FairyTale Eggplants

What's the first thing you think when you see these little purple eggplants?

They're sooooo cute, right?!  No wonder they're called fairytale eggplant.  We found these at the farmer's market and just had to try them.  They're much smaller than the traditional globe eggplants and shorter than the japanese ones.  After poking around online for some suggestions, we decided to just grill them to get a sense of their flavor.

Tops removed, brushed with a little olive-oil, salt and pepper, they went on the top rack of the grill. After about 20 minutes, they had softened, turned brown (not so cute now!) and smelled delicious.  We plucked them off and ate them plain - they were delightful.  No need to salt and drain them in advance, they had a delicate, sweet taste and even the skins were edible. 

If you forget to allow enough time to chop, salt and drain larger eggplants during the week, it would be easy to substitute these little ones in a quick dish, like a stir-fry or oven-roasted side.  They would probably get lost in something that required substantial cooking times, but since they're not bitter they should be easier to fit into the week.

And, they're just so darn cute!

Back to School

It's back to school around here this week and as much as I welcome the routine of the school year, it seems like this summer went by too quickly.  Anyone else out there feel time speeding up?

I've made a bunch of school-year-resolutions (the adult equivalent of a box of new crayons, I suppose!) and plan to come up with a series of healthful lunchbox snacks and some easy dinners that can be grouped together to make grocery shopping easier during the week. 

Last night, we had a simple summer dinner of squash, risotto, Italian chicken sausage and yogurt with strawberries and rhubarb for dessert.  The squash side dish is a kid-favorite, easy to make and plentiful this time of year.  Here's the recipe:

Summer Squash Side

1/2 onion, chopped
4 yellow summer squash, ends removed, sliced into thin disks
1/3 cup chicken stock
butter, salt, pepper to taste

Use a large non-stick frying pan with a lid.  Saute the onion in about 2 tb olive oil over medium-low heat until the onions are translucent.  Add the squash slices and stir occasionally for about 5 minutes, until the onions are soft.  Add the chicken stock and cover with the lid.  Let the squash cook over medium low heat with the lid on, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
When the squash slices are soft and some are browning, they are done.  If they begin to stick to the pan before they're done, add a little more chicken stock.
Season with any of the following: a pat of butter, salt and pepper.

The squash are a low-maintenance dish, left mostly unattended during those 20 minutes of cooking, so you can get them started, boil some rice and saute a couple of sausages and voila: dinner in about 30 minutes.  The occasional stirring is a perfect task for kids who are busy talking to you about school!
  
Tip!
If you have a whole onion, chop it all and put half in a small freezer bag for later.  Frozen onions can be put directly into most recipes that call for chopped onions.  The small pieces defrost quickly in the pan (no need to defrost in advance) and it's really hand to pull a small quantity out of the freezer on a weeknight.  They are a little softer than fresh onions, but frozen onions are a time-saver and the flavor remains.

Lasagna and the approach of Fall

Ah yes, one more sister to go.

And no, that's not the kitchen, but her studio.  I'm sorry to say I don't have any photos of her dinner prep- she was the first one to make a daughter-dinner and it was an excellent twist on a classic: lasagna.  She layered bowtie noodles with sauce, tofu, spinach and baked it.   It was delicious.  The best part of all these meals was eating them, of course - and here's the lasagna going down:

We had a good time sharing recipes and taking turns cooking, but having everyone together in the same place for a while, where the cousins could spend time with each other and their aunts, uncles and grandparents was a treat, since we don't get to do that very often.

As the weather begins to (almost imperceptibly) change, and the school supply lists arrive, I'm a little sad to realize summer is nearly over.  But I'm looking forward to a new season of meals, lunches, snacks and parties to cook our way through together. 

We didn't get to nearly as many recipes this summer as I had hoped, but we had some good meals.

Here's to next summer's vacation!

All American

Meet another one of my sisters!

She made us an all-american dinner with bar-b-qued chicken, corn on the cob, and pies for dessert.  One of her sons is dairy-egg allergic, so she's always coming up with meat-eating-vegan recipes (get it?) for her family. 

Take these pies, for example.  She used a pre-made crust from the grocery store that contained no milk or eggs, and the filling was fruit, spices and the usual.  She also found a good soy-based margarine that can substitute for butter in just about anything.

Lots of fruits, veggies and some protein - yum!

Chipolte Cheddar Biscuits from Baked

This is one of my sisters, taking on a new recipe with her niece.

She brought Baked: New Frontiers in Baking with her on vacation and they tried the chipolte cheddar biscuits out.  My sister began with a caveat "I'm not a calm cook like your mom, okay?"  Then proceeded to test my daughter's full range of skills, from measuring to mixing to grating. 

My son popped in for a few minutes to see how things were going, and to see my new favorite ingredient: chipolte pepper powder!  If you've ever had those leftover cans of chipolte peppers and sauce, this is for you!  I can never use an entire can, and I've frozen the leftovers for "later" but "later" is buried somewhere in the back of my freezer with those ziplocs!

They put together a huge batch of biscuits that didn't last much past the morning breakfast rush.

The chipolte powder made these flavorful without being too hot - even the kids enjoyed eating them.  In fact, my daughter's only complaint was that they had too much cheese in them.

We sampled a few other things from that cookbook, and when I got home, I had the local bookstore order me a copy!  Can't wait to make some more of those here.

Thanks, sis!

Hobos!

We spent a day at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village - the epicenter of industrialist museum-going - where the cafeteria featured railroad sandwiches made with coffee-can bread and.... hobo lunches!

Along with a little explanation of what hobos were (and why), came a bandana, a PB&J, some rasins and a cheese stick.  I have to admit the cheese-stick seemed like a reach, but the kids loved unwrapping their lunches.

Remember how much fun it was to play with your food?

Osso Bucco

This is my mom.

And that big bowl?  That's Osso Bucco.  Yum-my!  She kicked off our series of family dinners with several giant dishes of osso bucco that she had made ahead of time and frozen.  I've only made osso bucco once before, and it was delightful, so it was great to have it again.

It's one of those dishes that takes a long time to cook, but the preparation isn't too difficult.  Next time I'll be making a big double portion (at least!) in order to have some left to freeze.  It was easy to take the dishes from the freezer to the oven and just heat them through until they were ready to eat.

I read up a little on the dish - it's from the Milan area, made with veal shanks stewed in the traditional combination of onion, carrot and celery (sometimes with tomatoes) and sometimes garnished with a gremolata (garlic and herbs minced together).  We'll have to work up a recipe for the dish and share it soon.

Thanks, mom!

Back from Vacation

I don't know about you, but sometimes I need a vacation from vacation!

We had a great time visiting the whole family (yes, the whole family) at the farm for a week.  Like a true farm family, (which we are not!) most of the day revolved around food prep.  This year, our matriarch had a stroke of genius: she assigned a night of dinner to each couple or family.  It was a neat way of distributing the work with the unexpected bonus of letting each of us show off a favorite recipe and learn several new ones.  With varying skills, palates and a few food allergies, it was a blast!

I'll gather up some of the recipes for grilled marlin, chipolte cheese biscuits, garden-fresh veggies, beans and couscous and....save room for pie!

Vacation

We're on vacation this week, gathering ideas and having fun.  See you in a week!