Mini Eggplant Pizzas

Use slices of roasted eggplant to replace the pizza crust and you have a delicious dish to please dieters, vegetarians and gourmands alike. I served it this weekend before a main course of pasta and got rave reviews.

Ingredients

(Serves 4–6)

1 eggplant, cut into thick slices (about ¼-inch thick)
4 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 14.5 oz can Del Monte Stewed Tomatoes, Italian Recipe

1 14.5 oz can Del Monte Stewed Tomatoes, Original Recipe
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Fresh Basil (rinsed, dried and cut up)

 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425° F. Brush both sides of the eggplant slices with the oil and season with the salt and pepper. Arrange on a baking sheet and bake until browned and almost tender, 6 to 8 minutes, turning once.

Place the contents of the cans of stewed tomatoes in a mixer so that the tomatoes are mashed into the liquid to create a thick sauce. 

Spread a tablespoon of tomato sauce on each eggplant slice. Top with the shredded cheese. Bake until the cheese melts, 3 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle fresh basil on the top. Serve hot.

Sauteed Foie Gras on a Bed of Caramelized Onions

Many chefs cook fruit to accompany fresh foie gras, which we love, but Gerard and I have always preferred to serve it with sweet caramelized onions—a recipe we learned while vacationing in Béarn years ago. You can make the onions and slice the foie gras in advance. Keep the foie gras slices refrigerated and the onions in the pan, where they need to be warmed up before serving. Invite the guests to the table before finalizing the dish. As with a soufflé, the guests wait for the food, the food does not wait for the guests.

Ingredients

(Serves six.)

5 large onions, yellow, white, or red

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1 Grade-A duck foie gras, in ½ inch slices

6 slices white bread

Directions

Caramelizing the onions

Slice off the root and top ends of the onions, and peel the onions. Cut them in half. Lay them cut side down and slice them lengthwise to about quarter inch thickness.

Use a wide, thick-bottomed sauté pan for maximum pan contact with the onions. Coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil. Heat the pan on medium-high heat until the oil is shimmering. Add the onion slices and stir to coat the onions with the oil. Spread the onions out evenly over the pan and let cook, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to medium to prevent the onions from burning or drying out. After ten minutes, sprinkle the salt over the onions and add the sugar to help with the caramelization.

Let cook for 30 minutes to an hour more, stirring every few minutes. To keep the onions from drying out as they cook, add a little water to the pan (1/4 cup). As soon as the onions start sticking to the pan, let them stick a little and brown, but then stir them before they burn. The trick is to let them alone enough to brown (if you stir them too often, they won't), but not for so long that they burn. After the first 20 minutes, turn temperature to medium-low. As the onions caramelize, scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a spatula. As the onions cook down, you may you need to scrape the pan every minute instead of every few minutes. Continue to cook and scrape, cook and scrape, until the onions are a rich, browned color. At the end of the cooking process, take the pan away from the heat , remove the onions and add a spoonful of balsamic vinegar to help deglaze the pan, and then put the onions back in to absorb the added flavor.

When the guests are seated, excuse yourself and pop the bread in the toaster. (I have Gerard serve the wine; he usually talks about the wine long enough to divert everyone’s attention while I prepare the dish—that’s teamwork.) Warm up the onions for two minutes. Spread the onions over the toast and place a slice of toast onion-side-up on each dish.

Sauté the Foie Gras

Season the foie gras with salt and pepper, and then dredge it lightly in flour. Heat a heavy bottom pan on high heat. When the pan is very hot, add the foie gras slices and lower the heat to medium-high. Sear until the foie gras slices are dark brown ( a couple of minutes). Turn them over and cook on the other side until fully cooked but still soft to the touch. Top off each toast with the foie gras. Serve all of it; if it is too abundant, add pieces beside the toasts.

Mushroom Omelet

Last night I made a delicious mushroom omelet with the fresh shiitakes Gerard bought from Matt and Kristen Anderson at the Farmers Market—the same people who make the mushroom spread that, coincidentally, I highlighted below—and some fresh eggs I bought at the market as well.  My husband and friends consider me an “Omelet Queen,” but I just have a few secrets that make it easy to make a perfect omelet every time.

Secret # 1—I make an omelet per person, never a large one to be split up. Individual omelets are fast to make, easy to handle and easy to make as “baveuse” (the French-style) or well cooked as the individual eater prefers. 

Secret # 2—I use two pans, one for the fillers (not cheese, which would go into the omelet when half cooked so as to melt into the eggs) and a 9-inch nonstick pan for the eggs.

Secret # 3—I cook the fillers first. In this recipe we are using shiitake mushrooms and shallots, but I also make chopped ham or ham, onions, and green peppers for a western omelet, and so on.

Secret #4—Heat up the plates on which you will serve the omelets (I do this in the microwave) and serve each one as it is ready, encouraging the diner to start eating immediately. 

For two mushroom omelets:

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 shallots

1 pound fresh shiitake mushrooms

Salt, pepper

3 tablespoons cream

Eggs (per person, 2 jumbo, 3 medium, or 2.5 large eggs)

3 tablespoons butter

Directions

Peel and cut off the ends of the shallots. Slice them lengthwise so as to get long, thin slices.

Wipe the mushrooms with a damp cloth. (Do not soak, or they will get soggy). Cut off and discard the stems. Slice the mushrooms.

Heat a pan. Add the olive oil and allow to heat but not burn. Add the shallots. Sauté until they become translucent, and then add the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper.  Stir and continue to cook until the mushrooms get a bit of color. Add the cream and sauté for two more minutes. Turn off the heat, cover and set aside.

Crack the eggs into a glass mixing bowl and beat them until they turn a pale yellow color. Add two tablespoons of water (one per omelet). Season to taste with salt and pepper. Then whisk vigorously.

Heat a heavy-bottomed, nonstick sauté pan over medium-low heat. Melt the butter in the omelet pan, and when hot enough to make a drop of water hiss, pour in half of the eggs. Don't stir! Let the eggs cook for up to a minute, or until the bottom starts to set. With a heat-resistant rubber spatula, gently push one edge of the egg into the center of the pan  while tilting the pan to allow the still-liquid egg to flow in underneath. Repeat with the other edges, until there's no liquid left (for well-done omelets) or until there are just a few spoonfuls of liquid left in the center for French style “baveuse”omelets.

Now spoon your filling over one half of the omelet. With your spatula, lift one edge of the egg and fold it across and over, so that the edges line up. Cook for another minute or so, but don't overcook or allow the egg to turn brown. Serve on the heated dish, and quickly make the second omelet. 

Pineapple-Coconut Tart

This wonderful recipe, inspired by one from pastry chef François Payard, has the flavor of piña colada and is one of our favorites. You need a tart pan that comes apart. I often use ready-made pie dough, but not for this tart. This sweet tart dough is one of the secrets of its success. 

Ingredients

Sweet Tart Dough

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar

1¾ cups all-purpose flour

Pinch salt

9 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 large egg

Filling

A 20-ounce can of pineapple chunks (packed in juice, not syrup)

7 tablespoons softened butter

1 cup sugar

2½ cups (200 grams) unsweetened dried, shredded coconut

2 large eggs

Pinch confectioner’s sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Sift together the sugar, flour, and salt. Place butter in a food processor and process until soft (about 15 seconds). Pour dry ingredients over the butter, add the egg and process again, just until the dough forms a mass. Turn the dough onto the counter and divide into two parts. Shape into two discs and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least two hours, or up until 24 hours. (You will only use one if you are making just one tart, but you may freeze the other for up to a month and make any tart with it—including the chocolate tart for which I posted recipe months ago).

Bring dough to room temperature. Drain the pineapple in a strainer. Roll out the tart dough onto the tart pan. Scatter the pineapple pieces over  the tart shell and freeze for a few minutes.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, using a paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed for one minute. Beat in the dried coconut and then each of the two eggs, one at a time. Spread the filling evenly over the pineapple in the tart shell.

Bake tart for 50 minutes or until top is golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack. If not serving within two hours or so, refrigerate the tart. Bring it to room temperature and then dust with a bit of confectioner’s sugar before serving. 

Summer Vegetable Tian

This is an easy recipe to succeed with if you have delicious ingredients. If not, no matter what you do, it will not be good. The exact amounts are not important. You want to cut each of the vegetables (or fruit) into slices that are as equal in size as possible, so fairly large plum tomatoes and small eggplants will work with medium zucchini. Look for glossy, brightly colored, unblemished skins. 

Ingredients:

Butter, for greasing the baking dish

2 small zucchini

1 small eggplant

3 medium tomatoes

Extra-virgin olive oil

2 medium leeks, or one medium onion, rinsed, chopped, drained and patted dry

2 medium cloves garlic, minced

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 or 3 sprigs fresh thyme

1/4 cup dry white wine

Directions

-          Cut a piece of parchment paper to the size of a ceramic baking dish. Set aside. Butter the inside of the dish and set aside. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

-          Remove the ends from the zucchini and eggplant and discard. Cut each crosswise into rounds about 1/8-inch thick.

-          Remove the stem ends from the tomatoes and discard. Cut each crosswise into rounds 1/8-inch thick.

-          Coat a small pan with two tablespoons of olive oil and heat until shimmering. Add the garlic and swirl to coat. Gently add the leeks, avoiding splashing. Cook, stirring frequently, until the leeks have begun to soften and the garlic has released its fragrance, approximately two minutes.

-          Carefully spread the leek-garlic mixture across the bottom of the baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and a few grindings of fresh black pepper; strip the leaves from one of the sprigs of thyme and sprinkle over the mixture.

-          Layer the zucchini, eggplant and tomato on top of the leek-garlic mixture, alternating a slice of tomato between every eggplant and zucchini slice, overlapping slightly. If working with a square or rectangular dish, layer in rows; if working with a circular or oval dish, work in fans from the center. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and splash with the wine. Sprinkle with salt and a few grindings of fresh black pepper; strip the leaves from the remaining thyme and sprinkle over the casserole.

-          Butter the cut parchment paper and carefully place, buttered side down, on top of the vegetables.

-          Bake for 45 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft but not mushy while the edges are nicely crisp and brown.

Cherry Tomatoes Confit over Pasta

Contributing to the great “tomato skin debate’, I , who like to eat tomatoes with their skins offer this dish, a favorite of mine, to be made exclusively in tomato season (now) when they are so flavorful. This dish takes time but no talent or fuss. The dish is low in calorie, low in fat and high in flavor. It is an easy-to-make almost fool-proof gourmet treat which should not be attempted if you need to peel the tomatoes first. It would be far too much work and the tomatoes would break down and get overcooked creating a sauce. So only for those who have no problems eating tomato skins – revel in the season with this lovely pasta dish. (Gerard hates tomato skins and threw his in the garbage and made himself fried eggs instead- but my brother and I loved it- and I will make it again for us next week while Gerard is back in France.)

Ingredients:

2 lbs fresh red, yellow and/or orange cherry tomatoes (rinsed, halved and stems removed)

1½ teaspoons fine sea salt

3 - 4 turns of the grinder of fresh pepper

1 tablespoon of confectioner’s sugar

2 sprigs of fresh thyme

1½ tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 225F

Coat the pan with the olive oil. Arranged the tomato halves face up on a baking sheet. Sprinkle lightly with the slat, pepper and sugar. Scatter the thyme leaves over the tomatoes. Roast in the oven for about one hour.

Turn the tomatoes basting them with the juice. Cook until they begin to melt down (probably about another hour, but check from time to time because this timing varies according to the exact size of the tomatoes. You want them to be moist and soft when done).

Remove from the oven and spoon over some freshly cooked pasta. Preserve any extras in the cooking juices in a plastic bowl or jar with lid. Use in salads, on sandwiches, or pasta or anywhere you want to add a rich tomato flavor (with skins).

A Tale of Two Ratatouilles

Last year a friend gave a tomato tasting party. I foolishly volunteered to make a ratatouille so we could taste his tomatoes both raw and cooked. The mid-August date was selected to be sure the tomatoes would have had plenty of sun. A few days before the event, we picked 16 pounds of his ripest tomatoes and 16 pounds of his zucchini (which were large enough to win prizes at state fairs). For those who don’t recall,  let me refresh your memory about the weather last August.  We had rain and/or clouds for the first two weeks, which did not bode well for the taste of our fresh tomatoes. The ratatouille was a great disappointment.  I decided to let the flavors mellow overnight, when I tasted it he next morning I declared it was “not bad.” “‘Not bad?’ asked Gerard incredulously. “You can’t bring ‘not bad.’ You are a food editor. It has to be wonderful.” I knew he was right.  So we went shopping and started over with tomatoes that were not so local that they had had no sun and found zucchini that were small and concentrated with flavor. From this we produced a damn good ratatouille.

At the party one of the women at my table raved about the dish. I thanked her and gave credit to Patricia Wells, the cookbook author whose recipe I had followed.  “But her recipes are so ‘iffy,’” she said. I retorted, “That is probably because she lives in Provence, where the vegetables are so full of flavor that it takes little cooking to turn out something wonderful,” and realized the wisdom of my own words.    The gentleman to my left added, “My wife liked your dish.”  I thanked him and nodded.  “Ah—you do not know who she is or what she does?” I slowly shook my head. “She is Dana Cowin, editor in chief of Food & Wine magazine.” “Thank you, Gerard,” I thought. “Good thing I did not bring the first batch!”.

I was reminded of this story because this weekend, I made that recipe again. And again it was not very good. The tomatoes, although “good,” just did not have the great taste required for this recipe. So the next morning, I added the other vegetables, as described in the traditional recipe below, and it was lovely. The lesson is, of course, what I had said without thinking. When the tomatoes are GREAT in flavor, they do not need much, and the rapid ratatouille recipe is perfect. If the tomatoes are just “good,” they need the onions, peppers, and eggplant to add flavor: a lesson so simple one wonders why I had not realized it before.

Speedy Ratatouille  Serves 6–8

Ingredients

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds, or about 10 small, very fresh unpeeled zucchini, washed and thinly sliced

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves,
Sea salt

3 plump, fresh cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 pounds fresh tomatoes (plum are best), cored, peeled, seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons best-quality red wine vinegar

Directions 

In a very large skillet over moderately high heat, heat the olive oil until hot but not smoking. Add the zucchini and 1 teaspoon of thyme leaves. Sauté, shaking the pan from time to time until the zucchini is just beginning to brown (about five minutes). Add the salt and garlic, stir, and cook for a minute or two. (The salt will cause the zucchini to give off liquid, which will prevent the garlic from burning.) Add tomatoes, tomato paste and vinegar, and continue to sauté, shaking the pan until all of the ingredients blend well and most of the liquid is absorbed (about ten minutes). Add  remaining thyme and serve.  

 

Traditional Ratatouille  Serves 6–8

Ingredients
1/2 cup olive oil

2 onions, sliced into thin rings

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 pounds, or about 10, small, very fresh unpeeled zucchini, washed and cut into very thin slices

1 medium eggplant, cubed

3 bell peppers, seeded and sliced very thick

Salt and pepper to taste

1 bay leaf

4 sprigs fresh thyme

2 pounds fresh tomatoes, cored, peeled, seeded and chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Heat 1½ tablespoons of the oil in a large pot over medium-low heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until soft. In a large skillet, heat 1½ tablespoon of oil and sauté the zucchini in batches until slightly browned on all sides. Remove zucchini and place in the pot with onions and garlic. Sauté bell peppers and eggplant one batch at a time, adding 1½ tablespoons oil to the skillet for each. Add each batch once sautéed  to the large pot. Add salt, pepper, bay leaf and thyme and cover the pot. Cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes.

Add chopped tomatoes and parsley and cook another 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the bay leaf before serving.

Cucumber and Dill Salad

A refreshing sweet and sour summer salad that is very easy to make.  A lovely side dish to almost anything grilled with very few calories and no fat!  You will need either a mandoline or a food processor that cuts paper thin slices.

Ingredients

(serves 4)

2 European or hot house cucumbers (the extra long and thin kind)

2 teaspoons of coarse salt

¼ cup white wine vinegar

¼ cup chopped fresh dill

1½ tablespoons of sugar

Directions

Rinse the cucumbers and with a fork score the skin lengthwise so that there is a striping effect.

Slice them paper thin and place in a colander and sprinkle the salt all over. Let stand at room temperature and toss them every couple of minutes so the salt will work its draining effect on every slice.

In a medium bowl dissolve the sugar in the vinegar and add the chopped dill.

Rinse, drain and pat dry the cucumber slices and add them to the sauce. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to two hours.

Half Baked Fried Chicken

The great thing about fried chicken is that whether you eat the breading or not, it keeps the chicken meat moist while cooking. Another advantage of this recipe is that it enables you to make more than one skillet full of chicken at a time.

Fried chicken can be enjoyed hot or at room temperature, which makes it a perfect dish for a picnic or a tailgating party. There are two drawbacks: deep frying often results in chicken that is too greasy, and it is nearly impossible, I find, to fry the dark meat long enough to cook the inside without burning the crust.

This is based on a traditional Maryland Fried Chicken recipe. I guess that is South but not “Deep South,” which may explain why the chicken is fried but not deep fried.

Ingredients

(Serves 6–8 people)

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons paprika

Salt and pepper

3 eggs

3 tablespoons water

3 cups dry bread crumbs

Two 3-pound chickens, cut up in pieces, at room temperature

Vegetable oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix flour with paprika, salt, and pepper in a medium-size bowl. Mix eggs and water in a medium-size bowl. Mix crumbs and salt in another medium-size bowl. Coat chicken with flour mixture. Dip flour-coated chicken into egg mixture; coat chicken with crumb mixture.

Heat oil (1/4-inch deep) in a skillet over medium high heat until hot. First fry the dark meat chicken in oil for seven to ten minutes, or until light brown on all sides, and then remove them from the oil and lay them to rest on a paper towel to absorb excess fat. Then do the same with the white meat, which should need only four to six minutes.

Place chicken in a large roasting pan in the oven and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until done (the exact timing will depend upon the size of the chicken pieces). To ensure doneness take a long, thin knife or metal skewer and stick into one of the larger dark-meat pieces. If it is hot to the touch (best judged by your lip) when removed, the chicken is done on the inside.

Pat with paper towels to absorb excess fat and serve immediately, or allow to cool down to room temperature. 

La Soupe de Fruits Rouge (« Red Fruit Summer Soup »)

This midsummer dessert is delicious and cool and easy to make. There is just enough sugar to enable the real flavor of each fruit to remain in full bloom while bringing the three together in harmony. I served this yesterday with some cookies after a large meal, but you can also pour it over ice cream or sorbet or both.

Ingredients

1 pound fresh strawberries

1 pound fresh raspberries

1 pound fresh cherries

Handful of fresh mint, chopped

3 glasses of sweet white wine

Juice of one lemon

1 cup sugar

Directions

Wash the fruit with cold water without leaving it to soak. Dry off excess water with paper towels.

Take off the stems and cut strawberries in quarters. Leave the raspberries whole. Take the stems off and the pits out of the cherries, cutting them in half (or quarters).

Place the fruit in a large serving bowl. Add the lemon juice, sugar, wine and chopped mint. Mix gently.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.