Wordless Wednesday: Eggplant Tower

I haven’t actually cooked in a while…

Which is why I haven’t posted any recipes recently! If you have been reading my little sporadic posts here and there, you know I’ve been busy coordinating a somewhat surprise party. I am pleased to report that it was a success!

What I really should have done was take a picture of each glorious dish. But, I didn’t. Bad blogger! In my defense, for someone with little planning experience, it was enough to just get things done, never mind thinking to record anything for posterity! But we all had fun, and that’s the point of these things, isn’t it?

I did not cook at all for this event. As fun as it is for me to play around in the kitchen, it’s more creative expression than anything else, and I didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on myself. Nor did I make the cake, but I did help design it. I love cake, but haven’t actually made one in forever, and my decorating skills can’t hold a candle to what I see in my head. So, I kept the pressure off and let the professionals do their thing.

…Ok, well, there was still pressure, because anytime you step outside of your comfort zone, you feel it, so, to have those areas under control helped a lot. The area I stressed the most over was people rsvping. It didn’t matter much to me what the rsvp was, just that people replied. This was a relatively small affair, for reasons of budget and personal sanity, so I wanted to come as close as I could to the intended guest list. Friends, please, don’t be that guest who needs to be chased down for a reply! Replies are needed to have enough food for everyone… to say nothing of my thoughts on just clicking a yes/no/maybe button.

In my inner circle of friends, everyone is reachable via email, and if you are invited, you reply promptly. But, for this event, I was inviting people further from my center. Apparently there are still people out there who don’t check email, who expect phone calls, to be chased down, or don’t feel the need to respond at all. I can (sort of) see flaking out on events at someone’s home, but for something offsite, where a head count is being provided for your benefit, it’s hard for me to see this as anything other than rude. But, that being said, once I wrangled the stray guests, and we all sat down, it was a very pleasant affair.

The surprise components stayed surprises!!! The location was originally a surprise, but I figured that would need to be revealed about a week in advance, and that was about when it happened. A surprise guest remained a surprise- an old friend from far away who actually was able to take a flight just to be there, and the gift, surprisingly and wonderfully, also remained a surprise.

The food was delightful. After emailing and calling several businesses, and receiving only a couple of replies, I decided to go with our favorite Italian restaurant. This turned out to be one of the best ideas I’d ever had. The chef and I agreed on multiple courses and finalized certain details, but there were still some terrific culinary surprises in store! Surprises are not always a good idea for people with food allergies, but everything presented was allergen-free. I could never possibly explain how freeing it felt to be able to eat everything in front of me!

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The menu:

Vegetarian antipasta: this was comprised of all sorts of delightful treats. There was something eggplant, something fennel, some great cheeses, including gouda, some beets, some olives, and some other things I’m surely forgetting.

Omnivores’ antipasta: Meat things wrapping cheese, meat things sliced, all Italian and probably great if you like that sort of thing. I don’t, but the guests loved it.

Appetizer: Cauliflower fritters and squash tortes. Oh hells yes!

Salad: Ceasar.

Pasta: Papadello with lentils. I have no idea how they made this magic, but this was heaven!

Omnivores’ Main: Chicken Picatta. They liked this, too. Not many leftovers.

Vegetarians’ Main: Eggplant Parm. I love this, that’s why I chose it.

and then, the Cake!: I had the advantage of having sampled some when I ordered it, but the cake itself was fresh and even more delightful! It was chocolate with mocha icing, with fondant and sugar decorations. This was a huge hit! I wish there was more, but this was the first thing I finished off from the leftovers!

There were tons of leftovers, which we divvied up, but even so, I was eating party food for an entire week after, even with the guests’ full bellies! You can’t ask for more than that!

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Have a great week!

Lazy Leftovers

I did not feel like cooking the other night. So, I made this with the leftovers. It was surprisingly good weirdness. Sometimes, it’s fun to fly without a net.

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What’s in it? 

Half of a small eggplant, grated

Some cooked babybella mushroom, garlic, & olive oil puree I’d made up and stored, with some sliced mushrooms thrown in. (I think those may have been buttons).

A handful or so of cheddar Daiya shreds.

Some nutritional yeast, some Mrs. Dash, some garlic…and probably some other spices that I am forgetting. I think the red piece was a bit of bell pepper.

Olive oil

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Enjoy!

Puréed Eggplant Parm

I LOVE eggplant parm. I think it was first vegetarian meal I was exposed to. When I go out to eat, there is a good chance that I will be having eggplant parm. (Many Italian-American dishes are safe for me, and I strongly favor Italian restaurants for that reason.)

I’ve only been making eggplant parm for the past couple of years, though. It always seemed too complicated for me: peeling, salting, breading- who has the time? I’ve been finding little tricks to make it easier, but I’ve accepted that certain elements are necessary if I want to replicate the taste I so love.

Some versions have been successful. Others, less so. I recently came up with this version when looking for an excuse to play with the processor. So far, I’ve made it only once. I apologize in advance for not remembering all of the specifics, but the fun of this, (at least for me), is the individual stamp of each preparation of the dish. I did not break this into two days for any particular reason. It was just that I had the eggplant on hand on a day I wasn’t craving it, and was trying to extend its usability by prepping & freezing it. Then, I got the processor, and just happened to be craving eggplant at the same time.

Puréed Eggplant Parm:

Tools:

Corningware: This a medium sized dish that yields a little over two servings.

Oven

Olive Oil Spray

Freezable storage container

Freezer

Fry pan

Food Processor

Cheese Grater

Freezer

Cutting Board

Large microwaveable bowl

Ingredients:

Eggplant

Olive Oil in a bottle

Italian Bread Crumbs

Garlic Powder

Oregano

Basil

Romano

Nutritional yeast

Smoked Gouda block

Mozzarella block

Day 1:

1. Cube the eggplant by using a knife and a cutting board. Shake a little garlic on top. If you want to do it right: peel the skin, shake sea salt on top & wait an hour or so.

2. Spray the pan with olive oil.

3. Fry the eggplant in bottled olive oil.

4? (I may have sprinkled some garlic powder in here)

5. When done, freeze eggplant in storage container.

Day 2:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Put eggplant in large microwaveable bowl. Thaw in microwave.

3. Put eggplant in food processor. Make mush.

4. Spray corning with olive oil.

5. Line pan with thin layer of eggplant.

6? (Did I add basil, oregano, and garlic on that layer? Possibly…)

7. Add a thin layer of bread crumbs on top of it.

8. Grate some mozzarella. Add a layer of mozzarella.

9. Repeat this pattern: eggplant mush, bread crumbs, cheese, until you are on the last layer of cheese. Add some romano and nutritional yeast to the top layer, along with basil, oregano, garlic, and a pinch of shredded gouda.

10. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or so, keeping an eye on it.

 

Check to make sure it’s cooked all the way through, add leftover shredded cheese to the top, and enjoy!