When you go shopping, do you always know exactly what you’re going to do with the veggies you buy? Sometimes I do, but oftentimes I have no plans, other than knowing we haven’t had [insert vegetable name here!] in awhile and I’ll make something with it. That was the case here, with 2 beautiful small globe eggplants in my refrigerator. As I’m writing this, I’m remembering that last night we went out to dinner to a local Italian restaurant and I ordered a grilled vegetable salad (small) for my entrée. It contained green and yellow squash in microscopic thin slices and two thin rounds of eggplant. And the eggplant didn’t look like it had been grilled, but perhaps it had. It was very disappointing. I was expecting some red bell peppers, some onions maybe, or even some fennel. None of those. Just zucchini and eggplant.

But, I digress. My DH is crazy about eggplant parmesan, and when we go out to dinner and it’s on a restaurant menu, he’ll very often order it. I like it too, but I know (as a cook we know these things, right?) that eggplant parmesan is usually just loaded in fat/oil because of frying the eggplant. I don’t think restaurant chefs are at all cautious about how much oil they use – and eggplant is a particularly “bad” vegetable for soaking up anything you put it in – like oil! So, when I decided to make this salad or side veggie, I tried to be very aware of how much oil I was using. And I probably did use about 4 T. Maybe a bit more. And that’s a lot, although this made enough to serve about 6 people, probably. So maybe it wasn’t all that bad after all. But I ate a lot of it – so that negates my theory! I’ve also taken the leftovers out of the refrigerator and eaten this as a snack. It was really good, obviously, if I’d do that!

So what did I do? Using a Frugal Gourmet recipe as my starting point, I followed some of his suggestions, but then I veered off and did my own thing. I salted the eggplant and let it sit for half an hour or so while I got the rest of our dinner ready. Then, I rinsed it off and dried the slices on towels (don’t use terrycloth or lint will stick to the eggplant – use a dishtowel type or paper towels). Using a large, flat nonstick skillet, I poured in about a T. of grapeseed oil (that’s my oil of choice for cooking) and sautéed the eggplant on both sides, adding another T. of oil when I turned them over. Place them on paper towels when you’re done to soak up a bit of the excess oil, if there is any. I didn’t really have much, so I put them directly onto a serving platter.

Meanwhile, I mixed up some Greek nonfat yogurt, mashed garlic, lime juice, some crushed oregano, salt and pepper and kept adding lime juice until it tasted “right,” then let it sit until the eggplant was done. If you have time, mix this up ahead of time so the garlic will permeate all of the sauce. I spread the eggplant all over the serving plate and spooned the sauce on each piece, then garnished with some fresh mint from my garden. It was very pretty, I thought. I served it just barely warm. It also is good cold. I layered the pieces into a refrigerator container and after they’d chilled, they actually can be removed fairly easily and the plate recreated, which I did a couple of nights later. As leftovers, the yogurt mixture (already spread on the eggplant) had turned a kind of icky brownish color. I suppose it absorbed some of color from the eggplant skin. Next time I’d keep the topping separate and replenish it as leftovers. Or maybe the best thing is to eat it all up in the first sitting!

What I liked: the flavor was delicious, even leftover it was still delicious. The topping is also good with the garlic and mint and lime juice. I liked it all lot.

What I didn’t like: just keep the topping separate if you think you’ll have leftovers as the topping looks unappealing after a couple of days residing in the refrigerator. Be careful about adding too much oil when you sauté it – it will soak up whatever you pour around it!

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Actually, I didn’t make these. Tarla Fallgatter made them at the cooking class here at my house a week or so ago. They looked incredibly easy, really. She did, however, make them with smoked salmon (so you don’t even have to cook the salmon since it’s smoked-cooked). But I liked these well enough that I might even try them with regular salmon. However, I think you’d need to cook the salmon before making up the filling. In either case, though, they looked very easy to put together. Yes, it’s done with puff pastry. Trader Joe’s sells it in flat boxes and you just need to defrost it well before starting on this. See photo at right. It’s an 18-ounce package.

The filling is a mixture of the salmon, some goat cheese, chives, a tiny bit of egg and a little bit of cream. See, I told you it was easy. The remaining egg  is gently brushed on top of each of the little pillows.

You roll out the the puff pastry to a 12-inch square. Tarla’s instructions said she put 9 little mounds of salmon, but I see from the photo that initially she made 12. I think she removed 3 and made it 9 (see 2nd and 3rd photos). I was busy taking pictures and didn’t see her do that.

After folding over the one side of the pastry, she gently pressed her fingers around each filling mound. She cut them with a rounded-edged cutter. I don’t have blunt-edged pastry cutters, but she said a small glass would work – someone else suggested a shot glass. Yes, those would work just fine.

Once the pillows were cut out and placed on a pastry-lined baking sheet, she poked each one in the top (for steam to escape), then brushed them just on the top (not down the sides) with egg yolk. It’s important to NOT let any of the egg glaze go over the sides as that will prevent the pillow from rising properly. Tarla didn’t chill them, but the instructions say to chill for awhile before baking. Do let them cool for 5-10 minutes before serving so people don’t burn their mouths! But do serve them warm.

What I liked: very tasty – full of taste, actually. And as long as you have all the ingredients, they’re quite easy to make. It’s not like you have to make the puff pastry – just buy it. They make a very elegant appetizer.

What I didn’t like: although I liked the smoked salmon, I think maybe the regular salmon would be even better, but that’s just my personal taste.

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To tell you the truth, a potato-based soup isn’t one of my favorite things. Not that I don’t like potatoes. I do. But I don’t eat them all that much. I actually try not to eat them. And potato soup sometimes is so bland that I’d just as soon not have it. It’s like a waste of calories for me. So, I wasn’t expecting great things from this soup, made by Tarla Fallgatter, at a recent cooking class. And, in fact, when I had it just after it was made, I was under-whelmed. But because the class was held at my house, I got to keep the leftovers. This bowl shown above resided in the refrigerator for 2 days and I heated it up for my lunch. And it was really, really good. Good enough that I decided you should have the recipe. And good enough that perhaps I’ll make it one day soon on a coolish Fall day.

The soup is very simple to make. Really. It’s just apples, fennel, leeks and potatoes, almost in equal quantities, with some parsley, chicken stock, a little splash of cream, salt, pepper and butter. See? Easy. You do puree the soup in a food processor, and it’s nice if you have a little bit of reserved fennel fronds, plus a couple little chunks of fennel and apple to sprinkle on top. That’s it. Delicious. Hearty.

What I liked: comfort food. Easy to make. Do make it a day ahead, however. Remember that part.

What I didn’t like: nothing really. Flavors are subtle, perhaps, but that’s not really a detriment.

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Yesterday I posted the recipe for the gingerbread cake I used in this dessert. I’d made it a couple of days ahead of time since the recipe indicated it would keep for several days sitting at room temp. I like those kinds of recipes! My friend Cherrie was having a luncheon and I offered to bring something. Since she doesn’t much like making desserts, that’s what she asked for. She gave me an idea about the menu, and even suggested something pumpkin would fit well. Sure thing, I said!

I could have made pumpkin pie, but we’ll have our fill of that in a few weeks, so I wanted to make something a bit more interesting than that. Then I came upon Paula Deen’s recipe for this trifle. It was relatively easy to make and sounded wonderful. But then, I’m a real sucker when it comes to anything pumpkin. Am sure I’ve mentioned here before than pumpkin pie is my very favorite pie anytime.

Soooo, here’s what I did. Paula’s recipe called for two boxes of gingerbread mix. I could have gone that route, but I hoped maybe I’d have some leftover gingerbread if I made my own. But that was the dilemma. My last foray into gingerbread left me disappointed. But I turned to Cook’s Illustrated, and used their recipe. It was/is a real winner.

Paula’s recipe calls for using boxed, cooked vanilla pudding. I’m not much of a fan of those boxes, at least not Jell-O brand, but I had some Bird’s Dessert Powder on my shelf. That’s it there on the right. It’s a British product, but you can find it here in the U.S. in some major grocery stores (in the international section). I always keep it on hand, as I think their powder (mix) makes a very good tasting custard pudding.

So I made up a mixture of the Bird’s (about 2 1/2 cups worth), and mixed in the spice (cardamom) and pumpkin pie filling. That was the pudding layer, although with the pumpkin mixed in, it didn’t really jell-up like a pudding – that was fine since you want it to be loose so it’ll soak into the gingerbread a bit. Then I used Cool-Whip. The recipe called for 12 ounces, but I think they may not make that size anymore, so I used a full 16 ounces in the trifle you see pictured at top.

Paula’s recipe called for added brown sugar, but I thought it was sweet enough without it, so I did alter her recipe some. You layer the gingerbread, pumpkin custard, and the Cool-Whip. Save some of the Cool-Whip for the top, then JUST before serving I sprinkled the top (and each serving if it came from down deep in the bowl) with some crushed-up ginger snaps. They added a really nice crunch to the dessert.

What I liked: how easy the dessert is to put together – as long as you have everything ready and at hand. Make the gingerbread ahead. Make the custard/pumpkin mixture ahead, then it’s a snap to layer everything. Delicious. Soft, comforting food. Love the crunch on the top from the gingersnaps.

What I didn’t like: About the only thing I’d change is I might try it with real whipped cream. In that case you’d need to make it and serve it within an hour or so. Whipped cream, the real stuff, doesn’t hold up for days on end.

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Oh, I’m in love with this new recipe. I knew I wasn’t very happy with my last batch of gingerbread. That was probably 3-4 years ago, and I’d not made it since because that last time the cake was just too firm and dry. I think I bought some from Whole Foods a couple of years ago because somebody told me theirs was really delicious. And yes, it was, but I knew I could figure out how to make it better. Indeed!

All I had to do was go to my trusty Cook’s Illustrated site. I have an online membership, so I can look up their recipes anytime. It’s an annual fee, though, so I try to use it frequently, to make it pay for itself! As usual, when the chefs at Cook’s Illustrated put their heads together, they figure out how to make the problems go away. Here’s what they had to say on the header notes about this recipe:

Ground ginger, grated fresh ginger, cinnamon, and ground pepper ensured our gingerbread recipe tasted like ginger. Dark stout, heated to minimize its booziness, added a bittersweet flavor to our gingerbread, and replacing butter with vegetable oil allowed the ginger flavor to shine. To keep our gingerbread recipe from sinking in the middle, we incorporated the baking soda with the wet ingredients and roughed up some of the batter to strengthen the flour, giving our gingerbread a more sturdy texture while maintaining its moistness.

Now, around our house, we don’t even keep beer on hand, let alone Guinness stout! So my DH went to the store for me and ended up buying one honkin’ bottle of stout, about half of which got thrown out. But, oh well. I don’t like the stuff, and neither does he. There isn’t anything all that unusual about the recipe other than the combining of ingredients in a certain order AND the gentle rapping of the batter on the counter (to burst air bubbles in the batter) before baking. All of the steps created a wonderful cake. The pilgrims would be proud!

Actually, I made this cake to use the gingerbread in a trifle – a pumpkin gingerbread trifle. That recipe will be up tomorrow. It was fantastic, I must say.

What I liked: the texture (soft and tender); the taste (spicy with a bit of heat); the height (higher than some); the staying power (kept for about 5 days sitting on the counter, sealed up in a plastic bag). And the fact that there was no sinking in the middle. None!

What I didn’t like: gosh, nothing. I’ll be making this recipe again. And again.

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People in lots of places in the Northern Hemisphere are already experiencing much cooler weather, like it’s fall, of course. But in Southern California, uh, no. No fall. No cooling temps. The hottest part of our summer usually is in September and October. I sort-of have a date-goal, that by about Halloween our weather has begun to cool down, at least at night. But until then, it’s still lots of sunshine, no rain, and plenty of air conditioning going on in my house.

So, summer salads are still on my dinner menus, maybe twice a week, and on menus at most restaurants. Here in California, salads are on the menu at restaurants year ‘round. Which is why I went to a Phillis Carey cooking class recently that was all about salads. Main dish salads. And they were, each one, delicious. Worth making. Like this one.

She took some of the usual ingredients of a Nicoise salad (potatoes, Kalamata olives, green beans, hard boiled eggs) but instead of tuna (canned tuna if you’re eating it in France, maybe seared ahi if you’re having it here in California), which is the usual protein in a Nicoise, she used big, gorgeous shrimp. What a great concept. Then she paired it with a mustardy lemon olive oil dressing. Do use fresh lemon juice in the dressing – and add more if it isn’t lemony enough. That’s an essential flavor.

What I liked: absolutely everything about it. Even down to the capers on top of the egg. Loved the dressing too.

What I didn’t like: nothing. Deliciousness in every bite.

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It was just a few weeks ago – I was a real neophyte when it comes to Comeback Sauce. So much a neophyte that I’m like a dummy falling off an okra truck, if you get my drift. In other words, I’d never even HEARD of it. My ears perked up at the phrase. Actually, I was watching the Nate Berkus Show, and he had two of the stars on his show from The Help, and they did a cooking segment with Aaron McCargo, Jr. of the Food Network. Aaron had made a sauce and one of the guests said “oh, it’s something like Comeback Sauce.” Huh?

So, within half an hour I’d gone online and researched all about the stuff. What it is, is a cross between a remoulade sauce and Thousand Island dressing. The common denominators of nearly all of the recipes are: mayonnaise, ketchup, chili sauce, lemon juice and pepper. And sometimes Worcestershire sauce. I visited half a dozen Southern websites, and yes, I found a few boring-looking-sounding versions. Mostly they were equal quantities of mayo and ketchup and a ton of finely ground black pepper. None of those appealed to me, so I kept researching. I looked in my meager Southern cookbooks (no recipes for it there). But finally, I clicked on an online search result for Deep South Dish, a blog just chock-a-block full of Southern down home recipes. And sure enough, Mary had a recipe for a much more sophisticated version she calls Mississippi Comeback Sauce. She and I had a several-day email conversation about it and I promised to let her know once I made it. She also said it was fine if I put her sauce up here on my blog.

Assuming you enjoy reading all of this kind of extraneous trivia I bring you on this-here blog, you’ll need to humor me now as I explain a bit about the history of this sauce. It’s Mississippi born and bred. There is no wikipedia entry for it (at least not yet – Mary, you ought to start one!). I found an article written in the Clarion Ledger (the daily newspaper in Jackson, MS) back in 2001 which documents (sort-of) what they know about the sauce. It seems that it originated in a Greek restaurant called The Rotisserie in Jackson, Miss. a long time ago. It’s mentioned in newspaper archives back in the 1920’s and 30’s. But the sauce came into its own at The Rotisserie, and within a few years all of the other Greek restaurants in Jackson also had it on their menus too, or at least it was served in all of these other restaurants. Originally it started as a salad dressing. As time went by the restaurants began using it as a universal sauce – a dip for fries, a condiment to be served with onion rings or fried mushrooms, a dip for crudités. Eventually the sauce spawned to other non-Greek restaurants and it even became a side dipping sauce for french fried dill pickles. According to Mary, the sauce can be used on EVERYTHING. Sure, it can be a salad dressing if you enjoy the thousand island variety. I might use less of the ketchup if I were using it for salad dressing.

So, the other day I just had a craving for a BLT. Rarely does that kind of food craving take over – not that I don’t like BLTs, I do, but I try not to eat much bread if I can help it. We won’t talk about the fat in the bacon, or the mayo! Just the bread! In this case I just couldn’t help it. My DH made a trip to a little local bakery that makes lovely, thin-sliced soft white bread. While he was gone I decided to whip up the Mississippi Comeback Sauce according to Mary’s recipe. I used it to slather on the bread, and made the sandwiches with gorgeous heirloom tomato slices, Trader Joe’s thick-sliced bacon and some lovely purple-green-leaf lettuce. Here’s the photo:

The dark/black part in the photo at right is the purple lettuce. Under that the tomato, and the bacon on the bottom. You can barely see the Comeback Sauce slathered on the top and bottom slices of bread. But it’s there. And it was delicious. I should have toasted the bread. Just plain forgot!

Mary suggests it on a fried bologna sandwich, as a dip for fried green tomatoes, fried oysters, boiled shrimp or fried shrimp. None of those things are regulars on my dinner menus. Well, maybe some kind of shrimp, but not fried. There’s a restaurant here in our local area called Nieuport 17 that serves a luncheon dish – I think they called it Open Faced Shrimp and Avocado Sandwich. It’s a thin slice of bread, slathered with remoulade, topped with big halved shrimp slices, thin slices of avocado and a little bowl of remoulade on the side and a lemon slice to squeeze over the top. I’ve not been there for years for lunch (it used to be a great place to take customers) but I’ve been a fan of that sauce for years anyway. Now, the switch to Comeback Sauce should be an easy transition. Thanks, Mary!

What I liked: how easy it is to make; it’s really tasty. Yes, it’s a bit peppery, but not overly so. It’s tangy and tart at the same time. I can see it being a great drizzle on top of summer sliced tomatoes.

What I didn’t like: nothing at all.

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While we were in Maine, we spent a half day at a beautiful gardens, the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens located just out of Boothbay. It’s a really spectacular setting with lovely walking trails clear to the water’s edge (down a couple hundred feet in elevation), and even though we visited it at the cusp of winter, it was still beautiful.

There’s a photo of our group of friends. Jackie (far left) and Don (far right) are good friends from here in
California, where we live. We found out they were going to be in Maine at the same time, so we agreed to meet at the Gardens for lunch and a walk through it. In the middle are Lynn and Sue, from Denver way now (used to live here, but they moved last year and we visited them in June). They were with us for 2-3 days of our trip. My DH, Dave is 2nd from left, and Dinny, our dear friend from England, is 2nd from the right.

Oh, and last but not least, here was a really lovely home with some red foliage out front. That was taken near East Boothbay.

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Lately I’ve been on a roll making Aarti Sequeira’s recipes from the Food Network. On this particular show she made a vegetarian meal (a fruit salad, a lentil and rice dish [the main course] and this eggplant salad). They all sounded delicious. I had a beautiful eggplant in my refrigerator which needed to be used (given to me by a friend, Roberta, from her garden). With just one relatively small (globe type) eggplant, I knew it was going to need some additions to make it stretch to serve more than just the two of us. We’d invited a friend over for dinner, so I needed enough to serve 3. That’s just about how much this made, half of the below recipe. Maybe it could stretch to serve 4, but that would be it. The regular recipe would serve at least 6. In the Indian language this dish is called Baingan Bharta. I’ll never remember that – that’s why it’s just “Indian Eggplant Salad.”

This recipe has a significant amount of onion in it. And it’s mixed up at the end with Greek yogurt. And oh gosh, is it ever fantastic. The sweetness that comes from long, slow cooking of the onion, the eggplant, which is roasted in a 500° oven for about 45 minutes, and a few Indian spices. I can already tell you I’m going to be very unhappy when the little bowl of this is gone. I scraped the big frying pan clean with my finger to get the last little bit of residual eggplant.

The onions are cooked in peanut oil until they’re really golden brown. Not burned – watch that carefully – but nicely golden in color. Then you add in the roasted, peeled and cubed eggplant. Add in the spices last (garlic, turmeric, ground cumin, fresh cilantro, salt and pepper – – and if you can handle the heat, add in a serrano or jalapeno pepper).  It’s cooked very briefly, then you add the Greek yogurt (I used Fage non-fat – make sure you DO use Greek yogurt – it’s strained and quite thick – regular yogurt would make this dish far too thin) and it’s finished. You can serve it while it’s warm, or cool to room temp. It has the consistency of Greek yogurt (obviously) but the eggplant is very soft, and so are the onions.

What I like about it: the textures – soft (the eggplant, onions and yogurt), sweet (the onions), spicy (turmeric and cumin) all in one bite. It’s easy to make too, although it does take more than an hour to bake and prepare everything. Next time I’ll be making a double batch. It’s that good.

What I didn’t like: not a single thing. You do need to like soft food, though. Because the eggplant is thoroughly roasted, it’s almost a mush, but not quite. There isn’t anything chewy or crunchy here. A lovely side dish to serve with something more substantial. I served it with Tandoori chicken and Aarti’s lentil-rice dish you’ll read about in a day or two.

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What better way to use leftover pork chop meat than in a soul-warming soup with onion, carrots, celery, garlic, ginger, lemon grass, some Italian sausage, flavorful broth and garnished with fresh, crispy raw radish slivers and cilantro. And laded onto a nice piece of bread (underneath the soup). Yum!

Do you despair sometimes with what to do with leftovers? I certainly do. And pork roast is right on the top of my list. My choice is always to have just enough pork roast or chops for that one meal. But, alas, I don’t always plan quite that well, and I suspect you probably don’t, either. In this case I had a big pile of pork chop meat – it was beautifully tender and still pink inside. We’d already had the actual pork chops for a company meal, then two more evenings I’d reheated them. So I was fed up with having that kind of preparation. What to do?

Well, I went to Eat Your Books and searched through my own cookbooks to see what kind of recipes I could find. I didn’t want to continue to cook the meat – it was premium quality meat, tasty and juicy. See in the photo how nice and pink the meat is – perfectly tender. You don’t want to cook it hardly at all! So I needed some quick – flash – prep. Soup. That was it. I’d make soup. I read through all of the pork soup recipes I could find. Nothing quite seemed to fit. Parts of one and ingredients from another, an idea began forming of a mélange of flavors. Yes, I had a little bit of Italian sausage in the freezer too. Dave went to the market and got some fresh Napa cabbage and some radishes. And I made a delicious soup. Perfectly rounded out with flavor from the sausage, the cabbage, the onions, celery and carrots. I added in one of my favorite Penzey’s products, their soup bases  (both pork and chicken), some sugar snap peas as well. I cut the pork chop meat into little slivers (see photo) and just barely heated it in the hot soup then poured it over a piece of toast in the bottom of each bowl and garnished with the radishes and cilantro. Delicious!

What I liked: it’s a low-calorie soup, for one. Delicious flavor too. And I now have a fantastic recipe for using leftover pork (roast or chops) that will become a regular part of my menus. The textures are great (with the raw radishes sprinkled on top) too. Other than the fat in the meat itself, the only other added fat were the 2 T. of oil to sauté the onions and celery.

What I didn’t like: gosh, nothing, really. If I had Texas toast, that would have been nice – what I had was tender white bread, so I put one slice cut in half and double stacked. Or a nice thick piece of French bread would probably be ideal (that’s what I put in the recipe ingredients below).

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