Italian Week, The Sequel!

I’m on an Italian kick.  Usually I like to mix things up and since we had the pepperoni chicken last week, I normally wouldn’t fix Italian again BUT, the Eggplant was GORGEOUS today and I couldn’t resist.  Let’s talk about the Eggplant for a minute.  It’s arguably my favorite vegetable with asparagus running a close second.  Eggplant is the only vegetable that doesn’t lose its fiber content when it’s cooked.   It also comes in girl and boy varieties and it’s important to know the difference because the seeds can make a dish bitter and girls have more seeds than boys.  If you’ve read my blog before you know how to tell the difference but if you’re new to the posts let me tell you what to look for.  Look at the end of the eggplant away from the stem.  Girl eggplants have a pronounced “inny” belly button and boy’s belly buttons are more flush.  If you take two eggplants that are roughly the same size and one is a girl and the other is a boy, the boy will be significantly lighter because of the seed scarcity.  You’ll still probably need to salt that boy to pull out the bitterness from the seeds he does have, but it will be much fewer and if you get a juvenile you might find you don’t have to salt at all because the seed count is so low.  Eggplant 101!

So today I went a little nuts at the store.  Bill was $95 which kind of surprised me but I made a ton of food and I didn’t get to the farmers market this weekend which always helps keep that finally tally down.  It’s okay though, final tally for the month is a little less than $500.  Not my goal of $400 but still way better than mindless shopping and much of what I bought today will carry over into the first week of September, so I’m good with it!

On the menu for the first part of the week is Eggplant Parmesan and Chicken Piccata for dinner and then I made a huge batch of Quinoa Pea Pesto Salad.  We’ll eat that all week for lunches or quick bites.  It’s a beautiful veggie rich salad that is a complete protein to boot.  Later in the week, I’m making what we call stringy meat – basically a chuck roast slow cooked with cumin, chili powder garlic etc and we’ll have that as weekend treat next weekend as Fry Bread Tacos.  Those recipes will be up next week.   For now, you’ll have to satisfy yourself with Italian Week The Sequel!

Chicken Piccata 

I’m going to tell you how to cut up three medium sized chicken breasts and have enough portions to feed an army.  Take a boneless skinless breast and cut off the rib piece.  Then starting at the pointed end and working your way up, cut the breast on a sharp diagonal into ¼ slices.  If you do this right, without ending up with pieces that tear or are fat in once spot and skinny or nonexistent in another, you can get 12 or more slices out of each breast.  It’s a WONDERFUL way to get a little chicken to go a long way. The Picture for  this is 3 normal sized chicken breasts.  This would be enough chicken with salad, bread and pasta to feed 6 -8 people. Also, because the slices are thin and reasonably uniform in thickness they cook up super fast so it's a great what to make a chicken dish in a hurry!

3 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, cut on the diagonal into thin slices

¼ each salted butter & Olive oil

1 – 2 Tb minced Garlic

1 – 2 Tb lemon juice

2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning

2 Tb Heavy cream

Salt and pepper.

Melt the butter and olive oil together with the garlic.  When the oils start to make soft little bubbly sounds add all the chicken and stir over medium heat until the chicken is gently sautéed and just barely undercooked.  Add the lemon juice, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.  Finishing the cooking, turn down to low, add the cream and let come to temperature.  This is lovely served over pasta.  You can also add couple of big spoonfuls of pesto to it, sundried tomatoes or capers.  Another nice variation is to add mozzarella cheese, a little bit of blue cheese, some artichoke hearts and serve it over gemelli.  So delish!

Eggplant Parmesan

In putting these recipes together, I’m trying really hard to give you good measurements.  Ain’t happening on this one because, when it comes to oil, Eggplant is a sponge so how you cook it, how hot your grease is, how thick the slices are will all effect how much oil you’ll use.  Same thing with the bread crumbs and the egg wash.  If you oven fry the slices, you’ll use less olive oil and normally I do it that way but I only have one teeny cookie sheet that fits in my new oven so tonight I fried it in two big batches in a big skillet.  I used almost 1/2cup of oil…this isn’t a dish for the faint of heart but it’s worth it.  It’s all about portion control!

2 Big Eggplants (Boys!) sliced into 1/3 inch slices.  Line them in a colander, salt liberally and let sit for 15 – 20 minutes, rinse really well and pat dry

3 Eggs beaten with 2 Tb water

Seasoned Italian Bread Crumbs.  I used about 2/3’s of one of those round containers

4 cups Italian Gravy or Spaghetti Sauce ( I used a bag of the gravy I made in an earlier post)

2 Cups Mozzarella Cheese

½ Cup Parmesan Cheese

Once you have rinsed and patted dry the eggplant, dip in the egg wash on both sides and the coat with the bread crumbs.  You can do all of this before you start frying.  If you are oven frying.  Preheat the oven to 450.  Coat the bottom of your cookie sheet with olive oil, place eggplant in a single layer and bake until golden.  You might spray the top side with Pam, flip and cook until golden on the second side.  If you're stove top frying, heat up your pan, add 1/4 inch of olive oil and when a little of the bread crumb sizzles in the oil, add the slices cook until golden, flip repeat.  You'll probably need to do this in a couple of batches and if the flipped side doesn't get a pretty gold, it's fine.

Layer half of the Eggplant in a 9x13 inch casserole, overlapping the slices.  Sprinkle 1 cup of the mozzarella and 2 cups of the gravy over and repeat ending with mozzarella.  Sprinkle ½ cup Parmesan on top and Bake @350 until bubbly and golden 30-45 minutes

Quinoa, Pea & Pesto Salad.  This is a great and unusual salad that is a hit everywhere I take it.  You can also make it with a pound of pasta shells but I like the Quinoa, it’s a complete protein and has a much lower glycemic index than anything made with wheat.  It’s pretty and pretty damn tasty and gluten free!

1 Cup of Quinoa, rinsed thoroughly, if you skip this step you will be sorry as quinoa is very bitter

2 cups Water

1 BIG Green Pepper, diced

2 BIG carrots, Diced

½  Big Red Onion, minced

1# Frozen Peas

8 oz Pesto

8 oz Feta Cheese crumbled

Put the Quinoa and Water in a pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover with a lid and simmer for 15 minutes

Add all the vegetables in a big bowl.  Pour the hot Quinoa over it.  Then add the pesto and feta and stir to blend.  It’s good cold, at room temp or right out of the bowl when its done!