SLUDGY EGGPLANT KOREAN STYLE

The carnivores are getting Korean Short Ribs for dinner.  Pretty special for a Thursday night, I'd say. But it's hot.  The crockpot recipe I came across in my recipe-shoebox full of treasured newspaper clippings and illegible notes was just what I was looking for to liven up their ribs and my eggplant.  It's all in the sauce.  Theirs was equal amounts of soy sauce and brown sugar (half a cups worth), a couple of tablespoons of sesame oil, same amount of rice vinegar, ditto for the minced fresh ginger, four cloves of minced garlic, and a good helping of red pepper flakes.  Except for the soy  and sesame oil, my sauce was the same although I cheated just a tiny bit by not washing the bowl in which I made "their" sauce.  I reused it for my version just to get a hint of the residual sesame taste and aroma.  A little goes a long way.

Though not fresh-picked, the eggplant was young enough to keep its skin.  After removing the stem, I cut it into eight wedges which I spread on the bamboo steamer tray.  The tray sat in the wok that held about an inch of water.

While the eggplant spears were steaming, I mixed my sauce and got out the chop sticks.

Ten minutes was all it took for the wedges to get nice and sludgy.  Five minutes later I was dipping and munching.  

The ingredients for this delicious dish were

1 eggplant

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh minced ginger

4 garlic cloves, minced

lots of red pepper flakes

SOFRITO BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD SMELL AS SWEET ....

Maybe it was the refrain "quizas quizas quizas" from the song QUIZAS by EL TRIO LOS PANCHOS that refused to let me go hours after I listened to the song on YouTube this morning, or maybe it was telling my son  how I used to fly down to Puerto Rico on winter weekends just for the fun of it.  And for the warmth. And for the food.  Always for the food.

I remember it was my first time on the island.  I was on my way to Luquillo Beach when I spotted the food kiosks on the side of the road and came to a screeching halt.  It was unlike anything I had ever seen or smelled.  Sizzling crabs.  Alcapurrias.  Tostones. Pinones.  Morcillas.  Chicharron.  I was in  Cuchifrito paradise.  Stuffed but happy,  I eventually did make it to the beach.


It's been a few years ... decades in fact ... since my last trip there.  Maybe some weekend this coming winter. Quizas.

And so I was in a Caribbean-nostalgic mood today. What better way to evoke the flavors and aromas of the island cuisine than to start with a sofrito which is a sauce made of onions, garlic, peppers, tomatoes, herbs and spices.  The base for many dishes, not unlike mirepoix, the traditional French culinary combination of onions, carrots and celery.   But there is a world of difference, like the difference between bland and exciting.

With Tito Puente keeping  me in rhythm, I assembled the vegetables,

and the herbs and spices.

While the minced onions and garlic were cooking, I chopped up the red bell pepper and the three jalapeño peppers ( all ribbed and seeded).

I introduced the peppers to the onion/garlic mixture, added a can of no-sodium-added crushed tomatoes, and let everything cook gently, while I chopped the parsley and a spoonful of capers.  Capers have a lot of sodium, so I rinsed them thoroughly.  I also gave the contents of a can of black beans a long shower under the faucet.

The parsley, capers and beans went into the pot along with an ample helping of ground black pepper, dried cilantro, oregano, and a  tiny bit of Goya's Sazon con Cilantro y Achiote.    After a few stirs, it was done. Ole!

A plate of rice, a healthy helping of beans in sofrito, and lunch was ready.

Tito Puente would have approved.  Quizas.

These were the ingredients:

1 onion, minced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

3 jalapano peppers, ribbed, seeded and chopped

1 red bell pepper, ribbed, seeded and chopped

Handful of parsley, minced

1 can sodium-free crushed tomatoes

1 can black beans, thoroughly rinsed

1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and chopped

l teaspoon dried cilantro

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/8 teaspoon Sazon

Liberal amount of freshly ground black pepper

Cooked rice

CRACKED WHEAT WITH A SIDE OF KELP

I am not sure I  even know what  cracked wheat is  but I would have eaten a double portion of it,  that’s how hungry I was this morning when I realized that I was out  of steel-cut oats.  Just as well because I am pretty sick of oats every morning.   I craved something chewy, warm and savory.  And I wanted it quickly.  A breakfast burrito!!!  Without the egg-ham-and-cheese filling, of course.

No fancy gadgets or ingredients needed.  A bowl, a rolling pin, whole wheat flour, water, cast iron pan, and presto, breakfast hot off the griddle.  To embellish and amuse the unleavened and unseasoned dough, I added a good measure of cayenne pepper and substituted stone ground yellow corn meal for 1/4 cup of the whole wheat flour.

The two spring onions and the jalapeno pepper made such a pretty picture on my glass cutting board.  Not for long though.

Once the dough was finished with its ten minute nap, it was nicely relaxed and let itself be rolled out into a rectangle. 

I scattered the veggies across it, rolled it up jelly roll style, and cut the resulting log into segments.

  

I rolled these little dough pillows into rounds and cooked them for about a minute in the hot cast iron pan.  They looked good enough to eat.   I slathered four of them with onion jam and enjoyed every morsel.

I cut the leftovers into wedges.  Toasted in the oven for a few minutes, they made a fine semi-crunchy snack while I was composing this.

These were my ingredients:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup stone ground yellow corn meal

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 scallions, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS

Meatballs are meat balls unless they’re vegetarian and then they’re called koefte or kofta which are very popular in India.  I’ll have to try Lauki Kofta some day.  For now I’ve had enough of koftas after disappointing results with a recipe I found in an old issue of Gourmet Magazine.  The now defunct magazine's kitchen wizards beefed up grated zucchini  with fresh herbs and mashed chickpeas to come up with Zucchini Koefte.  Well, they looked scrumptious, I thought.  Gourmet had always set the standard for expert food photography.

Nick, Greg’s twin brother, and I had just come back from our weekly visit to Tanner’s Farm, one of the best places in Bucks county for fresh dairy and veggies, so I was fully stocked to try  Gourmet Magazine’s spin on “kofta”.

I trimmed the stem and coarsely grated a fairly large zucchini.  It must have weighed about a pound. 

Instead of the salt I tossed the zucchini with a little lemon juice in a colander and let it rest while I chopped three cloves of garlic and a handful of parsley.

As instructed I wrapped the zucchini in a linen kitchen towel. I twisted the towel to wring out as much liquid as possible.

The thoroughly drained and rinsed chickpeas got a good mashing with a fork and were then tossed with the zucchini, garlic, parsley, a  teaspoon of cilantro, a teaspoon of cumin and half a teaspoon of coriander.  A quick taste and it was clear that the mixture needed to be spiked.  I went for lots of freshly ground black pepper and a healthy dash of cayenne.  Instead of the 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs the recipe called for, I added a toasted and crumbled slice of whole wheat bread.

It was impossible to shape the mixture into balls.  There was no cohesion.  But I managed to scoop portions onto a foil-lined  and lightly oil-sprayed baking sheet.

After 45 minutes in a 375-degree oven, I must say they looked rather appetizing. 

The slightly crunchy exterior was nice but the innards were fluffy and extremely bland.  But at this point I was too hungry to care. 

I slathered them with my hot-chile-ginger-garlic sauce and wolfed them down.   Next time I’ll add lots of sauteed onions and use cannellini beans instead of chick peas. 

I wonder what Bill Clinton had for lunch today.