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.