To say that my husband was in food ecstasy when I made this is almost an understatement. He swooned. Hmm – do men swoon? Well, for sure he purred! Eggplant Parmesan is one of his all-time favorite meals. And I haven’t made it in years because the usual method uses SO much oil to fry the eggplant. Not any more, with this recipe. It’s a keeper.

When we dine out at an Italian restaurant, my DH almost always orders Eggplant Parmesan. He adores it, and no matter how big the portion, he eats it all. A few times over the 30+ years of our marriage I’ve made it at home, and just cringed at all the oil the eggplant soaks up during the browning/frying process. And how heavy it tasted when you eat it – from all that oil. Eggplant is like a sponge!

Then I read this recipe over at Food52. It struck a chord for me. The raw eggplant first gets lightly floured and baked – then you use the slightly dried planks to layer the casserole. You also simmer down (reduce) a tomato type sauce until it’s thick. And of course there’s Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese AND some fresh Mozzie.

I will give you a heads-up here – it takes a bit of time to make this. A lot more than I’d anticipated, at least. I should have used 2 of my big baking sheets to roast the eggplant – but still, you’ll have to make at least 2 batches of eggplant to roast/dry out in the oven.

After baking the eggplant slices, this (at left) is what I got. Maybe the two on the left toward the top you can see how “crisp” they are, sticking out sideways as they are. That’s why I call them PLANKS. There is still some moisture in them, but not much. They’re not dry like toast or chips. But a good bit of the water in the eggplant has been baked out of them, so they totally hold their shape. They need to bake at least 30 minutes (15 minutes per side), and you want them to get just a bit golden brown.

Meanwhile, I made the sauce – it’s nothing but good canned tomatoes (use San Marzano brand if you can), some shallot and a bit of herbs (I added the herbs – they weren’t in the original recipe). You need to simmer the tomatoes over a relatively low heat – once it gets thick it’s going to sputter out and all over, so I used a mesh cover. It won’t reduce if you leave a lid on the pan as the point is to evaporate the extra water in the tomatoes.

Now you can see the casserole as I began to layer it. I’d made the sauce while the eggplant was baking. I pulled out a big wide casserole dish and put a bit of sauce in the bottom so the eggplant wouldn’t stick. I layered in some eggplant first (the Food52 contributor says press the pieces in like a jigsaw puzzle), then some little globs of sauce that I spread around some, some Parmesan, then a new layer. In one of the middle layers you’ll use the mozzarella. I used more Parmigiano-Reggiano than the recipe called for – and I like an ample amount on the top.

Outside of Italy, until the other day, I’d never had [water] buffalo-milk Mozzarella. My guess is that most restaurants don’t use it. I’d never cooked with it for sure. Why? I don’t know – just cuz I’ve thought that the cow’s milk mozzie was good enough. Well, I’m here to tell you, there is a HUGE difference between cow’s milk mozzie and buffalo-milk mozzie. True mozzie is made with the milk from water buffalo, but then, you all knew that already, right? And it has a wholly different taste. Whereas cow’s milk mozzie is bland, this stuff is positively umami in every way. I bought an 8-ounce little tub of it at Trader Joe’s, and it was a couple dollars more than the cow’s milk version. It was one big ball, which I sliced as thinly as I could. I took a taste. Oh my! It was full-flavored, broad, deep. Wonderful. It’s a bit sour – kind of like the difference between cow cheese and goat cheese. But the umami – it’s there – like you get in balsamic vinegar, anchovies, chiles, mushrooms.

The umami flavor aspect is kind of like the difference between cottage cheese and goat cheese. Or white bread and wheat grain. Or instant oatmeal and steel cut.

So, when you make this, do go to the extra trouble to find and buy buffalo-milk mozzarella. Truly it makes a difference. And I suggest you taste it. I may never use cow’s milk mozzie again. It’s that good.

If I make this again – oh yes, I WILL be doing that – I’ll be sure to have at least 6 layers of eggplant. I managed to have just 4 (because one of the eggplants we bought was spoiled – couldn’t tell from looking at the skin), so I made do with 2 pounds of eggplant (6 small servings). It was a little bit on the thin side (see picture at top). Not that it made any difference in the taste.  There at left you can see the casserole just before I stuck it in the oven. Not all that exciting looking, but wait until you taste it!

What’s GOOD: Oh my goodness, where do I start. Taste, texture, even the eggplant itself. The umami is all over the place. Worth the trouble. Make extra – you’ll be SO glad to have left overs!
What’s NOT: As I mentioned, it takes some time to make. Allow over an hour to prep the eggplant (unless you have 2 ovens – I do, but I used only one, so it took longer, of course), and at least another 30 minutes to do the rest of the prep. Baking will take about 30-40 minutes, plus some resting time (or you’ll burn your mouth big-time). So, that’s over 2 hours. Not a dish you can make after work unless you have other helping hands.

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This came about because I was listening to NPR’s “All Things Considered,” the “Found Recipes” segment. You may THINK this sandwich doesn’t sound or look all that worthy of a blog post, but I’m telling you it absolutely IS good, if not fantastic.

So, the NPR program was all about mid-summer favorite dishes. Listeners were invited to send (or call) in their suggestions and the story that went along with the recipe, and the list was narrowed down to 3. Those 3 contenders’ stories (in their voices) were featured on the program, then listeners were asked to vote for their favorite. This recipe was the winner, and when I listened to the 3 stories, this is the one that stood out in my mind too. It was so unusual, I just had to try it myself.  (The other two stories were about a strawberry trifle and a spicy cole slaw).

We don’t keep sharp cheddar on hand, so we needed that, and a hothouse cucumber. And by the way, the author says it’s really important to have sharp cheddar, not medium or mild. The slice does not need to be all that thick to do its job. We have good grainy bread, but at the last minute I decided to make it with the super-soft white bread I had in the freezer. Usually the bread I use is a thin sandwich bread, but my DH bought the wrong kind. Oh well, no matter.

According to the story from Marti Oleson (an elementary school librarian), she used to work with Diane Dickey of the recipe’s name, but the recipe, if you can call it that – yes, it IS a recipe – was from Diane’s Dad. Hence the full title. According to the story – this sandwich, composed of bread, peanut butter, onion, tomato, cucumber and cheddar cheese – must be made in a specific stacking order. Here’s the exact order, from the bottom up . . .

P – peanut butter, CRUNCHY

O – onion

Cu – cucumber

T – tomato

Ch – cheddar, SHARP

My brain is getting old and remembering that order was going to be a problem, so I needed an acronym – POCU-TouCH. Not quite remember-able. but maybe it will stick in my brain. I’ve added the ou in the middle just because it helps to make a word –  and added the u for cucumber and the h for cheddar. Got it? Okay, good.

The full sandwich (2 regular slices, preferably grainy bread) uses 2 T. of crunchy peanut butter. I made a half a sandwich, so of course, used just 1 T. crunchy peanut butter. I also soaked the regular  onions in some acidulated water (1/2 c water, 1 T white vinegar) because I’m not so crazy about raw onions. Nor did I want to buy a sweet onion (they’re expensive) for just one slice of it. Soaking doesn’t take out the crunch from a regular onion, but it removes the rawness from the onion. I had a beautiful yellow heirloom tomato with just a few tinges of red on it. I sprinkled the tomato with salt and pepper, then added the thinly sliced hothouse cucumber, and finally the 2 thin-thin slices of sharp cheddar.

I took my first bite. Oh my goodness! Was it ever good. I mean it. I really, really mean it. How to describe it – you taste and feel the crunchy cucumbers and onions, but the tomato slightly squishes (in my sandwich, the tomato is thicker than any of the other interior components), and gives some nice moisture to the bite. The cheddar gives it loads of flavor. And the peanut butter – funny thing – I couldn’t even taste it until the last when all the cucumbers and onions were gone, when all that remained were tomato and cheddar.

When I entered the recipe into my MasterCook recipe program, it had a big hissy fit over the “1 slice cheddar cheese” – either the program’s got a bug, or defining calories of a “slice” of cheddar cheese is just not specific enough. It wanted to add about 800 calories for 2 slices of cheese. At any rate, the calories are a little off on the recipe below, but not by much. I ate HALF a sandwich and it satisfied me all afternoon. I’m not including the nutrition because I had to remove a few ingredients and make them text (meaning no calorie count added). Without doing that the calorie count was over 1800 calories. Adding in each ingredient, I finally narrowed it down the problem to the slice of cheese (obviously a variable) that was throwing off the numbers. Anyway, this sandwich is about 550 calories for a whole one. Maybe 600. Next time I’ll make it with the very thin sandwich bread. Or maybe I’ll use the good grainy bread I have. But eat it again, I will!

What’s GOOD: everything about it. The crunch from the cucumbers and onions, first and foremost. The fresh veggies. The squishy tomato. The soft, but tasty bread. Oh, the cheddar too. It’s just fantastic. Will I make it again? You betcha! Sooner rather than later, I’ll tell you for sure!
What’s NOT: nothing at all. It’s fabulous. Note that I made it with a soft white bread – you can decide. I also specify Laura Scudder’s peanut butter, but you can use whatever brand you want.

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Whew, that’s a long-winded title for a recipe. You could eat this as an appetizer, cut up into wedges, or a whole one as a stand-alone lunch or vegetarian dinner. Or you could do what I did when I made it for a group: pile the hummus on a serving platter, then pile everything (except the arugula) on top of it. I used Feta cheese as the decoration, and I served sangak bread on the side with a knife so people could spread some of the mixture on individual pieces – this was an appetizer (see other picture below). As an appetizer I didn’t think the arugula would be easy to eat, so I left it off.

With the left overs a day later I served it with pita chips (Trader Joe’s). What you see in the photo at top is the flatbread on the bottom (from Trader Joe’s), and there’s a schmear of white bean hummus underneath there – sorry you can’t see it – then some sun dried tomatoes, caramelized onions (hmm, can’t see those, either), some Kalamata olives, then the arugula and shavings of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

The most time-consuming thing to do is caramelize the onions. While you’re at it, make more than you need because you’ll use them in something else within a few days. Or you could eat them plain right out of the pan. Love caramelized onions!

My DH just walked past me as I’m sitting here at my computer in the kitchen, looked at the photo and said OH, that was so good. Make that again, will you? The recipe came from a Phillis Carey cooking class, and the 40+ people all oohed and aahed over it. I got the same when I made it as a plated appetizer. Great recipe.
What’s GOOD: everything about it – my favorite flavors in this are the caramelized onions and the sun-dried tomatoes – probably because the mixture of the savory (hummus) and sweet (onions and sun-dried tomatoes) offer such a taste contrast.
What’s NOT: nothing. Loved it a lot.

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This just LOOKS like an ordinary bowl of rice. Oh my, no, it isn’t. It’s spectacular rice. You’ve got to make this if you are a risotto-lover and you also crave lemon in just about everything.

Why hadn’t it ever occurred to me to enhance risotto with lemon juice? It just hadn’t. But I saw Nigella Lawson make this recipe on one of her old-old TV shows, and when she put the spoonful in her mouth (and you wait for the oohs and aahs that every Food Network host makes), well, I just knew I had to try this version. The truth of the matter is that about 2 weeks ago I came down with the flu. I thought I’d managed to get through flu season, but no, I didn’t. I was down for 2 full days. I watched every single TV program on my Tivo and then some, although the first 2 days I couldn’t watch any food-oriented programs as my stomach lurched, but after 2 days that part improved – that’s why I was watching an old Nigella Lawson program. Anyway, for those first 2 days I couldn’t eat a thing, and even on day 3 I was only able to down some corn flakes and sip sparkling cider off and on all day. And even though it’s been 2 weeks (as I write this) I still have times when my stomach gives me a little turn. I’ve barely eaten any meat – a little bacon, a little chicken, one fish dinner that didn’t go down well. We spent the weekend at a lovely resort and I had difficulty eating some of the wonderful food. And yesterday my stomach revolted a little after I had breakfast. So when dinnertime came around, I craved carbs only. Not my usual shtick, for sure. I know . . . too much information, right? Sorry.

On to the recipe . . . there is nothing that difficult or unusual about this risotto. It contains shallots and celery (that’s a bit different), butter, Arborio rice, broth (I used chicken because I didn’t have any vegetable broth), a fresh lemon (preferably a home grown or organic one), olive oil, and the final fillip to this version – an egg yolk (that IS different), 4 T. of heavy cream, fresh rosemary and of course, Parmigiano. I added on the chopped chives to give the dish some color. The recipe calls for a quart of broth – I had to add about another cup of water because the rice wasn’t quite done, but that was easy enough.

This was all we had for dinner. No salad. No veggies. And it was so comforting. Oh yes! My hat’s off to Nigella for a spectacular recipe.

What’s GOOD: well, everything about it was fabulous. And I mean fabulous. This recipe is going onto my FAVs list if that’s any indication of how much I liked it. I’d use words like unctuous, smooth, silky, comfort food. I just loved the lemon juice and zest added in, and the egg yolk? Well, I’d never thought to add one, but when mixed with the cheese and little jot of cream, well, that’s how the dish went from ordinary to unctuous. Make this, okay?
What’s NOT: only the 30+ minutes of near-continuous stirring required, but I managed to keep it on a very low heat (I forgot to get out my battery operated Stirr thing that would have just kept the mixture moving while I did other things like zest the lemon, chop rosemary, etc.). I didn’t actually stir it continuously, it just seemed like it.

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Well. There are tea sandwiches, and then there are THESE tea sandwiches. Oh gosh were they delicious. As I’m writing this – and it’s breakfast time this moment – I’d eat these for breakfast if I had any of them!

Our daughter Sara decided to throw a tea for a group of her girlfriends. Her rule: no children allowed – it was going to be a time for her friends, all busy moms – to sit and relax. Since we were driving there to visit them that evening, she asked if I’d come early. Of course! I’m always up for tea! At home, I made two kinds of cookies to help her – the Baked Cinnamon Toasts I’ve already raved about here and the Moravian Sugar Cookies, although my recipe calls them Almond Spice Wafers. I also made lemon curd, and couldn’t believe it when we got all done and realized we’d forgotten to put it out! Oh, so sad. Sara made the middle cookies you can see below, rich chocolate shortbread kind of cookies pillowed with a chewy caramel layer. Sara made 2 kinds of tea – a rooibos, which is her day to day favorite decaf tea, and a pot of Earl Grey. She also put out some gorgeous spring strawberries, sugar, milk, teacups and saucers, some crème fraiche that I sweetened with a little bit of sugar (this was in lieu of clotted cream), and napkins, of course.

The COOKIES: Baked Cinnamon Toasts are on the left, Sara’s chocolate caramel filled cookies in the middle and the Almond Spice Wafers on the right. Sara thought the Cinnamon  Toasts were the hit of the cookie category. I agree. I had about 5-6 of them I kept at home and within a day they were gone – even my DH, who rarely eats anything sweet – gobbled down 2-3 of them. Guess I’ll have to make them again.

I’ll write up a post in the next day or so with the two scones we made. One an apricot-orange and the star of the show, a lavender white chocolate chip.

The winner of the tea sandwich category at Sara’s tea was this cucumber one. I mean, what would a ladies’ tea be without some cucumber sandwiches? Sara found some tea sandwich suggestions at this website. For this sandwich it said:  Cucumber-Butter – Mix 4 tablespoons softened butter, 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest and 1 tablespoon chopped fresh herbs. Spread on white bread and sandwich with sliced cucumber. Trim the crusts and cut into pieces.   We were making 5 whole sandwiches (which made 4 little quarters each), so we had 20 of each sandwich we made. I added minced chives, lemon zest, some salt and a teaspoon or so of fresh minced thyme leaves. I used 1 cube of butter for the 5 sandwiches and it was just enough.

Over the years, I’ve learned that you need to get just the right proportion of filling to bread.

So in this case, with our first taste test, there wasn’t enough butter. The butter needed salt too. And the cucumber wasn’t quite thick enough. Obviously start with very soft butter, add the flavorings and taste. Cut off the crusts on the bread. We chose not to make round cutouts (too much trouble), so I generously buttered both sides of the bread and placed 4 cucumber rounds on each sandwich. We chose to cut just one slice rather than use many ultra-thin slices as I knew the multiple slices would slip and the sandwich would come apart from the moisture in the cucumbers. So one slice – in our case the cucumber was about 1/8 inch+ thick. The bread used was some very, very soft white sandwich bread we bought here in our local village at a Japanese bakery called Cream Pan. They make the softest and fluffiest white sandwich bread. Kind of like Weber’s bread, but a whole lot more tasty. With the cucumber in place the other bread slice was very carefully positioned, then I gently – oh so gently – cut the sandwich into 4 squares, trying not to cut into any of the cucumbers.

The sandwiches went onto a nice serving tray and Sara covered the platter with a dampened tea towel, which kept them very fresh for the hour prior to the start of the tea. We didn’t refrigerate them – but there wasn’t anything like mayo in anything, so that worked just fine.

The other tea sandwich was just okay. I probably wouldn’t make them again, but it was certainly different. Sara really wanted sandwiches containing some prosciutto, so the website suggestion said: Pea-Prosciutto: puree 1/2 cup thawed frozen peas with 1 tablespoon each olive oil and water in a blender; season with salt and pepper. Spread inside a split loaf of focaccia and fill with prosciutto and shaved parmesan. Cut into squares. 

My suggestion had been to use ham instead of prosciutto, but Sara really wanted the prosciutto, so I bought some imported less-salty prosciutto from our local Italian deli. Sara made the pea puree, which was cinchy easy. I spread the bread with the pea puree, then we took small strips of the prosciutto and layered about 3 ultra-thin slices on each sandwich, added some shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano (very thin). My other suggestion to Sara had been that we chop up the prosciutto instead of laying it in strips (ribbons, really) in the sandwich, but Sara wanted to SEE the prosciutto. Cutting this sandwich was more of a challenge because of the grain of the meat, cut the long way it was easy, but across the prosciutto grain was difficult. For sure use a serrated knife, like a bread knife and use a gentle repetitive sawing motion. Even she agreed later that it would have been easier to eat if we’d chopped it up. Prosciutto has a tendency to be kind of stringy – very do-able if you’re eating a slice out of hand, but not so easy when it pulls apart a dainty tea sandwich! But overall, we were unimpressed with this sandwich. It needed something moist in it – like a thin-thin slice of tomato maybe, or lettuce? And I think I would have added some mayo to the pea puree. I don’t think anybody went back for seconds on this sandwich, but that’s mostly because the cucumber one was SO delicious.

What’s GOOD: well, the herb butter just “made” the sandwich, I think. And the combo of the so very soft thin white bread [it was so perfect for this . . . too bad white bread isn’t all that healthy!] with the crispy cucumber slice, and the lemon zest. It was all just fantastic!
What’s NOT: nothing at all – just know you can’t make this very far in advance – an hour or so. Enlist someone’s help with it so if you’re the hostess you can be doing other things like stirring up scones and boiling water for the tea, setting the table, etc.

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I forget about making vegetarian (well, almost vegetarian) meals on any routine basis. I do a sort of a rotation of chicken, pork, some beef, a little bit of fish, and then it’s back to chicken, pork, etc. So when Phillis Carey made this dish at a recent cooking class, it just reminded me that I need to do this kind of meal more often.

A little backtracking . . . after about 9 months of diagnosing, chemo, healing then radiation for my friend Cherrie’s breast cancer, she’s just beginning to come out of the fatigue caused by the radiation (and the chemo too). Her oncologist told her to expect fairly extreme fatigue for 6 weeks at least after her last radiation treatment. She’s at 4 weeks now and she says she’s maybe feeling a glimmer of more energy. Not much, but even a little bit is good. So she suggested we go to a cooking class (a night class) which could be problematical for her since she often falls asleep at about 7-8pm. Sure enough, she started to nod off a couple of times, she told me. But not before we had 4 really tasty dishes at the class.

Phillis has a vegan son, and she’s actually teaching some vegan classes in San Diego, since she’s begun trying to find tasty dishes she can fix for him when he comes home to visit. This is one, although she does make it strictly vegetarian/vegan for him. Meaning no dairy, no prosciutto, no chicken broth, no butter.

This recipe DOES contain butter, prosciutto, cream (just a little tiny bit) and chicken broth, so you can pick and choose what you’d like to include or substitute. The dish is a two-step process – and they both come together in nearly the same amount of time. Start the mushrooms first, then get all the ingredients ready for the polenta. The latter takes about 7-9 minutes once the water and broth are at the boil. You want to serve this as soon as the polenta is done – once it sits it starts to firm up, and this is a dish to utilize soft, creamy (although there isn’t any cream or milk in it) polenta.

Prosciutto (chopped into small pieces from the thinly sliced type) is briefly cooked in olive oil, then removed and allowed to drain on paper towels until later. Butter is added to the pan and you cook the shallots and garlic, then the mushrooms (a mixture of shiitake, crimini or Portobello and button). After the mushrooms have released all their juices and it’s almost all simmered away you add the herbs, chicken broth and the little jot of heavy cream. Once they’ve cooked completely you add the parsley and Parm. Done.

Meanwhile you’ve made the polenta. Phillis always uses the Albers brand of regular cornmeal, not the pricey polenta grain. Once cooked she feels it makes little difference anyway. The dry meal is whisked slowly into boiling broth and allowed to simmer, with you stirring it very often, until it’s reached the right consistency. Then you add in some defrosted corn. Spoon it into bowls while it’s piping hot, then spoon the mushroom sauce on top and serve immediately! You can also add some Parm on top when you serve it.

What’s GOOD: all the flavors and textures going on in the bowl. This is comfort food for sure. The polenta is smooth and unctuous with the little bit of corn in it. The mushrooms are very tasty and have a toothsomeness to them. Altogether good, and not unhealthy, although there is a little butter and cream in it.

What’s NOT: nothing at all. If you’re a fiend for mushrooms make more of the sauce, as there isn’t all that much to divide onto 6 servings.

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Is a dish a gratin if you bake it in a gratin dish? Well, hardly. But once I poured this mixture of crimini mushrooms and fresh spinach into the gratin dish and sprinkled the top with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese? Well, it became a gratin in my book, even though it wasn’t in the recipe title.

Immersing myself in planning a dinner party is always fun for me. Am I weird? My first decision is always what meat I’m serving, then everything else widens the circle of tastes for the dinner. One of our guests is bringing an appetizer – probably two since she wants to try something new. Another couple will bring a salad. So I’ll round out the meal. My focus this day was on deciding on vegetable sides, and my darling DH and I were driving somewhere and I was giving him a heads-up about the menu [oh, mistake]. He asked what sides I was going to make and I told him I hadn’t decided yet. He said, just make veggies you know and like. How about those brussels sprouts with maple syrup? I said no, I’ve made those about 3 times in the last couple of months. And I mentioned that not everyone likes brussels sprouts. He said – he said – oh, you don’t want to know what he said – he has no understanding of anybody who doesn’t like them! I told him I was going to make a Gorgonzola sauce to go on the beef tenderloin. He said, am I barbecuing it? I said no, I’m going to pan sear it and roast in the oven. Why not let me rotisserie it? I said no, I didn’t want to rotisserie a very expensive beef tenderloin. (Too risky in my book.) I could tell he was starting to get a little annoyed. I should have changed the subject right then, but we kept going. He got back to the sauce – he said to my thought on a gorgonzola sauce – what? No, that’s too heavy. I said no, I didn’t think so. He said yes, I’ve had a blue or Roquefort sauce on steak once that just masked the taste of the steak, and I want to taste the steak. Then he said oh, what’s the other sauce I love, uhm, what is that one? I said no, I’m not making a Bearnaise sauce. (He loves-loves Bearnaise sauce, and I’ve made it innumerable times, always with a butterflied leg of lamb. And over asparagus a time or two. But that last couple of times I did make it it didn’t turn out well. It separated. I followed the same recipe I’ve always done, yet it failed me. So I wasn’t going to make that one – I don’t think it goes so well with beef anyway.)

That kind of conversation is why I normally don’t discuss menus with him. One of the things I love about him is that – usually – he lets me do whatever I want for every meal I cook. I like that. I like making dinner decisions because I’m the one cooking it. Always. Dave doesn’t cook except to grill. My decision is that I’m going to make a cabernet wine sauce, but I’m also going to offer some nice, Point Reyes blue cheese for guests to sprinkle on the filet if they choose. I really did think about making two sauces, but that’s too darned much work.

The night after I made this vegetable dish my DH came up to me as I was going back and forth from my computer (looking at Eat Your Books to find a dessert sauce for the cheesecake) to my cookbook shelves about 10 feet away, and he asked me what I was doing. Are you still working on vegetables?  I said no, I was on to dessert now. So which veggies have you decided to serve?  I said both of the ones I tried (the other one is a baked onion dish coming up here on my blog in a day or two). Then I told him I’d decided to make a cabernet sauce for the steak and . . . right then he interrupted me and said honey, you serve whatever you want. I always love whatever you cook so don’t pay any attention to me. Hmmm.

Anyway,  I enjoy the searching for recipes, and wanted to try some new veggies to go with the beef. Recently I was doing lots of filing of recipes I’ve clipped from here and there, and found at least 20 I want to try. But this one came from reading blogs (Food52, specifically). Apparently it’s a recipe from Nigel Slater. I believe this dish is intended as a vegetarian entrée, although I really don’t know since I don’t have the book from which this came. The cookbook is Tender: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch. (There are 2 volumes to this – this recipe is in the 1st volume, linked here.) I think Nigel did call this a Gratin since I found some references to it online, in other places. What drew me to the recipe was how simple it was. Crimini mushrooms quartered, sautéed in some butter until they’ve given up their juices, white wine added and cooked off, then a little cream and milk added in and stirred around. It’s suggested that if time permits, allow the ‘shrooms to sit and vegetate in the cream for awhile – the cream becomes much more mushroomy. I did just that. Meanwhile, I steamed the spinach – that took about 2 seconds, squeezed out the water and then I added the spinach into the reheated mushroom mixture. A little bit of grated Parmigiano was added in then, and it was all tipped into a gratin (there’s that word) dish. There’s very little creamy mixture (it’s cream and milk). More cheese was grated all over the top and into an oven it went for about 25 minutes. In my version of the recipe below, I have added more cheese – there was barely enough to get crispy brown in the Food 52 version I made (see photo at top).

What’s GOOD: everything about this. It’s easy, really tasty, elegant – particularly elegant when you consider how easy it is to make – no sauce to make. The chunks of mushrooms have a great meaty feel (which is why this can be served as a vegetarian entrée). The cheese adds a particularly wonderful nutty taste, as Parmigiano always does. If you do make this as a vegetarian dinner, serve it over toast or English muffins and pour all that cream stuff on it so you get all the nuances of mushroom flavor.
What’s NOT: nothing other than the cream mostly runs off. It coats all the veggies, but it isn’t thickened, so it doesn’t hold together like one made with a cream sauce. It probably could be done with less cream altogether in that case!

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Are you eating more vegetarian meals? We are, although I haven’t made it a priority, just when I think about it I do it. If you are, you’ll want to try this extra-tasty red pepper chili that is just bursting out of the bowl with flavor.

I mentioned a couple of days ago that we’d attended a dinner recently to celebrate Cheryl Sternman Rule’s new cookbook Ripe: A Fresh, Colorful Approach to Fruits and Vegetables. Today I’ll share the recipe for the main dish served that night of the outdoor dinner.

You know how it is, when someone slides a plate of food in front of you, and you glance over that plate to see what’s on it and think about what it’s going to taste like. The salivary glands kick into high gear about then, especially if there are any special aromas wafting toward you. Such was the case – I remember sweeping my cupped hand toward me to get a sniff of the flavors, as we waited for everyone to be served. I always notice what quinoa does when it’s been cooked – those mini white rings, little tiny horseshoes, come loose from the grain and float free. It just happens when you cook quinoa – you can see them distinctly in the photo up top.

From the moment I put my spoon into it, I got the complex flavors – even though it’s vegetarian, don’t think for a minute it isn’t loaded with different tastes – from the red peppers, the beans, the onions and the mixture of spices (garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano and pepper). Cheryl and the hostess Kim prepared this with a half an ear of roasted corn on the edge of the bowl. That part isn’t in the original recipe, but I’ve added it in, since that’s the way it was served to us. Cheryl says in the headnote to the recipe that this is her go-to winter stew that she developed in 2007 for Eating Well magazine. And it’s a winner on the time line also – you can probably make this in about an hour. The veggies require minimal preparation; open a couple of cans; cook a bit, then add the quinoa. Prepare the garnishes (easy) and once the quinoa is cooked through, serve it! (It thickens as it sits, so you may want to let it just sit for 15 minutes before actually serving it up.) Cheryl says she often spoons this on top of a bed of mashed potatoes. That reminds me a lot of my Cabbage Patch Stew here on my blog – one of MY very favorite recipes. A hearty ground beef, kidney bean and cabbage stew served over mashed potatoes.

What I liked: the mellow red pepper flavor, the little crunch of the quinoa and the mixture of spices in it. It was wonderful!

What I didn’t like: nothing whatsoever!

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Recipe reprinted with permission from RIPE © 2012 by Cheryl Sternman Rule, Running Press, a member of the Perseus Book Group. Cookbook photography © 2012 by Paulette Phlipot.

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This could be an appetizer if you tore the flatbread in smaller pieces, but in the above they’re a small open-faced sandwich, of sorts. It’s topped with some home made hummus (so easy to do), then some eggplant that’s tossed with a balsamic vinaigrette,, then topped with some pine nuts and sheep’s milk Feta.

This was dinner the other night. It was so good. So incredibly good. I knew it would be tasty because I’ve made something similar before. I just decided to rearrange it as an open-faced sandwich. What got me thinking about it was a visit to a new Middle Eastern market in our near neighborhood called Aria. And I was thrilled to find out recently that they make sangak bread. Since many of you won’t have the availability of sangak bread, just use any kind of soft flatbread instead. But thin. It’s gotta be thin. Pita bread won’t work – it’s too stiff and dry. Sangak is stretchy and springy and very thin and moist.

One of my favorite recipes is the original of this, Layered Hummus and Eggplant. It’s a dip, of sorts, with the hummus and eggplant on top and you spread it on crackers or crispy pita or whatever. Sangak if you have it. I knew my DH wouldn’t think that was a meal if he had to dip or spread stuff onto some bread. But it doesn’t hurt us any at all to not have a meat protein once in awhile. So I made the hummus (about 5 minutes of work in the food processor) and made the eggplant – that took more time as the thick pieces have to be sautéed lightly in oil and it took about 15-20 minutes with each batch. The balsamic vinaigrette took no time at all.

To serve it I just slathered the chilled hummus on the stretchy pieces of sangak (about 2” x 5” or so), then spooned on the eggplant that had been tossed with the vinaigrette, and topped it with pine nuts, Feta and cilantro (or use parsley). Onto a pretty platter they went (2 apiece) and made a lovely green salad to go with it.

After dinner I got to thinking about this dish, and decided that it would also make a very good rolled up sandwich. So the next day I made one of those with more of the same ingredients. Here’s a photo of that. I made them small so you could easily hold them in your hand. I won’t say they’re a perfect sealed-up envelope – some of the hummus dripped out, but it was do-able.

As I write this, I still have leftovers and I froze a few pieces of the sangak, which will keep for a week or so, and in that time we’ll have some for lunch one day. This dish is very healthy. Truly it is.

What I liked: I just adore the flavors of the hummus (home made please) and the dressing-enhanced eggplant. The Middle Easterners knew what they were doing when they combined hummus and eggplant. It’s a match made in heaven.

What I didn’t like: oh my, nothing.

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Before asparagus goes out of season this year, make time to prepare this soup. And make a batch of the delicious savory cookies (cheese, thyme and Parmesan) to go along with it. Neither recipe is difficult – you can even make the soup the day ahead and the cookie log could be made weeks ahead and frozen – then sliced and baked before serving.

Oh yes, this is worth making. Definitely! Worth making 2-3 batches of it and freeze for a later date – when we won’t have asparagus at all. A “batch” of this requires 1 1/2 pounds of asparagus. So I’d buy 3 pounds and make one big soup pot of it, then freeze in 1 or 2 cup portions. This isn’t the kind of soup you’d use as a full meal – it’s light and there’s nothing of the stick-to-the-ribs ingredients. There are a few peas in this, just to give the soup a little more of a green-y color, but unless someone told you there were peas in it, I’m not sure you’d know. This would make a lovely lunch dish!

Do make sure you have some tarragon on hand – it’s an important flavor ingredient here. We’ve been unable to grow tarragon in our garden, gosh darn it – so nearly every time I’m shopping I look for a little plastic box of it. More often than not, it’s not there. When you need tarragon, well, you just need it. Dried tarragon will work in an absolute pinch, but it doesn’t have the flavor components (to me, anyway) that fresh has.

Then there are the little savory cookies. These are so good – rich and crumbly, and they go perfectly with this soup. Do start them a few hours before you need them (or even bake them a few hours ahead). They could easily be made a week ahead and frozen. Slice off what you need and bake them. If a cookie contains a goodly amount of butter, you’ll not have trouble slicing them when they’re frozen. That’s the case here. The savory cookies are almost like shortbread, but instead of sweetness, they contain cheese and thyme. These are the kind of “cookies,” if you will, that could always reside in the freezer for times when you suddenly need an appetizer. Years ago I used to have plenty of those things, that lived in the freezer, always at-the-ready for impromptu guests. I think today most people don’t do impromptu dropping-in on people.

Both of these came from Linda Steidel, a cooking instructor, although she got the recipes from Food & Wine magazine in 2011.

What I liked: the asparagus flavor – and it seems like the addition of the frozen peas just enhances the asparagus – the same kind of affinity that chocolate desserts have when you add a little jot of coffee or espresso. An easy soup to make, for sure. The cheese shortbread cookies are sensational too. It’s all delish. The soup could be a vegetarian one if you substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock.

What I didn’t like: absolutely nothing. Will be making again. Both of them.

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