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15th March, 2010 |
Following my wedding cake that I was too amped to eat, the eggplant parmesan of my dreams entered my life while honeymooning 2 1/2 years ago. It made its appearance at a cozy vegetarian restaurant in Madrid. It’s probably more romantic to say that we happened upon this veggie nook entirely by chance, while wandering the evening streets of Madrid. But alas, it was moreso targeted and hunted, after doing my homework to find this destination. Splitting a week between three cities meant some degree of pre-mooning research. Many a variety of eggplant parmesan has been dined on by yours truly, at and away from home, but I’m still oozing over this particular one. This made my top-five meals of all time list. It arrived by way of boat — a boat-shaped dish that is, accompanied only by a tiny mixed green salad. I wish I had taken a photo of this gem. In fact, the only photo I have of this post-wedding-veggie-nook dinner is this rather blurry shot, taken by our server.
Now, romance in the air or not, that eggplant parmesan was out of this world. Recipes beyond recipes were tackled to recreate my Madrid dream, until I came across this one by Elise at Simply Recipes. Her recipe is an adaptation of a New York Times recipe, making my recipe an adaptation of an adaptation. The result is an eggplant parmesan that is the twin to the Madrid version.
I’ve made changes to Elise’s adapted recipe, but not many. I 1) save money using shredded mozzerella instead of fresh; 2) in the winter, it’s dried basil instead of fresh, in the summer it’s home-garden-fresh basil; 3) save time using a can of crushed tomatoes rather than pureeing whole tomatoes; 4) replace whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour; 5) double the garlic based on my taste. Why breaded and fried? There are few things that taste better fried and breaded than eggplant. I always fry in low-heat olive oil, never artificial vegetable or canola, never ultra-high heated rancid olive oil. Once I used coconut oil, but it overpowered the flavor of everything else, in an unwelcoming way. It hasn’t been invited back to this dish.
This recipe isn’t one to throw together last minute. It requires planning ahead – like 3-4 hours ahead! The prep isn’t intense, but sweating your eggplant takes time. If you’re making this for dinner, do so on the weekend and plan to start eggplant prep around 2 or 3 PM for dinner. I’ve even left the house while the eggplant sweats, the first two hours of prep are extremely low maintenance. Once the eggplant is *sweated out* though, it’s all hands on deck for a bit. Then you’ve got about another 35 minutes of rest. Red wine hour anyone?
Eggplant Parmesan based on Elise’s adapted recipe
Serves 8.
2 large eggplants
Sea salt
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
Olive oil
1/3 cup Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup fine dry breadcrumbs (grate any leftover stale bread – prefer sourdough or whole wheat)
4-5 large eggs, beaten
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated high quality Parmesan cheese (I often use Trader Joe’s)
•(Summer) 1 packed cup fresh basil leaves OR (winter) 1 1/2 Tablespoons dried basil
1. Slice peeled or unpeeled eggplants into 1/4 inch rounds. Arrange one layer in the bottom of a large colander and sprinkle evenly with salt. Repeat with remaining eggplant, salting, until all eggplant is in the colander. Weigh down the slices with a couple of plates and let drain for 2 hours. The eggplant needs to sweat before cooking.
2. When the eggplant is nearly finished draining, prepare tomato sauce by combining canned tomatoes, garlic and 1/3 cup olive oil. Add dried basil to sauce, if not using fresh basil leaves in dish. Set aside.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
4. When eggplant has drained, press down on it to remove excess water, wipe off the excess salt, and lay the slices out on paper towels to remove all the moisture. In a wide, shallow bowl, combine flour and breadcrumbs. Mix well. Pour beaten eggs into another wide shallow bowl. Place a large, deep skillet over low-medium heat, and pour in enough olive oil to coat the bottom. When oil is shimmering*, dredge the eggplant slices first in the flour mixture, then in the beaten egg. Last, I like to redip in the flour mixture once more. Working in batches, slide coated eggplant into hot oil and fry until golden brown on both sides, turning once. Drain on paper towels.
*If olive oil is smoking – it’s rancid, dump out, turn heat down, then try again over lower heat.
5. In the bottom of a 10×15 inch glass baking dish, spread 1 cup of tomato sauce. Top with one third of the eggplant slices. Top eggplant with half of the mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with one third of the Parmesan and half of the basil leaves (if using basil leaves instead of dried basil in sauce).
6. Make a second layer of eggplant slices, topped by 1 cup of sauce, remaining mozzarella, half the remaining Parmesan, and all of the remaining basil. Add remaining eggplant, and top with the remaining tomato sauce and Parmesan.
7. Bake until cheese has melted and the top is slightly brown, about 35-40 minutes. Allow to rest at room temperature for about 10 minutes before serving.
8. 30 minutes into baking, boil some angel hair pasta (whole wheat) to be served alongside your eggplant parmesan.
We think eggplant parmesan is best served next to a mixed greens salad, garlic mashed potatoes, and a little angel hair pasta. Delicioso!
As for Spain, it comes highly recommended, especially Barcelona – our favorite Spanish city.
And for that wedding cake? We busted out the frozen top tier of it on our first anniversary, so I got to try some afterall. Yes, it was one eventful year.
 
8th March, 2010 |
It’s very hard to order restaurant-style sweet potato fries after having so many of these over the years. Baked, crispy, and oh so addictive, these sweet potato fries are made with olive oil, cinnamon and nutmeg. Nothing less, nothing more. They’re a perfect appetizer or side dish year-round. Why cinnamon and nutmeg, and no salt? First, no matter the benefits of these spices, they are essential for true sweet potato fries. Sure, this is my opinion, but I’m confident you’ll agree at first taste. In addition to its aromatic flavor, cinnamon offers some groovy perks, such as antioxidants, relief of oxidative stress (1), and reduction of risk factors for diabetes II and cardiovascular disease (2). Whenever opportunity knocks, dust your food with cinnamon. Nutmeg is a delightful accessory to cinnamon, and no need to fear a nutmeg trip here – the amount is small. And for no salt? They so do not need any salt. Sweet potatoes have their innate advantages, as well. They are easily grown without pesticides, are rich in beta carotene, dietary fiber, and vitamins C and B6. We should all be eating more sweet potatoes! They’re much more nutritious than *standard* potatoes.
If you’ve ever dabbled in sweet potato cooking, you may be privvy to the temperature sensitivity of these orange spuds. Some lessons just have to be learned; allow my experience to assure you that these babies burn rather easily, if you let them. Keep the temperature at or below 380 degrees F for sweet success. And plan ahead, these little babies take time. Preparation is simple: wash, peel and slice the sweet potatoes. Shake ’em up with spices and olive oil, spread on a baking sheet. Bake. It’s only the hour+ baking time that requires planning ahead.
Sweet Potato Fries
4-5 Sweet potatoes
1-2 Tablespoons olive oil (extra virgin olive oil preferred)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Have on hand~
gallon-size zip-top bag
large baking sheet, edged preferred
parchment paper
1. Preheat oven to 380 degrees Farenheit.
2. Wash and peel sweet potatoes
3. Lenthwise, slice potatoes into thirds. Slice each third into 1/2″-wide fries. Slicing too thin will create overcooked shoestrings - s.p. fries shrink!
(Disclaimer, my fries are definitely not shaped like McFries. No two are alike and unique curves are welcomed, not wasted. Think of these like snowflakes?)
4. In a sealable (read: zip-top gallon-size) bag**, shake the following together: fries, olive oil, cinnamon and nutmeg. Tumble and flip the bag around, helping the olive oil and spices to coat every fry. A little olive oil will go a long way and the amount of spices is entirely based on taste preference - add or subtract loosely - I sprinkle until each fry has a nice even dusting.
5. Line an edged baking sheet with parchment paper to prevent sticking, spread fries in a single layer, without touching. Use a large baking sheet or 2 medium-sized sheets.
6. Bake on upper-middle oven rack at 380 degrees F for 60-75 minutes*. *Baking time really depends on oven. Start checking at 60 minutes, if soft, check at 5 minute increments. Flipping these fries half-way through baking helps them bake even more evenly.
Okay, run out and grab a few sweet potatoes and bon appetite!
They keep well as leftovers, just reheat in toaster oven for a few minutes at 375 degrees F. These leftovers are not bad cold, my kiddo and I both eat them when we’re out and about, without toaster oven. I haven’t talked my spouse into that one yet.
**Greener fries: I save the labeled ”shaking” bags after washing/rinsing out, in my refrigerator crisper drawer, and reuse for these fries…. stored alongside my labeled kale chips bags.
Sources
(1) http://www.futuremedicine.com/doi/abs/10.2217/14750708.3.1.113
(2) http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/26/12/3215.long
3rd March, 2010 |
Dearest FDA, Couldn’t our ingredient labels simply include: FOOD or NOT FOOD, following a list of partially-hydrogenated this or mono-diglycerides that?
Mother Nature and margarine just can’t relate to one another. Margarine is closer to plastic than it is to food or Mother Nature, since it’s ARTIFICIAL MATTER. No matter what the label says, margarine is definitely TRANS FAT. As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, trans fat isn’t something anyone should be eating. Ever. more
1st March, 2010 |
Our smoothie blender logs a lot of mileage between the three of us and our smoothie fixes. I’m surprised the little machine still runs, but I’m hoping it’s a lifer now. Smoothies around here include whatever we happen to have on hand when we’re feeling the power of the puree. This one happened to include an assortment of frozen berries, from our Minnesota winter stock pile, along with some yogurt, banana and protein powder, hemp protein in this one.
Summer and winter smoothies are extremely different at our house. We don’t go a day without each of us having one or more with fresh fruit and local greens in the summer, and have to put forth more effort to feast on the winterized (packaged) versions for a few months out of the year. Since it’s March 1st here, and the ground is covered in snow, this is a winter variety smoothie. All of the berries were purchased pre-frozen, too, since we ran out of our frozen stock of fresh farmer’s market and co-op fruit months ago already. I’m sad to say that at the moment of this one’s blending, there was not a single leaf of kale nor spinach to be found in our kitchen. None. This smoothie was not part of the Green Smoothie Revolution. Unless my hemp powder counts for something?
… more
27th February, 2010 |
I have a list of “should eat” breakfasts, like smoothies, egg whites, fruit, ice chips, you get the idea. I also have a list of “pretty decent” breakfasts, such as oatmeal, eggs, yogurt with granola, and on and on. Then there’s my list of favorite breakfasts. This list gets noticed more on the weekend, when I’m home to give the favorites the attention they need. Topping THIS list is fresh buttermilk pancakes. They’ve been a staple around here for a while, morphing into a tradition even, especially during this endless midwest winter. All four of us love ‘em, yup this guy too.
Now, they don’t have to be all that bad. Sure, they’re carbed up a bit and dabble in a bit of butter and maple syrup, but there are tweaks on these fine hot cakes that keep them on “acceptably healthy” but more importantly scrumptious too. One example is always using whole wheat flour for at least half of the flour, REAL butter, pure maple syrup, and organic eggs. These hot cakes could always be the follow up to an uber-healthy green smoothie, if you have that kind of dedication in the morning.
Buttermilk Pancake Paradise… more
24th February, 2010 |
One of my first dates with my husband was dinner at his place. Alongside his oozing charm, wit and out-of-the-box humor, his culinary skills were rather effective early on in our relationship. He had me at how you doin’? when he served up his homemade minestrone soup as a starter. He went on to follow it up with spinach lasagna, finishing the meal with fresh-baked blackberry pie. Yes indeed, I am one lucky girl. This soup is one of my top three favorite dishes Jeremy makes. Did I mention we’ve tied the knot since? We’ve had a few life changes since. I’m quite grateful for all of them.
To all those in the courting phase, serving up this Italian delight to your courtee will earn you mega points. Hot soup is second to none in the sub-zero winter, but this recipe is light enough for a Tuscan summer too. This version of minestrone has limitless options, depending on your vegetable preference. The following recipe is Jeremy’s Minestrone Magnum Opus… more
20th February, 2010 |
When purchasing and firing up this domain over a year ago, already, I had visions, hopes and plans for Spilled Ingredients. Albeit a slow start, the evolution of these visions have gone to print, are transforming, and new ones will transfer to screen in time. One of them is RECIPES. Another is more BRIEF posts. De nada. The others, well, still transforming.
Back to recipes: I’m new to eating fish and seafood after a decade of being a veganesque vegetarian. I’ve collected a repertoire, an at-times confused, conflicted one, of delightfully palatable recipes, just like the rest of us have. I’ll be cataloging the especially delicious and NATURAL ones here. I’ll spare the processed… more
17th February, 2010 |
I promised a microwave full circle a loooong time ago, and round we go.
First, does anything that’s been microwaved ever even taste good? (Ok, microwave popcorn is nostalgiac for me too. If you haven’t gotten behind the crazy stir popper yet, where have you been?) Microwaves are a convenience, and bad robots, for my fellow conflicted LOST audience . They were banned in Russia in 1976. I remember while pregnant, visiting one of many disappointing doc’s for “prenatal checkups”, being reminded not to stand in front of a microwave while it ran. Hmm, is it a good idea to ever stand in front of one, pregnant or not? There are reasons not to microwave breast milk, well beyond “hot spots” in a wee one’s milk. So many reasons that I’ve had to filter PAGES from this post. more
17th February, 2010 |
“According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), an aspirin a day increases the risk for a hemorrhagic stroke by 84%!”
This post is a shout out to my only sibling: my younger and wiser brother, who’s holistic, first-do-no-harm-minded, and a Doctor of Chiropractic with his own family practice. Check out his research on the dangers of Aspirin. A big sister couldn’t be more proud. more
16th January, 2010 |
For many, many reasons it’s so mmm mmm good. For the Campbell’s corporation. Let’s talk about soup, baby. Let’s talk about you and me. I, for one, grew up on creations which often included Campbell’s, specifically Cream of Mushroom soup. Some of those creations? Chicken noodle *hot dish* (midwest casserole) made a weekly appearance at our dinner table of four. For those unfamiliar with this entrée, there are three ingredients that can bridge you to the land of The Know: egg noodles, canned chicken (yes, this unfortunately exists), and Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup. No more, no less. It was a comfort food that, uh, my parents found comfort in.
Allow me to do you a favor by encouraging you to live a Campbell’s-free life, starting today without looking back. The American *comfort food* in the red and white labeled can isn’t so much made of food, as it is… more
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Bottles have BPA, gum has aspartame, snacks and drinks have artificial color, and everything else contains MSG and trans fat, it seems. Where do you start? Cheers, my name is Niki Ahrens and I just want the best for my family, and for the rest of us too.
It's our choice, as parents, whether OUR kids eat real food and whether we use First-Do-No-Harm products on and around them. The decision is always ours. I'm sifting through choices, making decisions, call me a sieve.
How the Food Industry is Deceiving You
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