culinary tips

So, with the fresh Farmer's Market ingredients I purchased yesterday, guess who made the most delicious broccoli salad and eggplant parmesan for dinner?

Moi.

Paul tells me I am the best cook he's ever met in his life, but my eggplant parmesan is his favorite. I have to admit, it's pretty amazing, this dish.



What I do is I cut a whole eggplant into thick, round slices and dip them into a bowl of beaten eggs. Then pour into a big plate a hefty amount of bread crumbs, and coat each slice of eggplant covered in egg with the crumbs.

I bake them in the oven at 450 degrees F for about 12 minutes, while I prepare the sauce.

I like to use vodka sauce for this dish. I chop up half an onion, and any kind of vegetables I have at hand- last night I used some bell peppers, green onions, and a bit of celery. I sautee the vegetables on a pan with a douse of olive oil and garlic salt until they are browned. Then I pour in the vodka sauce and sprinkle a good amount of cayenne pepper for that extra kick.

Then, I take out the eggplant slices and start layering them into a glass cooking pan. First layer are slices of eggplant, then I pour over it a layer of sauce. Then I sprinkle grated parmesan cheese. Then, another layer of eggplant slices and another layer of sauce, topped off with some more parmesan cheese. I stick it back in the oven for another 5-6 minutes, while I prepare the salad.



For the salad, I chopped up half a bushel of broccoli, raw, and threw it into a mixing bowl. Then I cut up half a stalk of celery, half an heirloom tomato, 1/4 of a red onion, crumbled tortilla chips, some lemon pepper, a dash of garlic powder and red wine and olive oil viniagrette (2-3 tablespoons). My mouth is watering just thinking about it again and remembering how it tasted- all the different textures it had. The crunchiness of the celery and the tortilla chips, the zest of the lemon pepper, the soft, cool taste of the tomatos, and the goodness freshness of the raw broccoli. The olive oil gels it all together and you just mix it all up.

By the time the salad is done, so is the eggplant parmesan. It should be browned, slightly crispy, and the ingredients should be geled together.

 My guess for the calorie count on this meal is only around 300 calories per serving. It's healthy, vegetarian- no animals were killed to make this meal.

I can't describe to you how tasty the goodness of a homemade from scratch eggplant parmesan is paired with a fresh broccoli salad also made from scratch and with fresh produce from local farmers. The warm, spicy texture of the eggplant with the cool, fresh crunchy salad is a really great combination.
Of course, a glass of red wine (my preference is a syrah or a cab) completes this meal. I opted for apple juice at first because I had more studying to do, but then I gave in and got myself a glass of red.

I love how a glass of  red wine makes me feel. So relaxing.



Too bad the wine opened up a whole mess of emotions about the tough week I had. I babbled like a baby and cried myself to sleep, with Paul having to listen to my sniffles. Then I had a dream about having a war between Democrats and Republicans. I was a soldier with two other folks on my team, and we climbed a really high building and were shooting at Republicans on the ground down below. And then I accidently shot a civilian who looked a lot like one of my classmates at school. I got really upset and started to hyperventilate about shooting a civilian on accident, and then woke up in a cold sweat but relieved it was only a dream.

Don't ask, I have crazy dreams all the time.