I use the term “stew” loosely in titling this recipe. The result is not so much a stew as a braise, as I use whole chicken thighs and the broth is rich and thick. However, I find it to be delicious and satisfying as a stand alone dish, and as I am always chatting with people looking for ways to cut back on carbohydrates, I thought I would offer this as a nice alternative to the chicken breast and broccoli meal.

Beans, often referred to as “slow” carbs, add a lot to a dish that doesn’t include pasta or grains. The fiber and protein aid in long term fullness, and they have a buttery flavor without adding fat. In this recipe, I chose to use cannellini beans as they have a sweet, mild flavor. Black eyed peas (rumored to be lucky) or giant white beans would also be delicious.

Finally, the addition of the eggplant makes this a hearty, thick stew and balances the savory flavor with a smokey sweetness. I cut my eggplant into small cubes and leave the skin on, both for the nutritional value and the color, but if you prefer, you can peel the eggplant before you cut it.  I also added Kale to this dish because I love it and I know it is so good for me.  To be honest, I add kale to just about as many dishes as I can get away with for both of those reasons.

For those of you who can’t do a meal without pasta or grains, throw the stew over your favorite pasta or some brown rice. Or, grab a crusty loaf of sourdough and call it dinner.  Either way, make extra because it’s even better left over.

Ingredients

• 6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
• 1 large Italian eggplant, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 3 cups chopped kale
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, peeled and cut into quarters
• 10 oz. crimini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 28 oz. can chopped tomatoes (or 3 cups chopped fresh tomatoes)
• 1 15 oz. can of cannellini beans (or 2 cups pre-soaked dry beans)
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons chopped basil
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Salt and crushed red pepper to taste

In a heavy-bottom pot with a tight fitting lid (such as a dutch oven), heat the olive oil over medium high heat.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper.  Place it in the hot pot skin side down and do not touch it until the underside is well browned and slides easily in the pot.  Turn and brown on the other side.  Remove from the pan and set aside on a plate lined with a paper towel.

Add the butter, thyme, garlic, and onions.  Reduce the heat to medium and saute the onions until they become translucent and golden, about 7-8 minutes.  Add the cubes of eggplant and mushrooms.  Stir to coat with remaining oil and butter, season well with salt and add red pepper if desired, and then place the lid on the pot.  This will allow the eggplant to steam and cook through without adding more oil to the pan.  Every five minutes or so, remove the lid, give it a stir, and then cover again until the eggplant and mushrooms are soft and moist.

Add the chopped kale and stir well.  Add the wine and, with the lid off, allow it to reduce by at least half.  While the wine is reducing, scrape the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Once the wine has reduced, add the tomatoes, beans, and chicken stock.  Return the chicken thighs to the pot, covering each thigh completely in the liquid.  Cover the pot with the lid, and reduce the heat to low.  Cook on low for 45 minutes to an hour.

After 45 minutes to an hour, the chicken thighs should be tender enough that the meat should slip easily from the bone.  At this point, I like to (carefully) remove them from the cooking liquid, and with tongs and a fork remove the chicken meat from the bones.  I return the chicken meat to the liquid, stir in the chopped basil, and the stew is ready to serve.  Serves 4-6 people.

When I was a kid, I was an exceptionally good eater.  Perhaps this was due to the amount of time I spent with my mom in the kitchen, watching her create beautiful and aromatic dishes, helping her dice and stir and season.  How could I not eat something that I had just spent the last hour helping to prepare?  This is undoubtedly the reason I was requesting things like grilled sauteed spinach and lamb chops for dinner before I was ever able to even spell these things.  I am grateful to my mom for this.

As sophisticated as my palette was, however, the only food I remember having a real gripe with was eggplant.  I think this is a pretty common ingredient for a child not to like, but lately I have heard many adults claim they, too, dislike the flavor of eggplant.  The reason for this, I am certain, is that, in this country especially, not everyone knows much about what to do with these big, strangely colored and even more strangely textured vegetable.  And, eggplant is bitter in its raw state.  When an eggplant is not cooked enough, that bitter flavor remains, and sticks with the exposed taste buds long enough to discourage a person from ever eating it again.  I understand!  I, too, was victim to this aversion, but I have since learned that, when prepared properly, eggplant is the incredibly sweet and mild in flavor, and I believe that if first tasted in this form, most people would find it hard to resist.   I now think upon my childhood years with shame, just thinking of how many perfectly good eggplants I turned away from in disgust.

My rule of thumb for eggplant is the softer it becomes, the sweeter and more delectable it is, and this is achieved not by salting, as most people claim, but by steaming.  And this cooking method, which comes from a Moroccan dish I found in Food and Wine magazine, will get you there every time.  So put down the salt shaker for now, as this recipe calls for no pre-salting.   Try instead a new way.  And if you have yet to introduce your kids to eggplant, do them a favor and start here.

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggplants (the big, dark purple ones work best for this recipe)
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 4-6 heirloom tomatoes of mixed shapes, colors, and sizes, chopped (could be substitutes with a can of whole tomatoes, chopped, in winter)
• 4 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tbs. fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 lemon
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. sweet paprika
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Poke your eggplants in a few places with a fork.  Place them in a large, heavy bottomed pot, over medium high heat and cover.  Let them steam this way for twenty to twenty-five minutes on each side, turning once.  When they are soft throughout and the skin is slightly charred, remove them from the pot and place in a colander to drain in the sink for ten minutes or so.  Then, scrape the insides out of the skin, mash with a fork or wooden spoon, and set aside.  You may need to add some water to your pot and return it to the heat to scrape up some of the charred bits of skin before the next step.

Heat the olive oil in the same pot.  Add the onions, and allow them to sweat through for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.  Then, add the garlic, cumin, paprika, cayenne, and salt.  Continue to stir and cook for another three to four minutes or until the onions are translucent.  Add the eggplant and the tomatoes and stir well to combine.   Reduce the heat to low and add the parsley and cilantro.  Taste for salt.

Continue to cook over low heat until the tomatoes are soft and their liquid has evaporated a bit, another ten minutes or so.  Finish with a squeeze of fresh lemon and a little bit of chopped parsley if you would like and serve immediately.

This dish is great with rice and is a good compliment to chicken, white fish, or lamb.

I have taken on two challenges with the invention of this recipe:  the first is making a pasta-less lasagna that is hands-down delicious (you’re welcome, gluten-phobes and carb-free dieters!); the second is creating a dish that even the most critical loather of eggplant simply could not resist.  Eggplant is a touchy vegetable for some people.  How many times have I heard the claim that eggplant is “bitter”?  My response – slander!  How could such a succulent, beautiful gift from the Earth be given such a bad reputation?  The answer is the same as with most vegetables we grow to dislike.  It’s like a bad dog:  the problem is not the offender, it is the handler.  The bitter eggplant was poorly cooked.  But don’t worry, I am here to show you how to be the pack leader of eggplant.

When cooked properly and patiently, eggplant metamorphosizes, becoming tender and sweet.  In this recipe, it makes a great substitute for pasta because it is easy to cut thin and it holds its shape, but the sweet flavor it adds brings the dish to a new place.  It already created one convert when I made this dish for my good friend’s mother, unaware that she didn’t like eggplant.  She enjoyed the dish so much, she called me right after dinner to rave about how pleased she was to finally like eggplant.  Her daughter later verified that she had to ask her to stop saying, “Yum, this is so delicious,” after every bite.  Quite a compliment!

This lasagna has three different components, and then a nice cheesy top.  I find it easiest to prepare the three components separately, and then assemble and cook the lasagna.  I chose to make a tomato sauce that was loaded with veggies like fennel and kale for additional flavor and nutritional merit.  It would also be tasty with a more simple tomato sauce.  It is a little involved, so plan ahead and complete all of the steps except for baking it.  It can wait to be baked for a couple of days in your fridge.  Remember – it is a labor of love.  It is not supposed to be easy.  The messier your kitchen is when you are done and the more love you put into giving each layer just the right amount of sauce, the more delicious it will taste.

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggplants
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1/2 bulb of fennel, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• 1 cup of chopped kale
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 scallions, finely chopped
• A handful of fresh basil, chopped
• 1 28 0z can of whole peeled tomatoes
• 1 can of tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 1 cup of dry white wine

• 1 large container of ricotta cheese, whole milk or part skim
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of grated Mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• Salt and red pepper to taste

To prepare the eggplant:

Peel the eggplant.  Using a mandolin, slice the eggplant lengthwise into 1/4 inch pieces.  Lay them out on paper towels and season them liberally with salt.  Heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat in a large, nonstick skillet and put a layer of eggplant in the skillet at a time.  Cover the skillet with a lid, as this will help the eggplant steam and become soft and sweet without having to use too much oil.  Cook for about three minutes and then flip.  Cook the second side for another three minutes and remove. Place cooked eggplant on the paper towels and reserve for assembly.  Repeat this process until all the eggplant is cooked, adding more olive oil to the pan as necessary.

To prepare the sauce:

You may use the same skillet you used to cook the eggplant if it is plenty big.  Heat another two tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat.  Add the onions, fennel, red bell pepper, and garlic.  Season with salt and crushed red pepper to taste.  Let the vegetables soften until they become translucent, about six or seven minutes.  Add the kale and toss or stir until it is coated with the olive oil. Add the wine and let the alcohol cook off for about 4 or 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste.  Allow the sauce to simmer over low heat while you prepare the ricotta mixture so that all of the flavors may blend.

To prepare the ricotta mixture:

Combine the ricotta, eggs, scallions, and basil in a large bowl.  Mix well. Set aside for assembly.

To assemble:

Assemble the lasagna in a large Pyrex cassarole dish.  I love using glass because you can see the beautiful layers of the lasagna.

Start with a layer of half of the eggplant on the bottom of your dish.  I alternate the pieces, fat side up, fat side down, for a more even layer.

Next, evenly spread a layer of half of the ricotta mixture over the eggplant.  Make sure you reach all the way to the edge so you can see each layer.

Next, ladle half of the tomato sauce over the ricotta layer and spread it out evenly, all the way to the edge.

Make one more layer each of the eggplant, ricotta mixture and sauce.  Top the dish with the Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. If you are preparing the dish ahead of time, stop here and put it in the fridge.  Otherwise, it is ready to bake.

Baking the dish:

Bake the dish at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.  Turn the oven to broil and bake for another 5 minutes, until the top is golden brown.  Let the lasagna cool for about 15 minutes, and serve!  Serves 6-8 people.

One of our favorite things to get for take-out in the Boston, Cambridge area is the eggplant panini and Insalata salad from the City Girl Cafe in Inman Square Cambridge.   The sandwich is as divine as it is simple: roasted eggplant with some homemade garlic aioli, simple field greens and some fresh mozzarella.  Put it on a freshly baked hearty sourdough baguette, into a panini press and bang, a delicious vegetarian sandwich that’s sweet, savory and a deliciously crunchy texture.

So with some left over Italian eggplant from the farmer’s market and no idea what to do with them, I decided to re-create our favorite sandwich, with some personal customizations of course.  Aimee always mandates that her favorite part of any sandwich is the condiments, and I’m starting to agree with her.  I’ve always mandated that the meat and bread make the sandwich, but when you can make your own condiments, they really shine.

I took a little bit of inspiration for one of these condiments from a recipe on Smitten Kitchen, a consistently excellent blog written by Deb in New York City (it’s one of our favorites).  Her recipe was for Rigatoni with Eggplant Puree – which looked absolutely delicious.  I decided to make her eggplant puree, but instead of pairing it with pasta, I decided to use it as a condiment for my roasted eggplant sandwich.  I also made some homemade aioli, which turned out VERY garlicky, but delicious nonetheless.  I finally think I’m getting the homemade mayonnaise thing down, after having made a few that turned out too thick.  I stripped out the cheese too, as the creaminess of the eggplant puree and aioli was quite enough.

Anyway, the end result was delicious and ultimately rich, especially for something without any protein.  If I had a lunch restaurant, this would be on the menu.  The puree was delicious and sweet – and the post-puree splash of good balsamic vinegar was key for the dish.  Here’s how to do it:  For the eggplant puree:

• 1 loaf of SUPER FRESH sourdough boule or baguette bread – sliced to a desired width (or in half if it’s a baguette)
• 4 Italian eggplants (light purple, skinny type) or 2 purple people eater eggplants (the regular sort) – 1/2 of them peeled and cut into cubes, the other half sliced into 1/2-1″ thick slices
• 1 pint (15-20) medium grape tomatoes

• 4-5 cloves garlic – left whole in their peels
• 5-6 mint leaves – spearmint preferred!
• 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp. top quality balsamic vinegar – the best stuff you got! Click here to get some insane stuff online
• 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• Field greens or spring mix
• Fresh mozzarella cheese (optional)
• Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Take a baking sheet and line it with a silicon mat or parchment paper.  In a medium mixing bowl, add the cubed and sliced eggplant, tomatoes and garlic cloves and add some salt and pepper and a splash of olive oil.  Give them a mix and then spread them out onto the baking sheet.  Place them in the oven and roast the vegetables until they’re soft and cooked through – around 40 minutes.

While the vegetables are cooking, make the aioli:

• 1 medium clove of fresh garlic (2 cloves if you want it REALLY garlicky)
• 1-2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 egg – yolk and SOME of the white, not all of it
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• salt and finely ground pepper to taste

I use my food processor to do this, but if you don’t have one, use a whisk and a bowl.  Add the egg, lemon, garlic and salt and pepper.  Mix them until just combined.  Then with the machine running (or with you whisking) slowly add the oil in a slow, steady stream to form the emulsion.  Adjust seasoning to taste.

When the vegetables are finished roasting, peel the garlic and add all of them to the food processor.  Add in the olive oil, mint leaves, lemon juice and vinegar and puree until fairly smooth.  You’re looking for a pesto-like substance.  Taste the mix and add some salt and pepper to your liking.

Next, cut the bread into desired slices.  Add some eggplant mix to one side and some aioli to the other.  Top with your roasted eggplant slices, some field greens and mozzarella cheese – or add whatever you want!  Toast the sandwich in a pan (with a little butter if you want) or in a panini press if you have one.  When you put the sandwiches in the pan, place a brick or heavy pan on top to press the sandwich down.  This will give you your ‘panini’ effect.  Enjoy!

I have only recently learned to appreciate savory crepes.  I grew up eating sweet crepes for breakfast at a stand at the farmer’s market in the Bay Area, and when you saw one customer leaving with ham and cheese, and the other leaving with a pile of fresh berries and whipped cream, you couldn’t help feeling like the first got the short end of the stick.  I never understood, when faced with the option, why anyone would choose a savory crepe.  It wasn’t until I discovered a small Belgian joint in the Mission in San Francisco called Frjtz that I discovered the true beauty of the crepe’s dinner potential.

Frjtz‘s menu is simple, consisting of about ten sandwich and crepe options, a few salads, Belgian-style mussels, and the most delicious french fries with about twenty different aiolis and ketchups to dip.  You order at the counter and they bring you your food, but the sexy and modern decor and the delicious food are worth a little self-service.

When Adrian and I moved back to Cambridge, we found ourselves thinking about these savory crepes and we thought we would try to reproduce to the best of our memory their Rosetti crepe filling.  It wasn’t exactly the same but it was close — and just as good, if not better.

We used Alton Brown’s recipe for the crepes.  You will want to prepare the crepe batter ahead of time so it can sit in the fridge for at least an hour before you cook the crepes.  When the filling is almost done, cook the crepes so that both the filling and the crepe is hot when you serve it.

The Crepes:

• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 cup flour
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• Butter, for coating the pan while cooking

In a blender, combine the eggs, milk, flour, and melted butter and pulse for ten second.  Refrigerate for at least an hour before cooking (the batter will last for up to 48 hours).  This will make about eight large crepes, so you will probably have batter left over.

To cook the crepes, heat a nonstick skillet or crepe pan over medium low heat.  Coat with butter and pour about 1/4 cup of the batter in the middle of the pan.  Rotate the pan to coat with the batter.  After about 30 seconds, or when the crepe begins to turn a light golden color, flip the crepe and cook the other side for about half as long as the first side.  Lay flat to cool while you cook the other crepes.  Fill and serve right away.

The Filling:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 small or 1 large eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 large red pepper, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup of feta cheese, crumbled
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh chives
• Salt
• Crushed red pepper

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add the olive oil.  When the oil is hot, add the onions and cook about three minutes, until they become slightly translucent.  Add the eggplant, peppers, and garlic, season with salt and crushed red pepper to taste and cover.  Cook for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally, until veggies start to soften from their own steam.  Add the wine and continue to cook until veggies are thoroughly caramelized, another ten minutes or so.  Turn off the heat.  Add the feta and fresh herbs and stir to combine.  Keep covered so the filling will stay warm until you are ready to fill the crepes.

Assembly:

Put 1/4 of the filling in the center of the crepe.  Spread the filling out into a square shape in the middle of the crepe.  Using the handle of a wooden spoon, fold all four sides of the crepe in to form a square.  Turn over and garnish with a small dollop of the filling and a couple fresh chives.  Repeat for the other three crepes.  Serve immediately.

More good looking Crepe ideas:

• The Veggie Table
• C’est Bon
• GupShop

So when you go to a middle eastern restaurant or your neighborhood falafel joint, what is your go to order?  For me, it’s usually Baba ganoush – the classic Middle Eastern smoked eggplant condiment that is sometimes made with pomegranate, cumin and olive oil.  I really like it better than its more popular companion hummus, as its smoky flavor is very unique and savory.  Mostly though, I think it’s just the eggplant itself that I love.  So when I saw these two gorgeous Italian eggplants at Whole Foods the other day – I thought that making some sort of dip or pesto was the way to go.

This recipe was somewhat inspired from an eggplant dip that Elise, Aimee and I sampled at Stone Hearth Pizza, an excellent pizza place in the Boston area.  They use a bunch of cumin in their dip (or so it tasted like) – so I too that advice and used some cumin seed that I toasted and then ground in a mortar and pestle. 

Taking some more ideas from traditional Genovese basil pesto, I also decided to add some pine nuts, lemon and a bit of Parmesan.

The result paired really well with the Salmon that I picked up at the fish market, but it left me wishing that I had made some more to have with carrots, pita or tortilla chips.  One of the secrets of this recipe has to be the roasted garlic (been a theme for me lately), which makes this dip really creamy, as well as helps that flavor.  In any case, I’ll definitely be making this again and probably buying some eggplant and spinning this up and filling up empty hummus containers.  This stuff would also go awesome with other types of fish or even on a roast beef sandwich.  Give it a shot!

• 2 large Italian or other type of Eggplant
• 5 large garlic cloves
• small handful parsley – stems removed
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice – fresh squeezed
• 1/3 c. pine nuts – toasted in a small skillet
• 2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese – fresh grated
• 1 tsp. cumin – toasted and crushed cumin seeds are best!!
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 6-8 pomegranate seeds (optional) – I’ll try using them when I make this again!

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Prepare the eggplant by poking a few holes in each with a knife and placing them whole in a small roasting plan to just fit them.  In the same roasting pan, take the garlic cloves and place them in a small square of aluminum foil and drizzle a touch of olive oil on them.  Wrap the cloves up in the foil and place in the roasting pan alongside the eggplant.  Place in the oven and roast for around 45 minutes to an hour, or until the eggplant’s skin is wrinkled and the insides are soft.

Once the eggplant is done, remove it from the oven and unwrap the garlic from the foil.  Peel the garlic from its skins and place the soft cloves in your food processor.  Once the eggplant has cooled enough to touch, peel the skin off (if should peel off easily), chop it roughly and place in the food processor too.

Add the parsley, toasted pine nuts, lemon juice, olive oil, Parmesan and salt and pepper and blend the ingredients together until almost smooth. 

Stop the food pro and add in the cumin and more salt and pepper as needed.  Serve on top or under a good protein like salmon or halibut or alongside home made pita chips.

I decided to serve it with pan roasted salmon and parsley oil, which really enhanced the flavor of the eggplant.  Here’s that little bonus recipe – totally great with so many things:

• large bunch of parsley – leaves only, stems removed and washed
• 3/4 – 1 c. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice (not traditional, but I love its addition!)

Put parsley and lemon juice in a blender and slowly drizzle olive oil in while the blender is running.  Should turn into smooth oil with an awesome bright green color.

The scenario: It’s been a hell of a day. The weather is somewhere between snow and rain – not bad enough to warrant a snow day, but plenty dreary to make it hard to get out of bed. You spent too many hours at work. You feel like putting on your slippers and taking a nap on the couch rather than going to the grocery store, but you are in no position to drop forty bucks on take-out that will feed you once and will only only satisfy you until twenty minutes after you begin eating, at which point you know you will feel bloated and slightly guilty for overeating.

You grab your reusable grocery bag and head over to your local market, which is overcrowded and understocked. One thing is for sure: you want pasta, which, let’s face it, is the ultimate comfort food. You start at the meat counter, but everything looks sadly picked over. They are even out of Italian sausage. Yikes. The seafood counter is no better, offering mostly frozen and farm raised selections, none of which seem to work well with what you have in mind. It’s decided – tonight you are going vegetarian.

Pick up an eggplant, a red bell pepper, basil, some mascarpone cheese, and a package of whole grain linguine and make a beeline for the checkout.

With these ingredients and a few other pantry staples, you have a healthy, delicious dinner under control that will fill you up and taste so delicious you will forget about the rest of your day. And the best part is you will be eating it in about 35 minutes. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed, and neither will anyone you feed it to.

Ingredients:

• 1 large eggplant
• 1 large red onion
• 1 large or 2 small red bell peppers
• 5-6 cloves of garlic
• Fresh basil
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 large can San Marzano tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons of capers
• Salt
• Crushed Red Pepper
• 1 package whole wheat linguine
• Mascarpone cheese

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Place the bell pepper(s) on a baking sheet and roast in the oven, turning the pepper every five minutes or so until your sauce is ready for it.

Boil water for your pasta. By the time it is boiling and the pasta is done, your sauce will be done.

Peel and slice your eggplant into 1/2 inch cubes. Liberally salt and place in a bowl. Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large, non-stick skillet. Slice red onion into quarter rings and add to the skillet. Peel and half or quarter six cloves of garlic. Don’t be afraid to leave these so large. They will become sweet and caramelized and will add a wonderful flavor to your sauce. Add garlic, red pepper, and some salt to the skillet. Once the onions are beginning to become translucent, add the eggplant. Cover with a secure lid. The eggplant will steam itself as it releases it’s liquid and will break down into a sweet and beautiful mush (see picture above). Cook the vegetables for about 15 minutes. Keep covered, but stir occasionally. Keep turning your red pepper, too!

Once the eggplant becomes mushy and golden (almost like the consistency of a cooked banana), you are ready to add the wine. Cook the alcohol off, and then add the canned tomatoes. If they are whole, crush them with a wooden spoon. Reduce the heat to low.

Pull your red pepper from the oven. If the skin is not sliding right off, put the pepper in a bowl and cover with saran wrap. The steam will loosen up the skin and continue cooking the flesh. Peel, remove the stem and the seeds, thinly slice, and add to your sauce. Add the capers. Slice the basil into ribbons and add to the sauce. Toss the cooked linguine in with the sauce. Garnish with the mascarpone (mixed with black pepper for an extra kick). Serve immediately.

Serves 4 to 6.

Tonight was one of those nights when there wasn’t much in the house, it was raining all day, and I didn’t feel like venturing back out into the night to face the perils of the grocery store. I was rummaging through the pantry and I had, luckily, defrosted some chicken, and with only a few ingredients I whipped up this dish. It turned out to be better than I expected: cozy, full of flavor, and an excellent way to make two bone-in chicken breasts feed four people. I will definitely be making this again.

The Chicken:

Ingredients:

• Two bone-in, split breast chicken breasts
• 1-2 tablespoons of flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 small or one large onion, sliced (red or white or both)
• 4 – 5 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

• 1 large eggplant, peeled in one inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 1 small can of whole tomatoes in sauce (I prefer San Marzano)
• 2 cups of red wine
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• crushed red pepper (to taste)
• 2 tablespoons of capers
• Salt and pepper

Begin by seasoning the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Lightly coat with the flour. In a dutch oven, or a deep pot that has a lid, brown the chicken breasts, one side at a time, in the olive oil over high heat (this usually takes about 5 minutes per side). Remove the chicken breasts from the pan.

In the same pan, add the onions and about a teaspoon of salt and cook until they begin to become translucent, stirring as necessary. Add the garlic and the eggplant. If you want to taste spice, add the crushed red pepper now.

Cook the vegetables until the eggplant starts to soften, about three or four minutes. Add the tomato paste and the wine. Stir until the tomato paste is dissolved, thickening the wine. Cook about four or five minutes, or until much of the alcohol cooks off. Add the tomatoes and the chicken stock. Stir to combine. Add the browned chicken breasts to the liquid. Cover and cook over low heat for about 45 minutes. Add the capers and serve!

Parmesan Orzo

This is a great and simple side dish for any braised dish. Try substituting the parsley with poppy seeds for a different rendition with great texture.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups orzo

• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, or butter, or both
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed using a garlic press
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• Salt and crushed red pepper to taste

Cook the orzo pasta until al dente and drain. Add the remaining ingredients. Stir and serve immediately.

I don’t think there’s a person on earth who doesn’t like pasta wrapped around cheese.  Especially when you put some savory and delicious homemade red sauce on top. This recipe substitutes eggplant for the pasta but works just as well and is a great use for a vegetable that sometimes gets overlooked in modern kitchens.  Trust me, you don’t lose anything by using eggplant (besides carbos) – in fact I think the texture is actually a value add here.

Though the process of making this dish may sound complicated, it’s actually very simple as the eggplant doesn’t require breading and just a little frying before the involtini can be wrapped and placed in the oven.  You can also use pasta as a substitute for the eggplant, pounded chicken or veal would work too.  I sat and ate Involtini in Rome years ago, before I was ever interested in the culinary arts and really opened my eyes.

The basic idea for this dish is an old Italian country style classic, though it was brought to my eyes via Mario Batali (surprise, surprise).  This dish filled the house with some really awesome aromas that had Tanner the dog sitting at the kitchen door begging for a handout.  Make extra, the leftovers are delicious too!

I recently have been in the practice of incorporating my red sauce with lots of hearty red wine – using Bordeaux varietals or Syrah, not Pinot.  The wine really stands up the the tomatoes and the two compliment each other beautifully.  The involtini really has two main steps that get combined just before baking in the oven – making the red sauce and preparing the eggplant.  Here’s what I did:

Red Sauce:

• 1 large Spanish onion – medium dice
• 1 large carrot – small cube
• 2 stalks celery – small cube
• 3-4 cloves garlic – diced
• 1 large can whole tomatoes
• 1 c. red wine – something you’d drink (the heartier the better – Cabernet Sauvingon, Syrah, etc…)
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 Tbsp. dried basil
• 4-5 whole stalks Thyme
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes  (I like adding the red pepper for this dish, not for all dishes)
• 2 Tbsp. EV olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Over medium heat, cook the onion, celery and carrot (season with salt here) in the olive oil until slightly browned but not burned – about 7 minutes.  A little color on the onion is ok here, but you don’t want any on the other vegetables.  Add in the garlic, bay leaf, basil, red pepper, thyme stalks and a bit more salt and pepper and toss together for another few minutes.  Raise the heat and add in the wine.  Let the wine cook off until the aroma of the sauce doesn’t have any alchoholic bite to it and most of the liquid is gone – around 5-7 minutes depending on your pan.  Add in the tomato paste and incorporate it into the sauce.

Take the tomatoes and crush them in your hand over the pan and add them to the mixture.  The tomato pieces should be fairly small and their juice should thin the sauce a bit.  Add more of the juice as neccessary.  Lower the heat to low and cook until the sauce thicken a little bit.  Adjust the seasonings to taste.  Leave this over very low heat while you prepare the eggplant.

Preparing the Eggplant

• 1-2 eggplant (1 eggplant for 2 people) – sliced lengthwise and thin! 1/3 to 1/2 inch max!
• 1.5 c. olive oil (for frying)
• 1.5 c. Ricotta cheese
• 1/2 c. scallions – small dice
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp. sage – diced
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Combine the ricotta, scallion, egg, red pepper flakes, sage and nutmeg in a mixing bowl and set aside.

In a heavy pan, heat the olive oil over medium/high heat (to a temp. around 350-375 or until a small square of bread browns in a couple minutes).  Add in the eggplant slices a few at a time (don’t overlap in the pan) and cook for about a minute or two on each side.  The eggplant should get pretty soft but not brown too much.  Drain the cooked eggplant on paper towels and continue until all of the eggplant is cooked like this.

Take a slice of eggplant and put a heaping tablespoon of the ricotta mixture at the base of the slice and roll it up to form a small round.  Place the roll-ups in an oven-safe baking pan or dish in rows (will make it easier to serve later).  Continue until all of the eggplant has been used or all of the ricotta is gone (I usually run out of eggplant first).

Combining

• The rolled eggplant
• The prepared red sauce
• Pieces of fresh Mozzarella
• Parsley

• Salt and pepper (optional)
• Extra red pepper flakes (optional)

Once all of your eggplant is wrapped and in the oven-safe dish, take your red sauce and distribute it around the eggplant.  Add a little bit of fresh Mozzarella to each eggplant roll and optionaly some salt, red and black pepper.  Place in your preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese inside the eggplant is oozing and the Mozarella is a little browned but not burned.  Pull from the oven, top with some diced parsley and serve.

Serves around 6 people.  Enjoy!