White Eggplant Rollatini

Today I spent the afternoon at my friend Jamie's house, where we finally (after talking about and planning it for months) cooked together. It seems the two of us often talk about food and cooking, giving advice on what to make for dinner, or sharing our success stories (and failures) in the kitchen. We've tried to bake together before, when her daughter Lilly was younger, strapped into a baby carrier* Jamie was wearing. Baking while toting around a baby: apparently not so easy. We ended up switching from baking to arts and crafts projects on that occasion, which was only slightly easier, at least it didn't involve knives or a hot oven.

* I think it is worth noting here that in trying to find a more clear and succinct way to describe the across the chest style baby backpack I was informed by a visiting friend of one of my roommates that the name for a Native American baby carrier is a papoose. A google search informed me that "papoose" is also a name for this guy. Yeah. I was entertained.

Today, we had a mission. Make something that would use the white eggplant in her fridge, and some of the herbs growing so prolifically in her herb garden, that didn't require a trip to the grocery store for additional ingredients. After chatting for quite awhile about different eggplant recipes, and pouring through a number of cookbooks, we decided to make Eggplant Rollatini.

White eggplant is often smaller, and considered to be more tender and creamier than its purple counterparts. The way we prepared this, to be honest I couldn't tell the difference, but I can tell you: the final outcome was GOOD. And that is what mattered. This can absolutely be made with traditional purple eggplant, but the use of white eggplant made for a nice visual change from the usual and expected, which I have to admit I enjoyed. The fresh spinach we added is also not traditional in this dish, but we both thought it was a lovely addition, and the pop of green color was great.

We first dipped the sliced eggplant in a wash of egg and a splash of milk, then into herbed panko breading.

We pan-fried the breaded slices, and meanwhile prepared the filling, made up of Ricotta, Parmesan, finely minced garlic, and basil. Jamie has a lovely herb garden we picked the basil from right before it went into the dish.

Can't you just smell it? I love fresh basil. Basil says summer, and it says Italy. And fresh basil growing on a sunny porch, yearning to be picked, is just about one of the best things to inspire an afternoon of Italian cooking.

We also used the excess eggplant we had by chopping it into a tiny dice, cooking it in a bit of oil, and adding it (along with yet some more basil from the garden) to a jar of basic tomato sauce.

Next came the fun part.  We lined each slice of eggplant with a few leaves of spinach, added about a tablespoon of filling, and rolled, securing them each with a toothpick.

A sprinkle of mozzarella cheese, and the dish went into the oven for a bit, allowing us a bit of playtime (a happy relief for our cooking helper, who had been very good the entire time, sitting in her high chair and snacking on tomatoes and cheese while we worked).

Who could say no to that face? Come on, really?

The recipe:

Eggplant Rollatini with Spinach

for the eggplant:

3 medium eggplants, sliced lengthwise into quarter inch or slightly thicker slices

1 egg and a splash of milk to dip

1/2 cup of panko breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons Italian dried herbs such as oregano, parsley and basil, plus salt and fresh ground pepper to your liking

For the filling:

1 3/4 cup Ricotta cheese

3 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup finely chopped or chiffonaded fresh basil

salt and pepper to taste

1 clove minced garlic

For the sauce:

1 jar of basic tomato sauce

1/4 cup finely chopped of chiffonaded fresh basil

1 cup (or however much is left) diced eggplant

1 clove minced garlic

Additional ingredients:

1/4 cup shredded mozzerella cheese

additional sprigs of fresh basil to garnish
1 1/2 cups fresh spinach

Directions:

1.Dip the eggplant slices in egg and then coat with herbed bread crumbs.

2. Pan fry in light oil until breading is brown and crispy. set aside.

3. Heat the sauce and additional ingredients over low heat for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to combine, and the diced eggplant to soften.

4. Combine the filling ingredients

5. Assemble the eggplant rolls, lining each fried eggplant slice with spinach, a tablespoon of ricotta filling, and then rolling, secure with a tooth pick.

6. Place the eggplant rolls in an oven safe dish over a thin layer of the tomato sauce from step 3.

7. sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the top of the dish, bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly.

8. Try to remember to save some for dinner, even if you are tempted to eat it all during your initial "taste test" for that food blog you write. Take lots of pictures.

Stuffed Turkey Sliders and Blueberry Spritzers

My roommate Sam and I made this quick summery meal on the 4th of July before hurrying out to see the fireworks, and I decided it was so good it was worth recreating and posting. Besides the ground turkey meat and buns, we had all of the ingredients on hand, the blueberries in the spritzers were leftover from my Cherry-Blueberry Tart, the feta was bought for the Watermelon & Herb Summer Salad, and who doesn't have an onion, a couple cloves of garlic, a couple lemons, and a bottle of seltzer on hand? And even if you don't have those things on hand, wouldn't it be worth a trip to the store if a light, flavorful, summery dinner and refreshing fruity drink were at stake?


I served these with corn & black bean salad with cilantro and lime, a family favorite.

Stuffed Turkey Sliders:
serves 3-4 people (makes approximately  8 mini sliders)
1 lb ground turkey meat
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Filling options:
1 medium onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup fresh mozzarella,  loose 1/2 cup fresh basil
1 medium onion, 1 cup sliced mushrooms, thyme or oregano

8 small dinner rolls

First, prepare the stuffing. I had a few options of what to use so people could choose their preference if they wished- from caramelized onions and mushrooms to fresh basil and mozzerella, to onion, garlic and feta; let your imagination run, it's hard to go wrong, just keep the texture and moisture of the filling in mind, you don't want something that will drip right out of the burger, or make it soggy.

I cooked up one onion, chopped in olive oil until brown, then added 2 cloves of garlic and cooked for 2 more minutes. Then, once this was removed from heat added any cheese and fresh herbs desired. Set aside.

Next, prepare the meat: I placed the ground meat in a large bowl, and added the soy sauce and garlic powder than mashed it together with my hands until mixed in. I then assembled the burgers, keeping them smaller than the palm of my hand, and the approximate size of the dinner rolls (I used sourdough) which I had sliced and toasted. I put less than a tablespoon of filling into each, to do this neatly I started with half the meat i would need, pressed flat in the same diameter of the burger I planned to make. I spooned some filling on top of this and then topped it  with another spoonful of meat which i pressed into place making sure the sides were sealed.

Onto a heated grill (or if you are stuck cooking indoors like I was, a griddle or foreman style grill.) cook for 2 minutes/side or until done to your liking. Garnish with your favorite condiments, excess filling etc. Enjoy!

A quick disclosure here: I do not like turkey. I don't. At thanksgiving I may take a tiny sliver from the bird just to be polite, but mostly my plate gets filled with sides (of which there are so many!). Turkey cold cuts are something I would eat only if it was really the only food available. Something about the flavor of turkey I just don't care for. That being said, I decided to give ground turkey a try (perhaps with some pressure from my health conscious roommate) because I keep hearing that it is so much leaner and better for you than beef. And actually, all that being said, I LOVE these burgers. They miss out on nothing in my opinion from the exchange in terms of flavor and texture. The only thing I found myself missing was the rich pink-brown coloring of a beef burger. Really, even if you, like me, are hesitant to replace beef with turkey in such a quintessential beef dinner as the all American burger, I urge you to give this a try.



 
Now, on to the Blueberry Spritzers I mentioned-  and aren't you thirsty by now?

Blueberry Spritzers
makes 1 pitcher of spritzer
1.5 lbs of blueberries
2 lemons
1 liter seltzer or sparkling wine
2 tablespoons Simple Syrup

Depending how much lemon you use this can vary from a very mellow blueberry softdrink to sparkling lemonade with a hint of blueberry and a gorgeous purple color. Use 3 lemons for the more lemonade side of the spectrum.

1. Puree the blueberries. I did this with a hand blender, but a traditional blender or food processor should work just as well. Add a couple tablespoons of water as needed to aid in blending.
2. Strain the blueberry puree to remove the skins. Pour strained puree into a pitcher or punch bowl.
3. Juice the lemons and add the juice to the pitcher/punch bowl. add the simple syrup and mix.
4. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
5. When ready to serve, add the seltzer or sparkling wine. I also suggest garnishing this with chopped fruit such as banana and apple, which will absorb the juice and taste delicious!

Note: this spritzer (made with seltzer, not sparkling wine) also makes a great cocktail with a little vodka or other alcohol of your choice.

Back to Basics

Last month on an impulse I signed myself up for cooking classes through a local adult ed program. Basics of Cooking: I. There was an interesting range of students in the class, across a range of demographics, with incredibly varied comfort levels when it comes to cooking- from recent college grads just out of the dorms who haven't had much opportunity to cook, to a handful of 60+  men, one of whom made a joke on the second class (we had made 2 types of soup the class before) that he'd been eating soup all week, because it was the only thing he knew how to cook. While I do consider myself to in general be pretty comfortable with basic cooking at this point (at least compared to 6 months ago) I still felt like I was lacking an understanding of basic techniques and really wanted a solid foundation. There were some things I had tried to teach myself from articles or books (for example the proper way to dice an onion) that are so much better understood when you have a professional chef there teaching you, letting you know what to do differently and reassuring you when you do get it right.

At this point my class is nearly drawing to a close, and I decided to cook myself a nice back to basics dinner tonight and try out some new techniques and revisit my old standbys. So I decided on pan fried chicken, sweet potatoes and spinach salad.

Pan fried herb-y chicken thighs, rosemary sweet potatoes and baby spinach salad

I think it came out fabulous (and my taste-testing roommate agrees) my cooking class taught me to feel much more comfortable as I  chopped the sweet potatoes (though I wished I owned a bigger knife!) and I used my two big lessons on pan  frying learned in the class too- how to tell that the pan is hot enough before putting the meat on the pan, and that once the chicken is on the pan you better not move it or touch it until it is good and brown! I think it was misunderstanding these two things that had made pan frying such a challenge to me in the past- I would put food on the pan when it wasn't hot enough (or worse- too hot) and then I would turn and check it and move it around so often it never got nicely browned.

 I prepared the chicken just as we had one day in class- with a little olive oil and fresh herbs and that's it. The sweet potatoes were an old standby for me- cubed, coated in a little olive oil, and sprinkled with fresh rosemary, salt and pepper. And on the side a simple baby spinach salad with a quick vinaigrette: balsamic and red wine vinegars, olive oil, garlic mustard, and the remaining fresh cut herbs, and topped with a few unsalted almonds.

The whole process went so smoothly- none of the usual ridiculousness, nothing burned, everything was timed well,  I  didn't slice off any fingers... I think I should go back to basics more often!

A Sunday Night Dinner Party

Last night I had the pleasure of hosting several of my friends for a dinner party. Spring has sprung, everything is in bloom, and I can't help feeling a little extra optimism this time of year. Maybe that is part of why I thought cooking for 12, when I have hardly ever even cooked for 4, would be an easy and relaxing way to spend a Sunday afternoon, which also happens to be my only day off this week. I have to say, though, for all the stress earlier in the day, and all the repetitive tasks (like trimming fat from 20 chicken thighs, and peeling 60 cloves of garlic) by the end of the night it felt worth it. It is wonderful to share good food with good company, and last night that is just what I got to do.

The menu for the night:

Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic
Rosemary roasted new potatoes
mixed greens with edamame, almonds and herb vinaigrette
Roasted asparagus with balasamico
fresh locally made bread



Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic is a recipe that has become almost impossible to avoid in the last few years. Many cook books, food blogs, cooking magazines and cooking TV shows have featured a variation of this recipe. Though this is a fairly traditional french style dish, its moment in the spotlight seems to have started in 2004 when Ina Garten, the ingenious Barefoot Contessa, featured a version of this recipe. I decided, after running into the phrase "40 cloves of garlic" in so many places, that it was time for me to try this recipe. I looked at several variations, and worked out a combination of ingredients that would be easy and inexpensive for me to acquire, without loosing some of the culinary appeal, as (in my opinion) some overly simplified versions of this recipe seem to.

The truth really is, in my mother's words "you can't go wrong with chicken cooked in white wine, garlic and fresh herbs." this is indispensable advice to me, really. And so far I have found it to be nothing but true. I used a Pino Grigio, abundant fresh rosemary and thyme, a couple bay leaves, chicken stock, bone-in chicken thighs, and of course, garlic. After trimming the fat from the thighs, I browned them in olive oil, and then browned the peeled garlic cloves (I suggest crushing at least half of them to help release the flavor), rosemary and thyme in the same. After those steps, all the ingredients went into a slow cooker (OK, 2 slow cookers) and they simmered away all day until the chicken was tender, and the garlic mild and sweet.

Simple Slow Cooker Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic:
I doubled the quantities below, and used two slow cookers to serve 12 people.
10 chicken thighs- seared on the stove in olive oil
40-50 cloves of garlic, peeled and half of them crushed, also seared in oil
fresh thyme and rosemary
1 cup of dry white wine
1 cup chicken stock
salt and  fresh ground pepper to taste
2 bay leaves

After searing the chicken and garlic, simply add all the ingredients to your slow cooker, and allow to cook on low at least 6 hours.

The remaining liquid from the pot can be thickened with flour in a sauce pan (and a little cream if dairy is not a concern) and a few of the garlic cloves crushed and added to this for a simple gravy.


The simple but fresh sides worked very well with this. New potatoes with fresh rosemary make for such a distinct spring time flavor, and the bright green edamame and herb vinaigrette mixed with baby greens was simple, fresh and lively. The night had its bumps: from dropping one of our dessert tarts face down on the floor, to the not one but 2 dishes that broke. But I really think everyone who was present enjoyed themselves, I know I did.

weekday dinner for....whoever shows up

Who says weeknights have to be boring?
The menu for the night:

Steak with a sweet red wine shallot sauce
Arugula salad
Balsamic roasted cauliflower
Abundant red wine
Good company

This was a meal planed at the last minute. At 5pm on a weekday I sent out an email to a few friends saying essentially "hey, who wants to come over for dinner...in an hour and a half?" Not having time to wait for responses, I headed out to the grocery store.
Shopping when you don't know how many people you will be feeding can be stressful, but I was intent on enjoying the evening, and not allowing myself to be overwhelmed. Spontaneity is not so normal for me, I am a planner, hence putting together a last minute dinner for...whoever...is quite an adventure for me. And the night did seem adventurous, from the time I forgot about the cauliflower in the oven, to the time I lost the Parmesan cheese (it was kind of one of those days...), till the moment while cleaning up that I managed to slice my finger open (I was wiping down the counter, and somehow my finger collided with the sharp blade of a knife, don't ask me how...this led to fits of laughter while bleeding EVERYWHERE) things certainly weren't predictable.

Cooking in my kitchen is always an adventure, it is not for the weak of heart. The combination of gas burners that cannot be set to anything lower than a raging blaze, an overhead fan which does not turn off (which causes more problems than one would think), so little light from the overhead that we actually had to bring a reading lamp in to have enough light for any pictures taken of the food to turn out, and such delicate (and dangerous) electrical wiring that we cannot plug in more than one appliance at once for fear of tripping the main breaker really keeps things interesting. But, I suppose this is part of the experience. Ah, to be a 20 something sharing an apartment with 4 others in a rundown building in a bustling urban area. Pure bliss.

However, one advantage of this lifestyle is that there is always someone around to join you in the chaos. Break out a bottle of wine, set the table with candlesticks and flowers, and before long it feels like a dinner party.

Now, on to the food:

Steak with sweet red wine shallot sauce:
 (makes enough shallot sauce for 8-10 ounces of meat, approximately 2-3 full servings according to the deck of cards analogy) 
2 tbsp olive oil or butter
3 medium shallots
1 cup red wine
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic
Fresh ground pepper

+, of course, STEAK

heat 1 tbsp of oil in a small saute pan
Chop the shallots and add the oil when it is hot, but not smoking
cook until translucent than add the wine, vinegar and brown sugar, add one clove of garlic as well, chopped finely
let sit over low heat for at least 10 minutes, allowing the wine to reduce

rub the steak with fresh ground pepper
heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a second saute pan
add pressed or finely chopped garlic to the oil
add steak to the pan, and cook 5 minutes per side, or until it reaches your liking

Serve with the shallot sauce poured over it, and compliment with lots of vegetables. (Don't forget that nutritionists recommend that meat only take up no more than 1/3 of your plate.) I made a simple arugula salad (sprinkled with Parmesan and dressed with Trader Joe's Champagne Pear Vinaigrette) and Balsamic Roasted Cauliflower.