TWENTY-THREE & TWENTY-FOUR : HAM PARTY!

PLENTY

NOVEMBER 02 2012

TWENTY-THREE : EGGPLANT CROQUETTES
TWENTY-FOUR : QUINOA & GRILLED SOURDOUGH SALAD

It's Friday night and I'm cooking up a ham the size of my head! The big boy, slathered in a mix of jalapeno jelly and whole-grain mustard, has been slowly baking for the last couple of hours and requires little attention. So I can focus on the other dishes while keeping an eye on the Blazer game. I'm planning to greet my dinner guests with hot, crispy eggplant croquettes then serve the ham with mashed potatoes, sauteed kale, Mr. O's Quinoa & Grilled Sourdough Salad and lots o' wine.

The croquettes worry me because I never deep-fry at home. Don't get me wrong, I really, really love fried foods, but I just know I'll run into trouble... grease splatters, left-over oil to deal with, realizing how easy it is and eating everything breaded and fried from now on. But tonight, it's on! First I need to blacken the eggplant but the broiler isn't really getting the job done so I transfer them out to the grill. The recipe calls for "4 medium eggplant"; I had two small ones from the garden and bulked them up with another three from the store.

garden eggplants in the front

EIGHTEEN : SWEET CORN POLENTA WITH EGGPLANT SAUCE

PLENTY

SEPTEMBER 25 2012

EIGHTEEN : SWEET CORN POLENTA WITH EGGPLANT SAUCE

We grew corn this year, for the very first time, and it was insanely good. Our little square of rustling stalks were waaaay above our knees by the 4th of July, the most ambitious plants reaching up to tickle my chin. But we worried they wouldn't produce since we only had 12 plants (three rows of four) and corn is "open-wind pollinated and needs neighboring corn plants for good formulation of well-filled ears of corn". Our concerns, it turned out, were unfounded and the cobs grew fat and sweet. One day, we suddenly realized the corn was ripe and we should be eating it. So I pulled a few cobs off the plants, took three steps and dropped them right onto the grill to cook. So good! Sweet, earthy and amazingly fresh.

THIRTY-EIGHT & THIRTY-NINE : FROZEN DINNERS AND A FRESH START

Delia Smith's Winter Collection

JUNE 01 2012

THIRTY-EIGHT : BLACK BEAN CHILLI WITH AVOCADO SALSA
THIRTY-NINE : VEGETARIAN MOUSSAKA

It's a very strange thing to lose one's mojo. Mine has been elusive for a few months now and, although I know why it has now departed, I'm not sure exactly how to get it back. It lurks around corners, almost within reach, but as soon as I catch it's eye my mind drifts off and I lose focus. "Oh well", I shrug. It has become so much easier these days to think of nothing rather than that which occupies my mind entirely. So I sit in the backyard, avoiding all thought, and instead watch the little finches gorge themselves on thistle seed.

But as spring swings into summer and my garden offers up the first few radishes, I'm reminded again of what I'm missing. So how best to lure it back? The answer is pretty clear. Start doing again what I love to do... garden, cook and share it all with my friends.

SEVENTY-ONE & SEVENTY-TWO : BASTARD THANKSGIVING

DECEMBER 10 2011


SEVENTY-ONE : RICOTTA CROSTINI
SEVENTY-TWO : SWEET-AND-SOUR BAKED EGGPLANT WITH MINT & RICOTTA SALATA

I know dishes from an Italian cookbook aren't exactly traditional, but I am taking any opportunity possible to cross off recipes, so today Thanksgiving went Italian! I chose a couple recipes I thought would fit nicely with the turkey and stuffing, and I think these were quite appropriate.

The crostini is very simple. Brush sliced baguette with parsley oil, toast, then top with a dollop of ricotta cheese, a sprinkle of salt and a drizzle of olive oil. I felt like being extra fancy, so I decided to make the ricotta myself. I've done it before with pretty good success and it's not a difficult thing. I did try a new method: heating the milk in the microwave instead of on the stove top. Everything went quite well except I somehow ended up with way less finished cheese than I expected.

fresh homemade ricotta

SIXTY-FIVE : EGGPLANT MARINARA W/ MOZZARELLA SANDWICH

NOVEMBER 19 2011

It's probably so predictable that once I spend most of the afternoon baking a big dish of eggplant marinara from page 137, I will then take the leftovers and make the eggplant marinara sandwiches on page 58. Duh! Especially since there were only two of us taking on 6 huge servings so we had tons of leftovers.

Per my amazing plan, after watching multiple hours of football (the Beavs actually won!), I refueled us with a couple big, hot, delicious sandwiches. So easy too! Just chop up a cup of marinara per sandwich and warm it in a skillet. Once it's "too hot to the touch", it's heaped onto the ciabatta rolls and the whole hot mess is covered with a thick topping of fresh mozzarella. That's it. Eat it!

SIXTY-FOUR : EGGPLANT MARINARA

NOVEMBER 18 2011

I know what you're thinking... "didn't you already make eggplant marinara?" It's true, I did. But that was the shortcut version for losers who can't plan 8 hours in advance for dinner. THIS is the REAL DEAL. Thankfully, I already had the 3 cups of tomato sauce waiting in the freezer, so dinner tonight only took a completely reasonable 4 hours.

thank you, Past Day, for making me this sauce

Not much changes, really, from the shortcut version except this one bakes for an entirely rational 3-1/2 hours instead of one sad, paltry hour. Plus the sauce is the full recipe instead of a quickie made by poor planners who are willing to accept a sub-par meal.

TWENTY-FIVE : GRILLED VEGETABLES

JULY 17 2011

This one is pretty much just like it sounds... slice some veggies and grill them. And it's sooooo good!! In the summer, I regularly toss veggies with olive oil and throw them on the grill until lightly charred. It's the best solution I've found for my annual zucchini overload. So I barely felt like I was following a recipe at all. 

But follow it I did. I tossed 2 sliced eggplants, 2 sliced zucchini, 1 sliced red onion and 2 quartered bell peppers with minced garlic, salt and... wait for it... 1 cup of olive oil (!!).

FIVE ~ SIX : QUICK EGGPLANT MARINARA

JUNE 15 2011

FIVE : FENNEL, CELERY ROOT, PARSLEY & RED ONION SALAD WITH LEMON & OLIVE OIL
SIX : EGGPLANT MARINARA ("QUICK EGGPLANT FIX" VERSION)

My plan was to make the eggplant marinara when I got home from work today. But I hadn't thoroughly read the recipe and didn't realize it took 7.5 hours! Four hours to simmer the tomato sauce then 3.5 hours to bake the assembled dish. Oh man! That means we would be eating at approximately midnight.

Lucky for me, the Frankies acknowledged that 7.5 hours is a long time to wait for dinner so they included a short-cut version that only takes 2.5 hours. I can handle that! But I got to get that sauce going as it has to simmer for an hour.

Hmm... somehow I don't have any Pecorino Romano or fresh mozzarella. Dang! Gonna have to go to the store while the sauce simmers. Note to self: read the recipes thoroughly and make sure I have every ingredient on my shopping list!