Stacks of Eggplant... or, What I Did for Halloween... or Damn You Meatless Monday!

This is just the second Halloween we've had with Turtle.  This year he was a monkey.  We, of course, played along when everyone called him curious George.  It was a fun Halloween.  He understood it a little better this year.  He still can't eat candy, but that's okay...  I can.

But we also deal with Mom coming home, needing to have dinner ready, getting out to the shops before they are out of Halloween candy and they no longer are in a treat mood.

Here in NYC, we do Halloween differently.  We don't go to people's homes.  At least not in most neighborhoods.  Nobody has candy in the apartment buildings, you can't exactly buzz in every kid, and we live in a place with lots of apartment buildings, not so many single family homes.  Even in Astoria.

So, instead you go to the main strip and you hit the shops.

It works for us.

But with so much happening, dad needed something easy for this meatless Halloween Monday.  And it's something Turtle loved...  and I mean, LOVED.

Eggplant Parm - My Way.

It's pretty simple.  Here's what you need:

two eggplants

panko flakes (bread crumbs)

1 or 2 eggs

sea salt

pepper

fresh mozzarella

fresh basil

a good tomato sauce

Yeah, that's it.  And NO oil.  yup.  No oil.

First, peel your eggplant.  If you don't like it because it's bitter, get rid of the rind.  I have this fantastic serrated peeler and it's like slicing through butter.  Once peeled, cut nice round slices of eggplant, about 1/4 inch thick.  Set them on a baking sheet lined with a tea towel.  sprinkle a little sea salt on them.  Just a pinch.  Let them sit.  You're pulling excess moisture out.  Eggplants are like little sponges.

This is the reason I'm not using oil.  If you're oil isn't hot enough, you're basically eating an oil sponge.

So, give your eggplant time to rest.  Just set them aside for half an hour of so.  You can do dishes, make cookies, teach your child French....

You back?  Good.  Crank up your oven to 400 degrees.  Now wipe the moisture off the eggplant and set up an egg wash/breading system.

Don't look at me like that.   It's easy.

Okay, get two small baking dishes.  Crack and whip a couple eggs into one, pour your panko into the other.  Add a little salt and pepper into your panko.  Don't use regular bread crumbs.  It won't work.  You want Japanese style panko.  They look like flaky grape nuts.  The flakes give a nice crunchy crispiness and hold up to the moisture of the eggplant.  Regular bread crumbs won't.

Okay, take a slice of eggplant, toss it into your egg, flip it over, shake off the excess and toss it into the panko.  Toss panko crumbs over the other side.  You don't need a heavy coating of bread crumbs.  You just need them very lightly dusted with panko.  You want crunch, not a battered eggplant doughnut.

Set your newly dusted eggplant on a baking sheet.  (like it with parchment or use a silpat.  If you don't have a silpat, consider getting one.  It will save you work (in cleaning your pan or prying overcooked cookies off your baking sheet) and money (in parchment).  Continue with the eggplant, egg, panko, baking sheet assembly until your sheet is full.

Put the sheet into the oven.  Let them cook for between 5-10 minutes.  Your panko will brown and your eggplant will be soft and tender.  Go ahead, grab one and eat it...

Yummy right?  It's only the beginning.

Now's the fun part.  While the eggplant are cooking, take your basil out and put it into a huge bowl.  Now fill it with cold water.  Shake out your basil in the water.  Take them out, empty the water (and the newly discovered sand in the bottom of your bowl), rinse the bowl, fill it with water and put the basil in again.  Do this four times.  Nothing worse than biting into gritty sandy basil.

Once your basil is clean, set it aside on a towel.

Cut your fresh mozzarella into small discs the size of the eggplant.

As you take your eggplant out of the oven, put them on a cooling rack.  Let them cool completely.  Except the one's you eat.  Warm, they're terribly yummy.  Kind of what I imagine crack to be like... just plain addictive.

When your eggplant is cool, take a baking dish, like the ones you used for the egg and panko!

Hey, convenient.

Put a spoonful of sauce on the bottom of the pan and spread it out in a thin layer.  Then begin assembling.

eggplant

mozzarella

sauce

basil

eggplant

mozzarella

sauce

basil.

Just do three to four layers.  You're building little towers.  They don't have to be too big.  Better to eat two perfect ones than one big leaning, falling over, sloppy, tasty mess.

You can now set these aside until you want to bake them for dinner.  Relax, get your kid into his costume and convince him that the monkey isn't just his friend, he's a costume and it's okay for him to get inside.  Try not to think of The Empire Strikes Back and Luke Skywalker getting into his crazy two legged horse thingy while putting your son into George his friend...  the monkey.

When you decide you're ready to eat, preheat the oven to 325 degrees and pop them in for about 10-15 minutes.  Done.

Eat.

Relish in their simple goodness.  The perfect eggplant parm without having to fry them in oil, without the mess, without the soggy wetness of oil soaked eggplant.  I will say that if you want to drizzle a little good olive oil over it, you can... but you don't need to. 

If you have questions, email me.

Let me know what you think!

Beef Bourguignon, or How I Spent My Summer Hurricane

The nice thing about a hurricane is that you know pretty well in advance that it's coming. It's not like a Tornado that just decides to drop out of the sky, throw your belongings into the next county and bid you a good day. I have experienced three tornadoes. Two were far away, but I got to watch them drop. The third was spent in the shelter that is the Alabama Shakespeare Festival stage...

Shouldn't all shelters be theaters? What a nice idea.

Back to the hurricane.

Irene came for a visit. A couple days before I thought it might be a good idea to stock up on some things... supplies for a good batch of ice cream (see previous post) and something warm that I could cook all day and have lots of leftovers.

I am not a recipe kind of guy. Having grown up in a kitchen and spent many years working with food, I'm pretty good at faking it. (Reason #1 why it took a lot of work to learn to bake. There's no faking in baking... I just made that up. Genius.) So, I glanced at a few recipes and played with it a little and... well, let's just say it was a happy hurricane.

I know it's not hurricane season, but it's getting cooler and here's a great recipe to share with your family. Turtle loved it. The Missus did, too. My kid is pretty open and adventuresome when eating. At 18 months, he appreciates a good Beef Bourguignon.

So, here it is.

This recipe makes enough for 4. (Or two and a half with leftovers.)

Ingredients

 For the stew

2 pounds boneless stew beef, such as chuck or sirloin tip, cut into large chunks. I went with a good grass fed cut from a trusted butcher.

1 tablespoons pork fat or olive oil, plus more if needed.

You're only going to use the following veggies to flavor your stock and your meat. This is not the time to impress with your knife skills.

1 carrots, peeled and halved

1 onions, peeled and halved

2 cloves garlic, just crushed

1/8 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 bottle red wine

2 cups beef stock

1 bouquet garni (made from bay leaf, parsley stems, and thyme sprigs)

For the garnish

1/2 tablespoon olive oil, plus more if needed

3 to 4 slices bacon, cut into lardons

(Lardons are a French bacon. You can buy them cut into cubes or strips. I got some fantastic locally produced thick cut bacon, trimmed them into small strips and used half for this recipe and froze the other half to use in all kinds of dishes. Who doesn't like bacon. the way the French use it is amazing. Rather than downing five or six strips on a Sunday morning, they use a little in darn near everything. Brilliant.)

20 baby onions, peeled (this takes time and is a bit of a bugger, but totally worth it. Baby onions are also known as Cocktail Onions or Cipolline.)

12 ounces mushrooms

Directions

Remove the meat from the refrigerator and bring to room temperature, about 20 minutes. Do not skip this step.

Heat the oil in a large casserole. Working in batches, brown the stew meat well on all sides, removing as you go.

Don't toss all the meat in at once. You want to brown the meat, not steam it. Small batches. Brown it all the way around. Trust me.

When the meat is done, cook the carrots and onions in the same pot until tender and lightly golden. Add the garlic, and cook one minute. Add the flour and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Toss it all into the crock pot. Pour over the wine and the stock. Add the bouquet garni. Put your browned meat in the pot, cover, and cook that sucker all day long, until your meat is very tender.

If you are using an enameled cast iron dutch oven or a pot that can go from stovetop to oven, or don't have a crock pot, pre-heat your oven to about 325 and do everything in just one pot. Put everything into the oven until your meat is very tender, about two hours.

While the meat cooks, prepare the garnish: Heat the oil, in a pan and brown the bacon, and remove.

Add the onions and cook until browned all over, remove. Finally, brown the mushrooms, and remove. Deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup water, reduce, and then pour over the garnish. Set aside.

When the meat is done, remove it from the pot. Strain the stock, discarding the vegetables. Pour the liquid back into a pot, and boil until thick enough to coat a spoon. Return the meat to the pan and add the garnish. Cover, and simmer until the onions are tender and the flavors have blended, 10 minutes. Adjust the seasonings. Serve.

Pair these with a good potatoes, some brussell sprouts sauteed in garlic or whatever veggie floats your boat and dig in.

A nice home made black tea ice cream and warm brownie is always a good way to end the meal.

Food!

I’ve long believed that food is love. 

Angie and I never had a conversation about the division of labor in our home.  Things just sort of fell into place.  We each have a different skill set and for some reason mine included a number of domestic skills. 

Blame my mother.

Or my grandmothers.

Or the numerous kitchens in which I worked to pay for my first car, prom, rent, drums, all the crap I accumulated in my twenties…

Angie’s skills - her patience, her tact, her singleness of purpose and focus, lend themselves to what she does.   I have not mastered these skills.

So… I happen to cook.  And as the stay at home pater familias, it’s a skill that should serve me well.

Unless Angie’s craving happens to be jelly beans.

Like now.  Nothing I can do about that other than hike to the bodega in search of jelly beans.  (Damn you “The Middle” and your jelly bean in the car storyline.

I jumped down to the farmers’ market today.   It’s a perfect fall day.  Heirloom tomatoes the size of soccer balls.  Fresh herbs.  Macoun apples.  (Some of which Angie will make into applesauce and some will find their way into a tart Tartine.)  I’m planning ahead for when we make our own baby food.

I’m finding that comfort food is something Angie craves.  Especially if you consider pastrami from Katz’ comfort food.  Which in NYC, we do.

I worked my special chili today.  No ground meat.  (The way we get our ground beef in this country should really be a crime.) 

We’re doing some tomato goat cheese tarts, the afore mentioned apple pie, I’ll be baking baguettes, Angela will be working the applesauce and we’re making granola.

What goes into your mate’s body also goes into your child.  We’re only doing whole foods; real food. 

And no high fructose corn syrup.   Guess she won’t be getting jelly beans after all. (Don’t believe the ads put out by the corn industry… the sugars in hfcs are a processed sugar your body doesn’t know what to do with.  It may just be a coincidence, but since we’ve replaced sugar with hfcs, rates of autism have risen as have rates of obesity…  would rather not risk putting that into my child.)

So, in the sense of community, I’m putting out a call for suggestions…  What do I feed her? 

Send your recipes!  I might share my magic chili.