Easy eggplant

Mise en place


Bittman's column the other day had a guest author write up an easy approach to Eggplant Parm. We tried it tonight and we both enjoyed it - give it a try. It is much easier than dipping slices of eggplant, breading them and then layering them with cheese and sauce.

Bread crumbs -
1/2 cup grated cheese, I used romano
1 cup panko, I mixed panko and regular seasoned crumbs
1/2 t salt
1/4 t black pepper
3 T olive oil
2 t parsley

Eggplant -
1 cup red grape tomatoes and 1 cup yellow grape tomatoes
14 basil leaves
1/4 red pepper flakes
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1 and 1/4 cups tomato puree, I used diced tomatoes
5 large cloves garlic - thinly sliced
2 pounds eggplant, peeled and cubed into 1 inch chunks (I used two medium eggplants)
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup fresh mozzarella

Approach - in a medium bowl, combine grated cheese, crumbs, salt, pepper, olive oil and parsley. Mix well until crumbs are evenly coated with oil. For the eggplant, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine both tomatoes, basil, pepper flakes, salt, pepper, tomato puree, garlic, eggplant and 1/3 cup olive oil. Add half the breading mixture. Mix until thoroughly combined. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 baking dish and top with remaining crumbs and then placed sliced mozzarella on top. Cook uncovered until top is lightly browned, about one hour. Let rest and serve. Drizzle a bit of extra oil on top as you serve.

A bit on the gross side - but fun.

We made fun cupcakes tonight. Sarah's copy of What's New, Cupcake provided the inspiration for two cupcakes and one munchie. Sarah, Graham and I actually had the courage to consume a cupcake.

Webster Deep Dish Pizza

This one is a cinch - preheat oven to 500 degrees and start with basic pizza dough. After it has risen, roll it flat, throw it (show off!) or simply press it into the bottom of a cast iron frying pan, go right up the sides. Then add your goodies. I put in the pizza for 10 minutes at 500 before turning the oven down to 400 degrees. I pulled the pie once the crust on the top edge was nice and brown. It was in for an additional 15 minutes after I turned it down to 400. I let it set on the cutting board for about ten minutes before cutting to let it set up a bit. I regret the strength of the onions, they needed a bit of advance cooking to tone them down. They could have been in the pan with the mushrooms while those were frying up with a tablespoon of butter. It really has everything but the kitchen sink in it as you can see - mozzarella, ricotta, goat cheese, peppers, onions (whew), pepperoni, mushrooms, artichokes and tomato sauce. A cold beer is all you need to be good to go. That's a damn big piece of pizza by the way. Addendum - we made a Seattle version that included a top crust with a filling including black beans. Woot.