Eggplant Parm

Tonight I made a family staple, and a special favorite of Julia's, Eggplant Parmesan (or sort of). A true eggplant parm would probably involve breading, which mine doesn't, and a different mix of cheeses, but this is the version my family loves. Here's how I make mine.

Eggplant rounds frying

Ingredients and equipment:

• 3 medium eggplant.
• 1 jar good quality marinara, or homemade if you are feeling ambitious. I typically uses Newman's Own marinara, but Whole Foods' 365 brand isn't bad either.
• 12-16 oz shredded mozzarella, depending on how heavy handed you want to be with the cheese.
• 3 eggs.
• 1+ cup flour, seasoned to taste with an assortment of salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and Italian seasoning.
• Olive oil.
• Equipment - a large non-stick skillet, a large oval baker, a few flat bowls (I use a pair of soup bowls), and a cutting board.

The assembly line

The steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (F).
2. Cut the bitter ends off the eggplant, remove most of the skin (I like to leave a little for texture), and slice into 3/4 inch thick rounds.
3. Beat three eggs in a shallow dish or work bowl.
4. Make the seasoned flour in another flat work bowl.
5. Put a good amount of olive oil in the skillet over high heat.
6. Dip the eggplant slices into the seasoned flour, then into the egg, then into the skillet. Fry over medium-high heat until golden brown on both sides (flipping in the middle).
7. Fry the eggplant in batches, adding more oil as needed (as the eggplant will soak up oil).
8. As the eggplant batches are done, fill the casserole dish, layering as you go. A little sauce on the bottom, then fried eggplant, then a healthy sprinkling of shredded cheese, more sauce, more eggplant, etc.
9. Make sure the top has sauce and cheese, adding some breadcrumbs if you wish.
10. When assembled, bake the casserole in the 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes.
11. Let it cool a little then eat. This time we had it with some simple spaghetti drizzled with olive oil, Italian seasoning and bread crumbs.

The finished product

Served with some pasta and a green salad, this serves our family for a couple of dinners plus maybe an individual lunch or two.

Giada's Seafood Fra Diavolo

My sous chef Gracie and I were watching an episode of Giada at Home yesterday, and she made a dish that I knew (most) of my family would love; Seafood Fra Diavolo. It was a good episode, guest starring Bobby Flay, and had lots of good nuggets of information. The recipe on Foodnetwork.com is here. I made a mental note to remember to do this at home someday, and after a somewhat lazy day doing things around the house, decided that there is no time like the present.

The first step is to make a chili oil, infusing olive oil over low heat with a bunch of dried crushed red peppers. The tomato base of the sauce is then made by charring tomatoes and an Anaheim (mild green) chili on the grill (or a grill pan) with some salt and some chili oil.

Charred tomato and Anaheim chili

The split lobster tails are then boiled to begin cooking before they are finished in the pan. The linguine is then cooked in the lobster water...

After the lobster has been boiled to a mostly cooked state, it is put into the pan with the shrimp and cooked with some (you guessed it...) chili oil. When mostly cooked, but not completely, the shrimp and lobster are set aside, and the lobster meat is removed from the shell and chopped up.

Shrimp and Lobster

Meanwhile, oil, shallots, garlic and butter are added to a dutch oven or similar heavy pot to begin to brown gently. After a few minutes the white wine is added and the clams are put in to steam. After a few minutes more the tomatoes and chilies are added into the pot with the clams. Tap the clams to help them open (removing any that won't open). At the last moment, add the shrimp and lobster into the pot and then add the linguine and some grated parmesan just long enough to incorporate.

The end result

The end result is a very nice mix of seafood in a brothy sauce with chunks of tomato. It was not overly hot, but had a little zing to it. I would add a sprinkle of crushed red pepper on my plate. The three of us that I expected to love it did, and Gracie had leftover chicken curry from last night. Which is about what I expected would happen... As an aside, if you are looking for a Fra Diavolo with a red sauce, there is a ver good one in The Best Recipe (by the publishers of Cook's Illustrated).

Work - Moderate. This looked like a simple enough recipe on paper, and when they made it on TV it looked very easy (but then again with cuts and editing and a staff to help out, what doesn't). In reality, it wasn't too bad but was involved enough to rate as not easy.
Time - All told, this took in excess of an hour (as the recipe indicates) and I was busy most if not all of the time. This was not a "get it going and forget about it" recipe by any means.
Cleanup - Cleanup needs were moderate to high as I used a bunch of different bowls etc during the various stages. If I planned better I probably could have done a more efficient job, but in reality I didn't; there was a decent amount of cleanup, and a decent amount of stovetop splatter from all the chili oil cooking. There were shrimp to peel and devein, lobster tails to disect, clams to scrub etc...
Cost - Medium/High on cost. I made this with 2 small lobster tails, a dozen littleneck clams and 2/3 of a pound of medium sized shrimp. To moderate the cost somewhat you could skip the lobster and use more shrimp instead, but because of the fresh seafood you would have a hard time getting this into the "cheap/economical" category.
Rating - 7 out of 10 overall, but a weekend meal for sure. It tastes terrific but is not cheap, quick, or simple.

Vietnamese Chicken Curry

Last night we had arranged for brother Dave and his Darling Wife to come over for dinner, followed by some long-overdue guitar playing. I wanted something fun to make and a little off the beaten path, but not too difficult or requiring too much prep or cooking. The Labor Day holiday cookout at the neighbors will be a red meat fest, so I thought a chicken dish would be good (which is also in deference to Darling Wife's sensibilities). After some thought, I remembered a Madhur Jaffrey dish I had made once before that was very good, and not too involved.

The dish is Vietnamese Chicken Curry from page 94 of Jaffrey's From Curries to Kebabs; Recipes From the Indian Spice Trail (Clarkson Potter, 2003). I took the easy route and used boneless skinless thighs and breasts instead of bone-in pieces. First the chicken is rubbed with curry powder. Then a "blender paste" of shallot, ginger, garlic, crushed red pepper and lemongrass is made (with some water). Oil, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, lots of chopped onion and the paste make a base for this dish, to which is added diced tomato and then the chicken. After cooking for 7 or 8 minutes, potato, carrot, fish sauce, sugar and water are added, and then the dish is simmered for close to a half hour to cook everything through. In the last few minutes, coconut milk is added to make the richness of the sauce (salting to taste). We had it with simple green beans and of course lots of rice.

Work - Pretty easy. Chunk up some chicken, chop some veggies, throw some stuff in a blender, and then add stuff to a pot in batches. Nothing difficult here, and not overly fiddly.
Time - About an hour, start to finish, but only the first half of that requires active work, the last half hour is periodic stirring only.
Cleanup - Not bad at all. I used a blender, two cutting boards, a dutch oven and a few utensils and measuring stuff.
Cost - Fairly inexpensive. Needed to shop for chicken (about 3 lbs when doubling the recipe), some veggies and the coconut milk. All of the spices, fish sauce and other minor ingredients were pantry items for me.
Rating - 6.5 or 7 out of 10. A good solid coconut chicken curry. The flavor is good, with some heat (we moderated this for the kids). It's not a knock-your-socks-off recipe, but the good taste coupled with the relatively low cost and effort involved make this a keeper.