Veggies For Dinner

Fried eggplant and bacon wrapped asparagus bundles. Not quite or usual weeknight fare but a tasty way to clear out the vegetable drawers before I leave our beloved ranchette and my beloved James for a few days.

Pasta Alla Norma

A drawer full of eggplant and a lazy saturday afternoon means pasta alla Norma, a Sicilian specialty of eggplant, rich tomato sauce, and usually ricotta salata (we don't have any so looks like ricotta with salt and parmesan mixed in tonight) named to honor Vincenzo Bellini's opera Norma. The title role is one of the most difficult parts in the genre, only the greatest sopranos ever sing it.

I love eggplant. I don't think many people feel a passion for eggplant but I search it out on menus and try to cook it as often as possible when farmers markets are brimming with the purple beauties.

To start tonight's dinner I chopped one red onion and 4 cloves of garlic and let them sauté in hot olive oil. Next I added in the chopped eggplant and, stirring, let it cook until lightly browned -- about 10 minutes. Then I added in about 3 cups of chopped tomatoes -- I usually use canned for this recipe but our front yard is, finally, bursting with scads of bright red tomatoes (our cool summer brought a slow and late harvest this year) so I ground up several to use in the sauce. it makes the dish a bit pinker than when I use canned tomatoes but the fresh flavor is undeniable. In with the tomatoes goes a couple sprigs of basil and a spring of thyme along with a pinch of dried chili peppers. I bring it all up to a boil and let the mixture cook down for about 15 minutes.

When the pasta is drained I add it to the sauce along with a handful of chopped parsley, mint, basil, and a knob of butter. I stir the spaghetti in the sauce and serve topped with dollops of fresh ricotta (mixed with salt, parmesan, and oregano), a sprinkle of parsley and mint, and a dash of chili peppers.

A dinner to sing about.

Fish for Dinner

Once again the diet called for a fish dinner. Pacific halibut is in season these days, and since it's best choice on my Monterey Bay Aquarium sustainable seafood guide, we've been eating a lot of it this year while trying to make lighter meals. For something just a little different I chopped eggplant, zucchini, red peppers, and for a change -- shallots, and mixed them up with a little olive oil, oregano, S&P, and thyme. I laid the vegetables on a baking tray and popped them, along with some sliced potatoes for James into a 450º oven for about 10 - 15 minutes. When the vegetables were getting tender I added a seasoned halibut file, drizzled with a bit of olive oil, to the tray and returned it to the oven for 10 minutes. I turned the fist over and cooked for 8 minutes ore (this was a pretty thick filet). For a little flavor punch and to play up the Provencal style I already had going I whipped up a basil vinaigrette (1 bunch basil, 1 clove garlic, 1/3 cup olive oil, 2 TB white balsamic vinegar, S&P, and a pinch of crushed red peppers) for a quick topping/ sauce.

Homegrown Eggplant Parmesan

Last night James (well, me too) was so hungry by the time I got home from work, there was no waiting for pictures. So, here is the aftermath of a parmesan made with violet eggplants from our front yard garden (they are still going strong even in November!) and tomatoes we grew and canned over the summer.

The casserole was readied on Sunday to bake for Monday dinner (and Tuesday lunch). I salted the eggplant slices and let them drain/ rest for 30 minutes while I made a quick tomato sauce of olive oil, garlic, crushed red pepper, chopped shallot, canned tomatoes, and basil -- with S&P of course. Then I floured each eggplant slice, dipped them in beaten egg and then coated in panko and parmesan cheese. The slices were pan fried and layered in the baking dish with the tomato sauce, some ricotta I happened to have in the fridge and shredded mozzarella. On my drive home James popped the dish into the oven. Teamwork makes a weeknight dinner little easier.

Greek Empanadas? Bitter Greens Hand Pies?

Could it be fusion? Or, just a borrowed trick?

I started out to make Greek hand pies with an olive oil crust but honestly I just didn't feel like watching something closely enough to pan fry the little pastries. So, I mixed up an olive oil/ butter empanada dough (2 cups flour, 4 TB butter, 2 TB olive oil, and ice water to moisten), for the Greek style filling. I had mustard and turnip greens in the fridge already so I sauteed some minced onion and garlic in olive oil, added in the chopped greens and dried dill (I would have rather used fresh but we didn't have any) and sautéed until wilted, then stirred in some chopped mint and fresh oregano. I let the filling mixture drain in a colander until cool and pressed out any excess liquid. Mixed (in a bowl not the colander) with an egg, S&P, and plenty of crumbled feta cheese, the filling was ready.

When the dough had rested in the fridge for a few hours I rolled it out thin and cut the pastry into approximately 4 inch circles. A hearty dollop of filling went into each one, a little water on the edges and I sealed the little pies the way I'd seen in Argentina (or as close as I could get -- sort of an LA "repulgue"). Brushed with a little melted butter (egg would have been better probably, but I had some spare melted butter) and baked for 30 minutes at 350º. They were a crispy tasty, portable, treat. I should have let the filled empanadas rest in the fridge for 30 minutes before baking -- they would have been just a bit flakier and crispier. I forgot. But it was already getting late and maybe dinner 30 minutes earlier was good trade for a bit of flake.

On the side, Greek style baked eggplant. Beautiful lavender fruits from our front garden, thickly sliced, covered with home-made tomato sauce and baked for 45 minutes (30 minutes covered) until soft and sweet.

Eggplant Again

The late sumer eggplant harvest in our front yard is booming. We grow a small lavender tinged white variety with a fairly thick skin but sweet, never bitter meat.

Martha Stewart gave me this idea for this simple dish-- I took a little bit of a run with it. I baked (450º) the whole eggplants (these are individual serving size eggplants) just until soft (about 15 minutes), took a thin slice off the top and hollowed each eggplant out -- reserving the flesh and leaving about 1/4" of shell wall all around.

I chopped the reserved eggplant and added it to a sauté pan with olive oil, garlic, some italian sausage and a few chopped tomatoes. I allowed that mixture to slowly simmer until the eggplant was tender and then added in a splash of marinara sauce and some chopped parsley and let it all simmer for another 5 minutes or so. I filled the eggplant shells (in a baking dish) with the cooked mixture and baked for 10 minutes. While the eggplant baked I whipped up a quick bechamel (or besciamella as the Italians say) sauce -- butter, flour, milk, S&P, and a pinch of nutmeg. I poured a couple tablespoons of the rich sauce over each eggplant, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and baked another 20 minutes until golden brown.

Stuffed Eggplant Parmesan.

Before and After

Before: Sunday Morning's Harvest

After: Thai Eggplant and Long Bean Salad with Tomatoes and Peanuts

Suddenly we have beans everywhere -- beautiful red Chinese long long beans. For the longest time I was thinking we'd see a few measly beans and the vines would die out. But, after a slow start and losing a few pods to garden pests of various kinds we are getting a good handful of beans just about every other day.

The front garden is bursting with late summer eggplant. I love eggplant. Fried, roasted, baked, stewed-- eggplant also loves oil. I was looking for something a little lighter to combat California's warm September. And so, starting with a recipe I found on Epicurious I broiled the eggplant slices quickly and tossed them in a dressing of fish sauce, sugar and lime juice. The I added in the quickly boiled long beans, small quartered heirloom tomatoes (not ours -- alas -- we are between tomato harvests), fresh cilantro and plenty of chopped peanuts. A tangy summer salad served with brown rice. Just because we were in the Thai mode I whipped up some quick chicken satays with peanut dipping sauce. Another simple supper for LA's Indian summer.