![]() ![]() It was a decision made at the height of emotion the day my aunt died. In November, Starbuck and I moved into my grandmother’s house, occupying what used to be my Auntie Sally’s bedroom. A Summer Vegetable Pizza (and Why I Don't Put Toma.Where I wake up now is a big change from last year.Catalan Roasted Eggplant, Pepper & Tomato Salad (E.Judi Rodgers' Pasta with Corn, Pancetta, Butter &.Gratin of Eggplant & Tomatoes and Some Thoughts on.For the final layers, arrange the last third of the eggplant slices as before and cover with the remaining tomato sauce. Repeat with the eggplant, sauce, cheese and basil. Scatter half of the cheese and half of the basil over the sauce. Spread a third of the tomato sauce over the layer of eggplant. It is fine if the slices overlap slightly. ![]() Arrange 1/3 of the eggplant in a snug layer in the bottom of the gratin. To build the gratin, lightly oil a shallow 1 1/2- to 2-quart gratin or casserole. While the eggplant cooks, warm the tomato sauce over low heat. Season with salt and pepper.īroil the eggplant until golden brown turn and broil the other side in a similar manner.Īs the eggplant brown, remove from the sheet and stack them on top of one another while they are still hot so that they will continue to steam one another and cook through. Spread the eggplant on a baking sheet and brush both sides with olive oil. Slice each eggplant lengthwise into 1/3-to 1/2-inch thick slices. However you choose to make it, I like it best served as an entrée-with a nice green salad and some good crusty bread. It is quite good even without the Parmesan and the basil. Occasionally I will follow Lulu Peyraud's example and make it with just the tomato sauce, eggplant (she fries hers-but this is a bit too much oil for me) and breadcrumbs. Like any gratin, there are lots of possibilities for layers and lots of flavor combinations to play with.įor my part, I love this dish on the simple side. A little ricotta or some thinly sliced prosciutto would also be nice. With the Italian version of this gratin in mind, you might think of adding some sliced Mozzarella or Fontina to the first two layers of eggplant and tomato sauce. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about French Soupe au Pistou-a soup much like Italian Minestrone. Many of the traditional dishes of Provence have Italian counterparts. When you look at this recipe you will probably notice that it is a very simple version of Eggplant Parmesan. When they are cool, I grind them until they are fine. For "fine, dry breadcrumbs", I dry the chunks of bread (or coarsely ground crumbs) in a low oven. Process the chunks in the food processor until they are as coarse or as fine as you want. To make the crumbs, cut off the hard crusts and then cut the interior of the bread into chunks. A whole loaf will make a lot of bread crumbs, but that's not really a problem because they freeze very well. If you never have odds and ends of bread left over, purchase a loaf, let it get stale and then make crumbs. Since these types of loaves don't have any preservatives, they are generally stale enough to be made into breadcrumbs a couple of days after they have been baked. The best bread crumbs are made from good baguettes and artisanal country French or Italian-style loaves. To make fresh bread crumbs you need slightly stale bread. ![]() It would be silly to go to all the trouble to make a wonderful tomato sauce and combine it with farm fresh eggplant, summer basil and good Parmesan only to top it with something that is the equivalent of sawdust. It is so easy to make them and the ones that come in cans, bags and boxes are so very inferior. I think it's worth mentioning that this attention to quality should extend to even the breadcrumbs. The concentrated tomato flavor and garlicky kick of the homemade sauce elevates this simple dish to the level of extraordinary. In addition to the homemade sauce, choose the best eggplant available to you and make sure that all of the other ingredients are of the best and freshest quality. You could of course make the gratin with a good quality jarred sauce-and it would be fine-just rather ordinary. Of particular importance is the tomato sauce, which is why I wanted to write the post on summer tomato sauce before I posted this recipe. Because there are so few ingredients, the success of this dish is almost wholly dependent on the quality of the ingredients.
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