almond Chili

...yeah, I said "Almond Chili."  Let me explain.

Several years ago, I was in Indianapolis and my companion and I went downtown to walk around and see the sights.  We came across a chili place and decided to check it out.  The restaurant had a few types of chili, plus a rotating set of seasonal chilis.  You could get a sampler of 5 or 6 types of chilis either as a full meal or to try them out before ordering.  We got the sampler to share, as one of their chilis was a vegetarian version.  It was made with tvp (textured vegetable protein, which is in many, many veggie meat products and is a reasonable facsimilie for ground beef).  But, this veggie chili also had nuts in it.  Peanuts, if I remember correctly.  It was pretty good chili, not the best, but the thing that really stuck out in my mind was how good the nuts were in it.

Since then, I occassionally recall that chili, and when I do I tell myself that someday I'm going to try doing that.  Well, it's been a long time coming, but the other day I finally gave nuts in chili a try.  I used ground up toasted almonds.  I made a typical chili for me except that I didn't use kidney beans, and I used a few roasted mild green chiles, which I don't normally use.  I used my flavour shaker (I love that thing!) to crush the almonds so that they were a mixture of pulverized-into-a-powder and very-fine-tiny-pieces.

Dan and I sampled the chili for dinner that night, and wow, it was really good!  The almonds added a nice subtle, nutty flavor which really highlighted the dried chiles well.  Also, the not-quite-ground-up little pieces of almond added a little texture which I thought was really nice.  If I hadn't told him that it had almonds in it, I don't think he would have known; it was really subtle.  But it did work really well!  I am so making this again, for sure.  If you have a few nuts leftover from something the next time you make chili, I highly recommend giving it a try.

Happy New Year eating!

Veggie & Cheese Pot Pie

Since I've started this blog, I've reacquanted myself with many of the dishes I used to cook.  I suppose we all get into these grooves throughout our lives where we are doing the same sorts of things, hanging out with the same people, cooking the same food regularly.  Then something changes, and it gets shaken up, but then you fall into a groove again, a new one.

A few years ago I was living on my own in a tiny studio apartment in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with a kitchen that was barely a kitchen, and I had to make do with my tiny fridge, very little storage space, and my insanely tight budget.  A few years before that, I was living in a 2000-square-foot house with a huge kitchen with an island and a skylight, and even though my budget then was also tight, I had a different set of recipes I cooked then than what I regularly cooked in my tiny studio.  When I moved out of that studio apartment to trek halfway across the country to Colorado, and moved into a period of my life in which I was now married, living with a somewhat old and broken-down kitchen, and with a better budget but much less energy for cooking since I gradually went from relatively healthy to very very ill, the set of dishes I cooked on a regular basis changed again.

Occasionally I'll make something that I have cooked over and over again in my life, and Dan will say to me that I have never made that for him.  There are many, many things I used to cook all the time that I have just fallen out of the habit of cooking.  One of those is pot pie.

My homemade pot pie is sortof a semi-homemade (a la Ms. Lee) recipe.  I use canned soup and frozen veggies.  But, you'd be surprised at how good it is; plus, using the soup makes it so much easier than making a beschamel or something.  Here's how I do it:

(amounts are approximate; adjust to your tastes)
1/4 c. minced onion
1/2 stick butter
2 tbsp. milk
2 cans condensed cream of potato soup
2 cups frozen veggies (the basic cut veggie mix that has corn, carrots, peas, etc. in it)
salt, pepper to taste
 parsley, paprika, thyme (optional) to taste
4 oz. shredded or cubed cheddar or other cheese

Sautee minced onion in butter with a small pinch of salt until onions are translucent.  Add in the condensed soup (do not follow soup can directions; just add it in still condensed), 2 tbsp. milk, and frozen veggies, and mix well.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Not too much salt, as the soup is already salty.  Add seasoning if you want, to taste.  Heat the mixture just until it simmers, remove from heat, and stir in the cheese.  Pour the mixture into whatever dish you are using, after spraying the dish with nonstick spray or buttering it.  I usually just put it in a big casserole, but you can divide it into individual dishes, too.  Top it with whatever crust you are using, egg wash the crust if you want it shiny and golden (you don't have to, though), cut a few slits in the crust, and bake it at 350 until the crust is golden brown.  Time will vary based on the crust you're using and the dish it's in.

Crust:
Usually I make a homemade crust, but a Jiffy mix pie crust or other mix works fine, too.  However, for a homemade crust, it just takes flour, baking powder, salt, butter, water, and a food processor, so it's super easy.  This works for a quiche crust, too:  Put 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt into the processor and pulse just to mix.  Add 1/2 stick of very cold butter, cut into pieces, and pulse to mix just until it's barely mixed up.  You should still see bits of butter.  Then drizzle in about a teaspoon of water at a time while you pulse to just barely hydrate the mixture.  When the mixture is just barely past not being able to crumble anymore, you are done.  Then you can roll it out immediately, with plenty of flour to make sure it doesn't stick, or wrap it in plastic wrap and save it in the fridge to roll out later.

I have also made this pot pie with veggie chicken, but honestly, it's great with just the veggies and cheese. 

Happy eating!

Peppermint Patties

One of my sisters made a treat over the holidays that I think is my favorite new addition to the traditional holiday treat line-up.  She made homemade peppermint patties!  You would think they'd be difficult to make, but actually they seemed super easy.  Everybody loved them, too.  I haven't tried to make them myself yet, but I am going to this week.

The filling is a simple mixture of powdered sugar and a little cream cheese, and of course peppermint extract for the minty flavor.  I suppose they could be made with other flavors instead.  That might be something to try.  Once the filling is made into balls and flattened into discs, you coat them in melted chocolate, and let them cool.  Pretty simple, really.

Everyone in the family loved them.  Once I make them myself, I'll report on how I did.

Happy New Year eating!