On the Menu in Heaven

Welcome to Heaven!

Menu for the Lord's table...

Your first course: 

 Pan-Seared Local Brussels Sprouts with 

Parmesan, Sea Salt, Black Pepper and Meyer Lemon Zest.

Carbonara Gorge

Damn hot out, and I'm a little out of sorts, and all I can think about is gorging myself on bacon, butter and pasta. Something seems wrong with that picture, but it's true. I raided my leftovers tonight and dazzled old fusilli and peas (from the parsley pesto disaster) with bacon out of the freezer, scallions leftover from my wok-capades, and an egg. Then, to provide some sort of refreshment, I downed a tall, cool glass of our homemade Dook's Brew IPA.

My Clafoutis Brings All the Boys to the Yard

Yiii, that sounds suggestive. Oh, but the clafoutis was so, so good! And I must send sincere to thanks to my darling Cynthia in Belgium for introducing me to clafoutis years ago in our little catering trailer in West Hollywood. Thank you, Cynthia! "It's like a whole stack of crepes piled on top of each other!"

Free pound o' cherries at the Whole Foods plus the requisite eggs, flour, sugar and vanilla extract all on hand meant clafoutis was so easy (that's a nice rhyme).

Ms. J. Child's recipe, to be honest, was a bit overly sweet for my tastes, so I ended up squeezing some lemon juice over the whole show. Next time, less sugar. Oh, and pitting those damn cherries was seriously tedious. Next time, I leave the pits in.

Hey and here's the yummy cous we munched prior! Cleaned the fridge out of kalamatas, arugula, lemon and some parmesan.

You Can't Go Wrong with Loads of Cheese

2/17/10

The Creation:

Fast Eggplant Parmesan

What's in the fridge?

eggplant
mushrooms
fresh Mozzarella
1 slice guanciale
small hunk of Stilton
1/2 white onion
1/3 red onion
1/2 lemon
1/2 lime
Sugo (Mama's homemade, pork-based tomato sauce)
chicken stock
rabbit stock

frozen peas

Key Ingredients Consumed:

eggplant

fresh Mozzarella

Sugo

The Creative Process:

This was purely a result of having to get rid of that eggplant. Conveniently, I had all of the other ingredients on hand (since I pretty much *always* have Asiago or Parmesan as well as dry pasta. Since my dear friend Sarah locked herself out of her apartment, I made this quickly and improvisationally (word?) to soothe her: Quickly fry salted eggplant slices in olive oil (high heat!); drain and line on baking sheet. Top with fresh mozzarella and Parmesan; smother with sugo or tomato sauce and bake for a bit until it's all bubbly and browning on the top. Serve over pasta.

The Verdict: 

It's really hard to go wrong with fried eggplant and loads of cheese. I like the full-process version better, but this was pure delight in a pinch. I also drank it with a bottle of La Sibilla Piedirosso from Campania, Italy--$11 at Crush and a good cheapie to get me through the night and packing for Key West!