Eggplant Pizza

Pizza dough is such a blank canvas. Pretty much anything in your fridge can be dumped on top and taste great. We had two versions last night: plain cheese, which always ends up tasting way better than anything your order, and fresh tomato and eggplant. I had a small Japanese eggplant that I peeled, sliced, dipped in milk and cornmeal and lightly fried. A container of cherry tomatoes on the counter was sauteed with garlic until they burst as used as the sauce. Both were topped with mozzarella and parmesan cheese. I think I baked them at 425 for maybe 20 min? Usually I thrown them in there, pour myself a drink, and just keep checking until they look good.

Aladdin's Magic Chili

When I was in college I used to love this restaurant Aladdin's Natural Eatery in Ithaca, NY. It sounds earthy-crunchy, and it was, but it was also delicious. My go-to dish, for a quick $6, was the chicken chili with cheese. They used the vegetarian chili as a base, but topped it with this crispy, baked chicken that was so good. I tried to recreate this last night on the fly, so let me try to approximate. I sauteed onions, garlic and celery in a little oil, then added 2 qts. of salsa that I made last summer and canned. I didn't have any peppers, so I figured the salsa would solve the tomato and veg problem. It was very thin stuff, not like commercial salsa, so it you want to use salsa, add extra tomatoes, or a little water. The white beans I did in a pressure cooker and threw in (use canned of any kind if you want beans). I also added some water, a packet of chicken broth for flavor, and some dried chilis. For spices I used medium hot chili powder and chipotle powder, but if you don't have that, don't worry.
For the chicken, I marinated chicken thighs in the juice of a tangerine that was dying a slow death on my counter, and threw in some jerk chicken spices. I then baked it at 425 for about 20 min. while the chili was cooking down. I finished the chicken with a quick run under the broiler to give it that Aladdin's crispiness, chopped it up, and threw it in the pot.
If you've never made chili without a recipe, it's a good way to conquer the fear of going freestyle- you really will have a hard time messing it up. The one tip I can give you it keep an eye on the amount of liquids used. If it's too liquid, leave the lid off the pot and let some evaporate. If it's thick enough, leave the lid on.

It wasn't perfect, but it was a pretty good recreation of a nice college memory, except without the Hootie and the Blowfish blasting from the '85 Plymouth Acclaim.

It's a carbon copy...

...of a quick meal on a weeknight!

Wow, that's bad copy from something like a Good Housekeeping circa 1983. I'm referring to Pasta Carbonara, which most of us think as "That pasta dish that's really good and horribly bad for you". Except it's not as bad as you think. Carbonara in many American restaurants has cream in it, but the real thing does not. It's a perfect dish for a cold night when you're hungry and don't have the energy for something fancy. Here's the deal:

!.Cook up a couple slices of bacon (4 slices or so- this is for 2 people).

2. Boil water and cook pasta.

3. Take the bowl you're going to mix it in and fill it with very hot water so it's not cold.

4. Right before the pasta is done, throw out the water, and mix up 1 egg and 1/2 C. parmesan cheese in that warm bowl.

5. Immediately after draining the pasta, toss it in the bowl. Throw in the crumbled bacon. Feel hearty.

The heat of the pasta and the bowl cooks the eggs, so you end up with a creamy sauce that doesn't actually have cream . See? That's not so bad, is it?

Sorry folks

Tonight was pizza. Take the dough, put stuff on it. You can't really go wrong.


I'll get my cooking juices flowing soon enough, six readers. Don't worry.

Mind Altering Baking, with an oven

If you haven't heard of this recipe from the New York Times, get ready because it's truly going to blow your mind. It's not what I made for dinner, but I did make it at dinner time for breakfast, and it will really blow your mind. It's the most delicious, crusty, bakery fresh bread with no work.

Step 1: dump flour, water and yeast in a bowl.

Step 2: stir.

Step 3: cook the next morning.

Click here for the details.

With Cod as my witness

Tonight I bought a piece of cod that apparently was swimming off the frigid waters of New England earlier that morning, and it showed. Fish can seem complicated, but nothing could be easier: Soak it in milk for a minute or two, dip in flour, and pan fry. This is served with kale sauteed with a little chicken broth and some grain mix from Trader Joe's. Thank you, little cod, for jumping into my fry pan.

Election Night Fun

This is what I made to watch the returns:



Terrorist hot dogs in honor of our new President.

(Necessary footnote: The interweb does not have a font for irony, so let me be clear, my friends: I am kidding. I do not think people who wear turbans are terrorists. I do not think Obama is a terrorist. I am beyond excited for the outcome of this election. I saw this in Martha Stewart as Halloween mummy hot dogs and thought it would be funny. )

(Second, unnecessary footnote: Hotdogs lovingly wrapped in biscuit dough from a can are very, very tasty. )

The Pleasure of the Forbidden

Sexy title for a sexy dish. Well, not the part when your hands are covered in shrimp guts. The forbidden in my house is the shellfish allergy of the other half, so when the cat's away the wife gets shrimp.

I stopped on the way home and got 6 shrimp, which was plenty for one person. Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything provide some guidance on how to procede, so thanks, Mark.

1. Set water to boil for pasta if you want it (you can also just serve with bread).

2. Saute a good slug of olive oil with some thinly sliced garlic on low heat until it's brown.

3. Add the shrimp, salt, pepper, a little cumin, and a little paprika.

4. Saute until the shrimp is pink.

5. Pour over pasta, add in some arugula and a little parmesan if you'd like.

Enjoy your forbidden pleasure.

One would think that shellfish would not be something to attempt on a Monday night, and normally I would agree with you, except for mussels. They're cheap, easy (like your Mom...sorry. I can't help myself) and delicious with an added benefit of being low calorie in their pure state. Mondays are no time for ultra low fat, however, so I made mine with half and half.

The Sweet and Low-Down:

Mussels

half and half

shallots (or onions)

parsley

white wine (or vermouth)

garlic

bread

1. Rinse mussels off and pull off anything that looks seaweed-y (most farm musself you get in the supermarket show pretty clean, so don't be put off by the use of the word "seaweed-y").

2. Cook the onions in a few TBSP of butter until tender. Use a large stock pot.

3. In the same pot, bring 2 cups or so of wine to a boil along with the minced shallots , salt and pepper.

4. Add the mussels when boiling and cover. Stir a couple times. They're done when they open up (5 min. or so)

5. Spoon out the mussels into a large bowl, add a 1/2c. or so of half and half, and boil until it looks like a sauce you'd like (5 min. or so).

6. Pour over mussels.

I served this with garlic toast and sauteed zuccini. Tres francais pour Lundi.

Cheap and Easy...

...just like your Mom. Just kidding! More like your college days of rice, beans, and ramen noodles, but without the ramen sodium-bomb.

Tonight's meal: Rice (sort of) and beans.

I had the can of black beans, so this one is very easy: saute a little garlic in a little olive oil. Add a can of black beans. Add about a tablespoon of cumin. That's it. It's amazing how good this tastes.

The rice part was courtesy of this:









This was given to me by a friend in the process of moving. It looked rice-like, and the pepper sure wouldn't hurt. Directions on the package on this one.

I finished her off with grated cheese in a quesadilla cooked in a pan, and of course the obligatory salsa.
College never tasted so good. Except those nights when people were smoking.







Side Bar: This one was a two-for-one deal as well: I fried an egg the next morning and put it on top of the beans and extra quesadillas. Huevos Rancheros on a school day! Que rico....

Def-Summer Pasta Jam

Horrible, horrible, mid-90's play on words there, I know. I'll work up something better the next time I make this.


And I will make it again because I LOVE it. I stole the basic idea from Barbara and Camilla Kingsolver's book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle". It's great because the ingredients are so common in summer, but it's the shapes that make it work, I think- the zucchini is shredded and it's served with orzo, so you can't really tell what's pasta and what's veg. Pretty good for people who say they're not that keen on vegetables- and the addition of cheese always helps.

Here's the how-to:
Take a zucchini and shred it. I use a food processor because I happen to have one, but you can run it over a course grater if you're feeling up to it, or want a quick bicep workout.
Boil the orzo in either plain water or chicken broth if you have it (it makes it a little richer).
Sauteed the shredded zucchini in a little olive oil and butter. Add any or all of the following: chopped garlic, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, greens, fresh herbs, dried herbs, kitchen sink. I sauteed the zucchs with garlic, then added a tomato, and right at the end of the cooking threw in parsley, basil and arugula.

Drain the pasta, add it right to the saute pan, and top with any kind of shredded cheese (Parmesan, mozzarella, even cheddar). Eat out on the porch and enjoy the evening before the snow starts falling.

Food photography is not my forte, or Tomato Pie

I realize this picture does not do the summer-time love of Tomato Pie justice. I almost didn't include it. I will try to make up for the sins of my photography with the recipe. Mea Culpa.

This consists of taking fresh tomatoes (don't bother with this one outside of Aug/Sept), slicing them, and drizzling with olive oil and salt and pepper. Throw some breadcrumbs on top (store bought, or if you have any old bread, put it in a ziploc bag and pound it with something heavy, like the wine you're about to open for that night's dinner), a little Parmesan cheese and bake at 375 for about 20-30 minutes or so until it looks good (or better than this picture). This is really good on its own, or served as an appetizer with bread. Leftovers can be thrown in with pasta for a quick meal the next night. I also added some jarred roasted red peppers because I had them, but they are optional.

This meal will be a sweet reverie this winter as you contemplate the sad, hard tomato at your work salad bar.

Eggplant Parmasagna

(That's not bad Italian on my part, I'm trying to hyphanate "parmasaen" and "lasagna").
Coming into the kitchen tonight, I was faced with a giant eggplant that I bought because it seemed like a good idea, but had since sat on my counter for a few days. The culprit was this:

The tomatoes in the picture gave me the Italian spin, so there it was: Eggplant Parm. I salted the eggplant (here's how) and let it sit for a bit. I made a pesto in the food processor by mixing a handful of parsley, some nuts (I had hazelnuts), garlic and olive oil. The tomatoes got sauteed them with some butter and basil. As I was looking for the basil, I spied a package of lasagna noodles, and that's where things got tasty.
Here's the nitty gritty:

1. Salt eggplant.
2. Cook tomatoes with some butter, salt and pepper, and basil.
3. Mix ricotta with pesto.
4. Cook noodles.
5. Take eggplant, dip in milk, then breadcrumbs.
6. Briefly fry eggplant (don't use too much oil- eggplant will suck up as much as you put in)
7. Layer all of the above in a pan.
8. Bake at 375 until the dinner companions show up (30-40 min).

The finished product:










Product is much tastier than may appear.