Mama D's Olive and Eggplant Salad

My husband's Aunt got the Minneapolis St. Paul area cooking and eating lots of Italian-American food! This recipe is not one I'd eat because I am against olives - unless they have been rendered into submission and made into oil. But, I don't want to deprive those odd folks out there that eat black olives of a Mama D classic, so... enjoy!

Mama D's Olive and Eggplant Salad
nutrition facts

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant, peeled and sliced
1 small onion, chopped
pinch of salt
1/2 t pepper
1/3 t oregano
1 clove garlic minced (were I to make this I would increase the garlic dramatically)
1/4 pound black Italian olives
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges

black olives

3 sprigs parsley, chopped
2 T olive oil (she actually called for 1/4 cup but I don't think that much is necessary. You can always go oup from 2 T but you can't back off from 1/4 cup)
1 T plus 1 t wine vinegar

Directions:

Cut the eggplant slices into bite sized pieces. Cook in boiling salted water until tender. Drain and squeeze dry. Combine with the remaining ingredients and toss gently.

Easy and olivey.

Eggplant and Zucchini Casserole

A beautiful Vegetarian dish that will rock the socks off a carnivore. Serve as a side or main dish.

Eggplant and Zucchini Casserole
nutrition facts set for side dish serving

Things to assemble:

1 T olive oil
1 medium onion
4 cloves garlic
2 (15 oz) cans or two pounds tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh basil
2 T parsley
1/4 t black pepper
1 large eggplant
2 T grapeseed oil
2 zucchini
12 oz fresh mozzarella
2 T Parmesan

What to do first:

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray cooking spray in a casserole dish.

Mince the garlic, rinse and chop the tomatoes or open the two cans, rinse and tear the basil, rinse and chop the parsley. Slice the mozzarella and measure the Parmesan. Set everything aside in bowls or on plates so they are ready to use without fussing about.

Making the sauce:

Place the 1 T olive oil in a large skillet. When the oil begins to shimmer, add the onions and saute for about 4-5 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and saute another 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, half the basil, and season to your taste. Simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes. Correct seasonings and set aside in a bowl. Clean the skillet for the next step.

What to do next:

Rinse and cut off the zucchini ends. Then cut them in half so you have two fully round but short zucchini sticks. Repeat with the other zucchini. I'll wait here..... Now cut the zucchini lengthwise in half, then cut each half in half. You will end up with 16 slices of zucchini.

Return the skillet to the stove medium high heat and add the grapeseed oil. Make sure the oil is very hot as this is critical for making non-oily eggplant.

While that is heating up, rinse and cut the ends off the eggplant. Stand it up and make vertical slices about 1/2 inch thick. You should be done with this by the time the oil is hot. Quickly fry the eggplant in the oil. If the eggplant gets soggy, your oil was not hot enough. Fry in batches, turning to brown each side. Drain on paper towels.

Add more oil if necessary and fry the zucchini in the same manner. Set aside on paper towels.

How to Assemble and Bake:

Layer half the eggplant and zucchini in the casserole. Top with half the sauce, half the mozzarella, and a bit of the remaining parsley and basil. Repeat. Top the whole with the Parmesan. A few more basil leaves here are makes a very pretty presentation.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until nice and bubbly. Allow to set for 10 minutes out of the oven and then serve.

Eggplant and Yellow Squash Casserole a la Mama

Mama D's recipes are the source of most of my Italian-American cookery. She knew her stuff. I've added a few twists to her recipes - increased the seasonings, eliminate or reduce the salt, and reduce the oil. This is a dish that enjoyed the tweakery.

Eggplant and Yellow Squash Casserole a la Mama

nutrition facts

Ingredients:

1 eggplant, hold off on slicing this til just before layering with the rest of the ingredients.

3 yellow summer squash (prepared as instructed below)

1 medium onion, sliced

2 tomatoes, chopped or crushed

1/4 t fresh cracked black pepper

1/2 t dried oregano

4 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

1/2 cup Romano cheese, grated

1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 T olive oil

The Mindful Prep Stuff:

Slice of the top and bottom of the summer squash. Then slice vertically so you have long thin strips. Slice the onion, and prep the tomatoes. Put each either in a bowl or on a plate so they are ready when you need them.  Measure the seasonings and put in a small bowl - I love to use those little bitty custard Pyrex cups as a seasoning holding bin. Shred or grate the cheeses. Now you may pare and slice the eggplant to about 1/4 inch slices. Cover with a towel to minimize contact with air as that can make the eggplant bitter.

What do do next:

Preheat the oven to 375 F

Spray Pam on a baking dish. An 11x9 would be fine or a square casserole, it all depends on the size of your eggplant. A large eggplant would require the larger casserole, a small or medium one would make the dish just fine for the smaller square casserole.

Build layers in this way: Eggplant, onion, squash. Cover with the crushed tomatoes. Sprinkle with seasonings. Sprinkle lightly with both cheeses. Repeat until the dish is about 3/4 full. Drizzle the olive oil on top of the whole. Then top with the last of the cheese.

Cover and bake for about 50 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 10 minutes or until the cheese is browning and the veggies tender.

Do Not Ever Salt the Eggplant Parmigiana

Sometimes we do a thing the way we've always done it just because, well, that's the way we've always done it. That doesn't make it right, it just makes it a habit. Lots of us have the habit of salting eggplant to draw out the moisture and then rinsing the salt before prepping it for Eggplant Parmigiana. Today, I discovered that the practice of salting the eggplant (actually called degorging....doesn't that sound unpleasant) is not the traditional and proper way to work with eggplant, it's just a modern habit. Also discovered that I was slicing the eggplant all wrong! So, with those two lessons (plus one other) from Benny the Chef, using the recipe from his wonderful new cookery book as a starting point, adding a few of my own preferences and inserting one convenient item that would appall Benny, I made the following fabulous sweet not bitter at all Parmigiana.

Do Not Ever Salt the Eggplant Parmigiana

(a rather Americanized version of the Roman classic. If you want to see how Benny made it, Like him on Facebook and you can see a series of pictures where he makes this in the totally Roman way!)

Serves 6-10 depending upon if it is the main dish or a side veggie or what you consider a serving. Here's the nutrition facts on the recipe based on 8 side servings which are very interestingly good given the fact that I allowed for a full 1/4 cup of oil to be absorbed and that there is a ton of cheese! But then, the eggplant itself only adds 49 calories to each serving. What a Mindful Win!

My Ingredients and my apologies to great chefs like Benny along with an accompanying warning:

3 young eggplants with firm skin and a beautiful green stem
2 cloves of garlic skin on
Grape seed oil for frying
16 oz fresh mozzarella
*****1 (24 oz jar) of Newman's Own Roasted Tomato and Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce (I'm sorry, Benny, really I usually would make fresh sauce, but this time I was in such a hurry... and I have to admit, mine would be a little different from yours anyway, oh dear, I'm in big trouble now...)
2 eggs
3 cloves of garlic minced (or pressed if you have one of those presses and don't have arthritic hands which makes it dratted difficult to do) and added to the sauce because I LOVE garlic
a T of brown sugar because I had never used this brand of sauce before and it was a tad acidic
a big handful of fresh picked basil from my garden - both purple and green
4 oz Parmigiano Reggiano
2 oz grated Pecorino Romano
fresh cracked black pepper to taste

*****warning, because I ran out of time and tomatoes and did not make my homemade sauce, I consider this recipe unfinished but adequate, although I do know that even if I put my sauce in here many of you would use a jar anyway so I'll post some of my sauce recipes separately.

Three Things I Have Learned and Directions noting some things I did Benny's way and some things I did my way because I'm stubborn.

The first thing I learned was how much oil to use. Benny uses 2 cups of extra virgin olive oil to bathe them in deep oil. He has far better fry pans than I, and is more skilled, knowing just when it's hot enough to cook the eggplant and not burn the oil. Besides (yes, I always have excuses) I had a mental block with using excess oil so instead I experimented. In one batch I hot bathed the eggplant in 2 cups of oil seasoned by adding the two skin on garlic cloves. I found that those slices were a just a tiny tad greasy and had to press them repeatedly with paper towels. I really think it was not all my fault, it's because I need to get one of those 2.5mm copper fry pans and besides, my stove is having even heat distribution issues (see? many many excuses!). For the second batch of slices, I used enough oil to coat the pan well, seasoned it by adding two more garlic cloves skin on, and quick fried the eggplant slices in batches to a beautiful golden brown. Still had to press between paper towels, but only briefly. Both ways of frying worked. One just used more paper towels and more oil. So, until I get a better fry pan and a new stove, I learned that I must use less oil.

The second thing I learned is that one should never cut the eggplant into slices while laying it on its side. Cut off the ends and stand it up to make the slices. The reason for this is that it changes the way the flesh presents and makes it less inclined to soak up all the oil when it fries. Slice off one slice of skin and discard. Then make 1/2 inch slices without peeling so that all your slices have a bit of skin around the edges.

The third thing I learned was that you MUST fry the slices right away after they are cut to a point of being golden brown and that this will help make them not bitter and soggy. After frying, remove them to a paper towel and blot well. I sliced one eggplant at a time and fried.

What to do to get it all ready for the pan:

Vertically slice and then fry the eggplant in just a tad of oil to which has been added a couple skin on garlic cloves. Do not slice all the eggplant ahead of time. Slice and fry, slice and fry.

After the frying, slice the mozzarella and put it on a handy dandy plate, rinse some fresh picked basil leaves, and dry them off. If you don't grow basil, do give it a try. It is such a simple forgiving plant to grow and nothing is better than heading out to the garden for fresh basil.

Next, mix the eggs with the the Pecorino Romano and 3 oz of the Parmigiano Romano (reserve one oz for topping). Warm the sauce in a medium sized pot.

Stir the egg/cheese mixture in to the warmed tomato sauce. Stir quickly to incorporate the eggs before they curdle.

Now you should have assembled the following on plates, a pot, and few bowls:

golden brown eggplant, thick sauce, basil leaves, and pepper....I did not use additional salt. I rarely add salt, but if you are used to it you may have to use it here as you layer ingredients. I will avert my eyes as you do so.

ready for the oven

Layering the thing:

In a large baking dish spread some of the tomato sauce on the bottom (no, I did not treat the pan w/Pam or anything else), top with a layer of eggplant (add salt if you must use it), grate some pepper over it, add a few whole basil leaves, and top with chunks of mozzarella. Then, repeat until you run out of everything but the sauce and spread that on top and sprinkle with the Parmigiano Reggiano. In this large 8 x 11 pan, I had three layers. I also like my Parmigiana rather saucy. In Benny's recipe the delectable sweet eggplant is quite obviously the star of the dish!

Bake at 400 F for 40 minutes, raise the temp to 500 F and bake until the Parmigiana is browned. While waiting, make salads. If you are making pasta, start the water a little before the Parmigiana is done so that the pasta can cook while the eggplant sits a bit.

Let the beautiful Parmigiana rest for 10 minutes, it is hard work to change from a purple skinned plant to a layered work of art. Enjoy it mindfully with a small side of whole wheat pasta seasoned only with your best extra virgin olive oil, garlic, fresh cracked black pepper, and well browned mushroom slices. A beautiful salad of mixed greens with carrot bits rounds the meal out perfectly.

Rabbit and Eggplant

Went to a concert in a small offbeat under the freeway dive with decent food and a fake beach music venue called the Last Concert Cafe. Saw a mediocre warm up band and was getting bored by the delay when the main act arrived - Gram Rabbit. A remarkably energetic, polished, and talented bunch. May have to join the Royal Order of Rabbits (their page for fans). The show was a great blend of music, lyrics, and showmanship.

Before the concert, we had dinner at a great Vietnamese restaurant that was given the very original name of Vietnam Restaurant. Clever, no? While the location in The Heights is new since 2003, the original location was in downtown Houston in 1880. Excellent food was had by all. I particularly enjoyed the Vietnamese Eggplant which featured crispy fried slices of eggplant, grilled onions and jalapenos in a wonderfully flavored brown sauce and served with brown rice.