I feel so worn out, I have no idea what's up with me! But don't fret - I'm still busy in the kitchen!
Andy's work had a dip contest today and he asked me to make something for him. So I made some more pretzel bites with beer cheese. And you know what?! It got 2nd place!
Even better... Andy's chocolate concoction of a dip won 1st place. So really - we both won - and I don't even work there!
So because I'm in a "dippy" sort of mood, I figured I'd post another good one. This is practically one of the only dishes I can solidly eat eggplant in. It's goes good with tortilla chips, toasted bread, and even all by itself!
1 large eggplant juice from 1 lemon 1/4 cup shaved Parmesan 2 garlic cloves, minced 2 tablespoons tahini salt and pepper, to taste 1 tablespoon olive oil small handful parsley, chopped 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional) tortilla chips toasted baguette slices
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Pierce the eggplant all over with a fork. Drizzle with some olive oil and wrap in aluminum foil. Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes.
Unwrap eggplant and allow to cool until safe enough to handle.
Set a colander over a bowl. Cut the eggplant in half and scoop out the pulp from both halves. Place in colander and allow to drain for about 5 minutes.
Transfer pulp to a food processor and pulse a few times. Add lemon juice, garlic, tahini, Parmesan, and cayenne pepper (if desired). Pulse until you reach your desired texture (I like mine on the chunky side!). Season with salt and pepper.
Place filling into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in fridge for at least 30 minutes, to allow flavors to meld.
Stir in fresh parsley and drizzle olive oil over top (if desired) before serving. Serve alongside toasted baguette slices and homemade tortilla chips.
This is quite tasty - and if you're looking for something on the healthy side for game day - this might be it! Have a great rest of your day guys!
Well... I think Karma has finally come and bitten me in the ass. Two of my very favorite things are now broken. #1... Andy. We were playing a slightly competitive game of tennis on Monday afternoon, and he went to charge the ball and ended up smack dab on the pavement instead. He had reconstructive surgery on his ACL a few years ago and he thinks he may have just jarred something loose or whathaveyou. But he's looked like a poor puppy dog ever since. He's on crutches and everything. However, today he did say that it was starting to feel better, although he's still going to gingerly nurse it. Crossing my fingers he gets better soon, because honestly, I hate walking the dogs and doing more chores than I have to. (I'll do them if I have to, but seriously, Andy babies me too much so I'm used to living a cushier life, hehe).
And #2... probably more heartbreaking than #1, although it's a pretty close call... my camera lense. Yup, I went a whole year without dropping my camera, losing it, having a dog eat it, etc... But yesterday, of all days... Andy came home and set his crutches down on the computer desk, they slid, and knocked into my camera, that was on it's tripod, and the lense went face first into the wooden floor. While nothing shattered, something is essentially jarred loose and my lense will not function. (insert VERY sad face here). And no, I'm not mad at Andy. Like I said, he's a cripple, and it wasn't intentional, and I partly blame myself. Mainly because the camera was set up on the LEFT side of the computer, where it NEVER is. And it's usually sitting on the RIGHT side of the computer, and if it had been there, we wouldn't be having this sad conversation. So no one truly is to blame, and my heart breaks mainly because Andy felt like a pile of crap after he did it, but I can't be mad... because honestly... it gave me an excuse to order a macro lense. Which I should receive on Friday... so all is well.
But anyway, on a normal Wednesday, I would have a lovely photo of the array of goodies we received in our CSA, but no, blame Andy for a pictureless CSA today. (Hehe... just kidding Andy... I love you!)
But what we did end up getting in our CSA is exciting, so just let your imagination make a picture for you:
- 2 lbs. potatoes
- 2 lbs. pears
- 2 lbs. black apples (more black apples, yay!)
- 3 sweet dumpling squashes
- 2 delicata squashes
- 1/2 lb. okra
So any ideas of what to do with this bounty? Let me hear it!
Oh, and I suppose you guys want a recipe! Eggplant is one of those things... you either love it or you hate it... or you just don't understand it. I fall in to the latter category. The only thing I know how to use eggplant in is eggplant parmesan. But there's only so much eggplant parmesan one can have before getting bored. So this dip, which can be eaten with tortilla, pita, whatever kinda chips you want! It's tasty and refreshing, and definitely a different way of using up that eggplant!
Ingredients:
1 small eggplant 3 garlic cloves (still in skins, if possible) salt and pepper to taste 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon sesame seeds juice from 1 lemon
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Wrap the eggplant in aluminum foil. Set the eggplant and garlic cloves on a baking sheet and bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until eggplant and garlic cloves have softened. The garlic may be done before the eggplant, so just take it out when you see fit.
Let eggplant cool for just a moment, or until you can safely touch it. Carefully peel off skin and add eggplant to a medium bowl. Push out garlic from skins and add to bowl as well.
Mix in salt, pepper, olive oil, sesame seeds, and lemon juice. Using a potato masher, mash ingredients together until well combined. If you like your dip a bit smoother, you can even use an immersion blender instead of a potato masher. But me, I like the texture of having a few chunks in the dip, so I stuck with the masher.
Serve with your choice of chips and enjoy!
Andy isn't one to like eggplant, but he said this dip was pretty solid! Seriously, if I hadn't made this myself, I don't think I would have known it was even eggplant dip! So if you're looking for something different to munch on or make use of your eggplants, this might be a winner for you!
First of all, when I found out that I was a contestant on Foodie Fights I think I almost went ballistic. It was like that feeling you get when you get that neon pink Barbie Big Wheel for your 4th birthday. Yeah... it felt THAT awesome.
Then, I go to check out the secret ingredients and I just slumped. Eggplant?! I don't ever cook with eggplant. What the heck am I going to do with that thing?
And as the day progressed, all that I kept thinking about was fritter, fritter, fritter. Everything tastes good fried. Haven't had a single thing that was fried that wasn't good. So let's give this eggplant thing a try.
Before I could even start, I had to do my research. Had to check out my opponents, all of whom look like they know their stuff. Found out that eggplant has "nicotinoid alkaloids." And you're thinking... whata whata whata-oids?? Basically, a close relative to tobacco. So light bulb! Let's do a play on that and make eggplant cigars! I had extra wonton wrappers from making some tarts a few days ago and it'd be perfect.
During my research, I learned that eggplant is a good absorber. So I cranked the oven up to 450 degrees, salted and drizzled my 1 somewhat medium, somewhat large, purple eggplant and stuck it in the oven to roast.
So while I waited for the eggplant to roast, I started making a little medley in my food processor: 1 halfway seeded jalapeno pepper, 3 garlic cloves, 1 cobb of corn (taken off the cobb, of course), and 1/2 of an onion. Pulsed it to get a little chunky chutney of sorts and set it aside.
About 20-25 minutes later, my eggplant was hissing at me so I knew it wanted to get out. I let it cool for a few minutes and then peeled the skin. Now this next part is quite important. The eggplant, being the good absorber that it is, it very much made up of water and liquid, just like it's cousin the tomato, so it's very essential that you strain the eggplant! I left mine in a strainer on top of a bowl for about 30 minutes, checking on it every 5-10 minutes to turn it over or press it down to release some juices.
When the eggplant looks like it's about through leaking, I did a rough slice and put it in the food processor. Add salt, pepper, and a swig or two of white wine. Pulse a few times until well mixed and eggplant is kind of mushy, but still somewhat chunky. Add eggplant to corn chutney mixture.
In a separate bowl, combine 1 beaten egg, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 2 tablespoons flour, and 1 tablespoon softened butter. Fold in eggplant mixture.
Fill large pot or saucepan with about 2 inches of vegetable oil and place on medium to high heat. You'll know when it's hot enough when you can flick some water on it and it sizzles. Or you can take it's temperature if you want to play on the safe side, about 350-375 degrees.
Take out your wonton wrapper and put a small spoonful of eggplant mixture in middle of wrapper. Roll up into cigars and fry until brown on all sides, about 2-3 minutes. As they brown, place on paper towel lined plate to dry.
And wait, the title says DOUBLE FRIED. I had some tempura batter in the pantry so I decided to dip the fried cigars into that and fry for a second time. The tempura gives it a kind of sweet taste that makes you forget the cholesterol worries of anything deep fried.
And wait, the recipe says cakes... don't get me wrong, the cigars were divine, but I had so much eggplant mixture, I had to have a back up plan in case the wonton wrappers didn't work. So I pretty much just took the filling and pattied them out into cakes, and followed the same procedure as the cigars. Just as good, if not better! Andy was the true taste-tester and did say he liked the cake better, but it was a tough decision.
To set everything off, I made a white wine "icing." After all, you can't have cake without icing.
In a small saucepan, combine 1/2 cup white wine (I used a dry chardonnay), 1 cup heavy cream and bring to a boil. Add salt, pepper, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, and grated aged Emmentaler cheese. I also threw in a pinch of garlic powder. Let sauce cool away from stove.
When the sauce cooled, I didn't like how thin it was, after all, it was supposed to be "icing." So I took out my electric beater and started whipping it. It got a tad bit thicker and it was perfect. The taste, the texture, and now it was time to see if it worked well with the cake.
I split one of the cakes and slowly dipped it in the "icing." My fingers trembled as I slowly brought it to my mouth to have a bite. "Please be good, please be good." I crossed my fingers, took a chomp, and O-M-G... I was in heaven. The sauce was the savory component to the sweet cake. It was perfect and I was pleased!
For my first ever Foodie Fight, if I don't impress anyone, I can still be happy to know that I greatly impressed myself. I was able to really think on the fly, with a down right challenging ingredient, and pull something out and have it taste delicious. This has been a true learning experience for me and just proved to myself more that I just LOVE LOVE LOVE to cook.
Fritter/Cigar Mixture:
1 cobb of corn, corn kernels sliced off. 1 jalapeno, halfway seeded 1/2 medium onion 1 medium to large sized eggplant 3 garlic cloves 1 egg, beaten 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 tablespoons flour 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened salt and pepper to taste tempura batter mix wonton wrappers, for cigars vegetable oil, for frying
White Wine Icing:
1/2 cup white wine 1 cup heavy cream 1 teaspoon dried oregano grated aged Emmentaler cheese (no specific amount, just as much as you want) pinch of garlic powder salt and pepper to taste
