Eggplant Pasta Sauce

Perhaps you have heard of Meatless Monday, a campaign to improve our health and reduce our carbon footprint by removing meat from our diet for one day a week. Well, I am not committed enough to eating vegetarian every Monday, but I like the idea of eating healthy and being environmentally friendly without committing to a life of no bacon. So, I try to eat 5 vegetarian meals (lunch or dinner) a week.

This is the first time that I made this pasta sauce, it is full of a flavor, texture, and heartiness that I did not expect in a vegetarian pasta sauce. I received inspiration for this dish from Saveur's Pasta Alla Norma and from a zucchini pasta sauce from The Best in Australia -- S1E1, but I don't think this dish is like either of them. I used Japanese eggplants, because in this type of dish, I like to have a bit of skin on all of my eggplant pieces. The standard Italian eggplant should work fine, but you will have a large number of pieces without any skin, also note one Italian eggplant is equivalent to two Japanese eggplants. Serves 2 people.

Eggplant Pasta Sauce:

Ingredients for Eggplant Pasta Sauce

• 2 Japanese Eggplants 
• 1/2 onion, chopped 
• 1 Tbsp olive oil 
• 2 Tbsp Tomato Paste 
• 1 clove Garlic, smashed. 
• 1 can Diced tomatoes, no salt added 
• Salt and Pepper to taste 
• ~1" piece of Parmesan Reggiano Rind 
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan Reggiano 
• Oregano, to taste 
• Thyme, to taste 
• 1 bay leaf 
• 2-3 cups Water 

Chop eggplants into about 3/4" cubes, lightly salt. (Salting will draw out some of the moisture and reduce bitterness).

Sauté the onions in oil over medium-high heat in the saucepan. Cook for 5 or 6 minutes until translucent, add the garlic and let it caramelize it in a hot spot, then stir in a couple tablespoons of water and cook the onions and garlic together for a minute or two.

Reduce heat to medium-low, add the eggplant pieces to the pan, turn to coat the pieces with the oil and sautéed onion and garlic. Cook for 12-15 minutes uncovered, stirring and turning the eggplant frequently. If the pan gets dry and the pieces start to brown, stir in several spoons of water. The eggplant chunks should become soft, but still retain their shape.

Pour in the diced tomatoes, tomato paste and 1 cup of water. Add spices and parmesan rind, let simmer for about a half hour, stirring and adding more water if it gets too thick (I like gradually adding the water, so if the eggplants cook faster than expected, I can still have my sauce a proper consistency). Eggplants should be very tender but not mush. Sprinkle on the parmesan reggiano and stir to blend everything together.

Remove bay leaf before serving. You can remove the garlic, but I find that it is a special treat to who ever ends up with it.

Serve over spagetti or linguini and enjoy!

Quiche Lorraine

A friend of mine asked me how I was going to make this blog stand out from all the others.  She gave me an excellent suggestion to make this a blog about cooking for two.  Portion sizing is difficult for me to judge (everyone eats a slightly different amount), but most of my recipes serve just enough for me and my husband, with some leftovers for lunch.

Quiche is one of my go to recipes because it can be made with whatever is on hand, as long as you have a pastry crust in the freezer, or at least that is how I thought before I made the short crust pastry for this quiche recipe, now I just need a stick of butter in the fridge.

For the second time in a row, I am posting a recipe that was shown on Masterchef Au.  This Classic Quiche Lorraine recipe was made by Gary Mehigan, one of the judges, and it is one of the best quiche recipes that I have made.  I think this recipe will become the base for many  of my quiche variations.   Note: A quick search suggests a 9" quiche makes about 6 servings, however, in my experience I only get 2-3 servings.

Short crust pastry:

• 1/2 cupbutter
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• Pinch salt
• 1egg
• 1tsp water or lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400ºF.  Butter a 9" tart tin or pie plate.

Place butter, flour and salt in a food processor and pulse until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add egg and lemon juice (or water) and process until mixture forms a ball. Turn onto a floured bench and gently knead to bring dough together. Do not over work. Wrap in plastic wrap and rest in refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.

Roll pastry between 2 sheets of baking paper to a 10 in circle. Gently ease into prepared tart tin or pie plate, pressing pastry into the edges of the tin. Trim with a small knife and prick the base. Lay a sheet of parchment paper over the base and fill with baking beans or rice and blind bake pastry for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven, take out paper and baking beans and return to the oven for 5 minutes to crisp.

Filling:

Ingredients for Quiche Filling

• 3 leeks, washed and thinly sliced white and green
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 strips thick cut bacon, cut into fine lardons
• 1 1/4 cup cream
• 3 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2cup grated gruyere cheese
• 1/8 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

Sauté the bacon over medium heat until the fat is rendered and meat is golden, stirring occasionally. Spread over a double thick sheet of paper towel to drain.  Add leeks and cook until translucent, adding some water to the pan to create steam.  The leeks should be very tender.  Take off heat and add bacon back to the pan.  When cool, add 1/4 cup of gruyere to mixture.

Whisk cream, eggs and yolks in a bowl until well combined. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Assembly and Baking:

Fill the base of the cooked pastry shell with onion mixture.  Pour over egg mixture and sprinkle with tasty cheese. Bake at 400ºF 15 minutes, reduce temperature to 325ºF and bake until set ~30 minutes. Allow to cool before cutting.

Sticky Figgy Upside-Down Cake

I am totally addicted to Masterchef Australia.  It is a surprisingly educational and informative show about cooking with just enough drama to keep the show moving along.  This is in contrast to the American version of the show, which has mega drama and minimal cooking.  Also the hosts of Masterchef Au seem to be truly interested in the development of the contestants (another stark contrast to the American version.) And their website (masterchef.com.au) has recipes for the star dishes from the show.


My first couple of posts are inspired (and created) by both the judges and contestants on Masterchef Au. Today's is the Sticky Fig and Caramel Upside-Down Cake created by Debra Sederlan, a contestant on Season 4. I rate this recipe yummy.

The original recipe called for a 8" spring form pan, however, 8" pans are not sold (in store) at Target or Bed Bath and Beyond and it was too expensive at Williams and Sonoma. So I substituted a 9" spring form pan and made 2 times the amount of cake batter. The recipe that follow is adjusted to the amounts I used. There is more batter than you need, so make a couple of cupcakes if you want.

Recipe for Cake Batter:

Half of the Ingredients for the Cake

• 1 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup whole milk

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla seeds together until pale and well mixed.  Add eggs one at a time until combined. Mix flour with baking powder and salt, add to wet mix alternately with milk.  Make sure combined but do not over beat.

Recipe for Caramel Sauce:

Ingredients for Caramel Sauce + Figs

• 1/4cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cupcream
• 1/3cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Enough figs to layer in bottom of pan

Place all ingredients, except figs, into a medium saucepan over medium heat until sugar has melted. Bring to the boil and cook until mixture turns golden brown.  Stir continuously.

Cake Assembly and Baking:

Figs arranged in 9" spring form pan

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Butter sides of a 9" spring form pan.  Layer bottom with aluminum foil and then parchment paper (this will help with removal of the cake), close sides around bottom.

Arrange fresh figs on bottom of pan.  Pour caramel sauce over the bottom, then gently pour cake batter on top until it reaches the half way up the sides.  

Bake for 45-50 minutes until cooked through.  Remove from pan, while still warm, by loosening the sides with a knife and then placing serving dish upside down on top of the cake, flip quickly, then remove the sides and bottom.

Hello World

Welcome to my blog about cooking, eating and learning about food.  I hope to inspire you to pick up a knife, spatula, or spoon and create food that is much more enjoyable than fast food.  I also hope to use this blog as a reason to learn about food and try new recipes.


Enjoy!


Katie