Broccoli Cakes

A few years back, I had a recipe I'd keep in a steady rotation. It was simple, went well with everything, and had one of my favorite vegetables, spinach, as a main staple. I would eat it often all the time, and then in the morning I'd have the leftovers reheated for breakfast with a poached egg on top. I loved the way the spinach tasted, I loved the crunchy crust around it, I loved how I could make them in about ten minutes flat.

When I spent the summer in Texas about five years ago, I invited my friends over for supper, and I made these cakes with dinner. For some reason I turned the pan up too high, so when they arrived I promptly smoked everyone out, and managed to burn the first few. I remember eating them later, but not before we sat outside on the porch, chatting and laughing with Shiner Bocks while we waited for the apartment to be aired out. It was one of the memories that stands out of that summer: while the cakes weren't the best they could have been, it was a great story and makes me think very fondly of those good times down there.

Nowadays, I don't make the spinach cakes quite as often; since Adam doesn't eat spinach, it's not the same to make a batch, because I'd like to make sure he's not left out with stuff I like to share. It's really not a huge step back, but I haven't made something like this in several years.



Recently, I came across this post on Smitten Kitchen, one of my favorite sites to get recipes from. It was perfect; I could get my vegetable "cake" fix, and it involved a favorite vegetable for both of us, broccoli. An extra added bonus, it was very simple to get together. I chopped the broccoli up this morning before work and then got to work putting everything together and frying it up tonight with dinner (a fish recipe I'll post later). It was even better because I got to use up some pent-up frustrations with a potato masher, so that helped too!







All in all, this was very tasty as a side. I wish I'd cooked it *just* a bit longer to get it crunchier, and next time I'll have to double it so I can get more out of them and eat them with my poached eggs in the morning, but we were both very happy with the way that they turned out. Now, maybe I can have new memories associated with the broccoli cakes as much as I do with the spinach ones.



Broccoli Cakes (recipe from Smitten Kitchen)

Roughly 3 cups chopped fresh broccoli florets (try not to cut too small-make sure that the florets are large enough to be able to mash!)
1 egg
1/2 c. flour
1/3 c. grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. salt
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Pinch of black pepper
2-3 Tbsp. olive oil


Steam broccoli in a medium sized pot with about a half-inch or so of water on the bottom and the broccoli placed directly in the water. Steam, covered, for about 5 and a half minutes. Drain well, then set aside to cool down slightly.

In a bowl, beat the egg. Add the remaining ingredients and mix together. Then, add the (semi-cooled) broccoli and mash the entire mixture with a potato masher, but only slightly. Make sure the broccoli isn't mashed too small and that the bits are recognizable when put together in a patty.

Heat a large skillet over the stovetop and then add the oil. Once hot enough, drop batter about the size of your palm into the pan. Fry each side about 2-3 minutes, or until each side is golden brown.

Drain cakes on a paper-towel lined plate and serve up immediately.

Beet Tart with Goat Cheese and Walnuts

We got our first CSA share last week. Adam and I have been really excited for the share to start, since we'll get a ton of good, fresh veggies out of it, and we'll get the opportunity to try new things that we might not otherwise.


The one thing I was wondering whether or not we'd get was beets. Beets, for me, are kind of the bastard stepchild of the veggie world (or is it a fruit? Those weird veggie/fruit things sometimes confuse me.). I'm not really sure what to do with them. I remember having them once years and years ago, but they weren't all that memorable. My most recent memory of them is my grandmother's potato salad, which was really store-bought potato salad with a can of diced cooked beets. To me, the taste of them is kind of nondescript. I don't crave beets and I'm really indifferent about them in general. So of course we got some, and to see them lying in the fridge kind of intimidated me.

But as they say, when in Rome, you make lemonade out of lemons, or something like that.




I began to hunt around for ideas. One friend told me to roast them, peel them, and eat them as is. I found a bunch of recipes that said to do the same thing. I liked the idea of the simplicity of it, but I really wanted to do something different. I found this recipe on epicurious (a site that I really should frequent more often) and thought I'd give it a whirl. I decided to use store bought pie crust though, since I just didn't have the energy to make a tart dough and besides, we didn't have any dried beans to weight it anyway. I also bought crumbled goat cheese instead of a log to make it easier to spread around. The recipe told me that when I was peeling and chopping the cooked beet to be careful, because beets stain EVERYTHING. It's true-and as I sliced my finger on the peeler it was hard to determine what was beet juice and what was blood (not to worry, nothing was tainted). But my hands were stained for at least a day.


Don't worry, I'm fine. Got a good nick with a vegetable peeler, but I used the closest thing I could find to cover it up.







The tart itself though? Not too bad. I'd definitely make it again (if someone decided to give me some beets) and although I've been eating it as my lunch the past few days I think this would really go well with some grilled chicken or something. I was pretty happy with the results. It was tart (ha! Pun intended!) and the crust was nice and flaky against the beet and onion filling (never you mind that it was store bought. It's a well known fact that I hate making my own dough). I could have probably cooked them for about ten minutes longer to take away a bit more of the bite, but I liked the twang I got from the beets and the goat cheese, and I really liked the texture of the chopped walnuts. I'm especially happy that I tried something I normally never would and I wasn't disappointed.




Next week in the CSA though? I'm hoping for tomatoes. :)

Fresh Goat Cheese, Roasted Beet, and Walnut Tart (recipe from epicurious.com)

2 to 3 small beets (I used 4 medium sized ones)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons dry white wine (I actually had none in the house-don't judge, it was a long week at work last week!-so I omitted this step)
1 recipe tart dough (found here) , shaped and blind-baked according to the directions (I took a shortcut and used store-bought pie crust, not blind-baked-use whatever your heart desires, but I quite enjoyed the pie crust!)
3 large eggs
3/4 c. heavy cream
4 oz. goat cheese (I used crumbled goat cheese, which worked really well)
1 c. chopped walnuts
1 Tbsp walnut oil (optional-I had none, so I left it out)
About 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley (I actually always forget about parsley and I think there's not much taste to it anyway, so I had none and left that out too)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Rinse the beets well and dry them with a paper towel. Place the beets in a small pan (a square brownie tin worked well for me), and season with the olive oil and the salt and pepper. Cover the pan with aluminum foil. Bake about 1 hour, when you can easily pierce the beets with a knife.

Let the beets cool (quick cool tip? Put them in the fridge for about ten minutes). Peel the beets and chop roughly, into medium sized pieces. Watch out where you do this, as beets really do stain everything. I decided to dice them on a foil wrapped cutting board to make for easier clean up and less chance to dye my kitchen counter and my cutting boards. My hands, however, stayed a slight shade of pink for a day and a half.

Saute the onion in a pan with the melted butter until the onions are soft and cooked through-about 5-7 minutes. If they wind up slightly caramelized, not to worry! Add the white wine and cook out for another minute, deglazing the pan in the process. If you have no wine, you can either leave it be or add some chicken stock.

Mix the beets and onions together and put them into the pie shell.Whisk the eggs and cream together and season well with salt and pepper. Add the egg mixture to the beet and onion mixture in the pie shell, making sure to make things even in the pie plate. Sprinkle the crumbled goat cheese all over the top of the tart. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees, then remove and sprinkle the chopped walnuts on top of the tart and drizzle the walnut oil over it, if using. Return the tart to the oven and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes or until it's just been set. If using parsley, sprinkle on top after removing from the oven and before serving, but really, it's not imperative that you use it. If you're eating as a main dish, it would be great with a nice simple salad, but as a side, it would be perfect with some chicken. Epicurious recommends using pork as well.

Sweet Potato Tater Tots

A few weeks back, I was perusing Facebook, as I often do, and I saw a notice for a new burger place on the South Shore opening up. The restaurant, called Wahlburgers, is owned by the Wahlberg brothers, Mark and Donnie, and their chef brother (I think his name is Paul...anyway). I looked at their menu online, and their burgers looked awesome, but the thing that caught my eye was sweet potato tater tots. I told Adam later that day that we needed to take a field trip down there to try a burger, and to have those tater tots (Five Guys has already been in our regular rotation, as there is a location about fifteen minutes away from us, and I thought, why not try something new?). Adam, in a stroke of genius (and because he knows I'll try almost anything), told me, "well, why don't you try to make your own?"

Genius. Of course. Why not, I have the grater and the deep fryer, and all I needed were the raw materials and the time.

As kids, we loved tater tots. I remember us calling them "trash cans", and it makes a little bit of sense-they kind of look like trash cans, right? It's weird for me to call them tater tots, or even just plain tots, as made famous by Napoleon Dynamite. So, tater tots is the actual recipe, but I don't think I'll be able to think of them without calling them trash cans.

But back to the sweet potato. As Guy Fieri might say, these things were money. (Apologies. I can't believe that actually came out of my mouth. But that's exactly what these things are). They weren't terribly difficult to do, but it did force me to exercise a little bit of patience. Waiting for the potatoes to cool after boiling was particularly difficult. I waited for twenty minutes and then dug in to grate and peel them, ignoring the fact that the hot steam was essentially burning my fingers.







I'd like to think that it was like a facial for my hands. Whatever that's referred to, anyway.





Once that was done, add in the other ingredients, mix together, form into logs, and drop into the deep fryer for four minutes. My taste tester ate four straight from the fryer. He's a pretty fair judge when it comes to my cooking, and when I had to swat his hand away, I knew I had a winner. Paired with a homemade cheeseburger on Portuguese bread and the Patriots/Giants game, it's a perfect evening.





My four-legged sous chef, on the other hand, looked on and sulked. I think he wanted one too. Next time, buddy.


Sweet Potato Tater Tots (adapted from Cook With Tom)
3-4 medium size sweet potatoes (enough to get 3 cups of shreds. I wound up with way too much shredded sweet potatoes, so I'd bump this down to 2. Of course, if you have too much, save it and use it for something else, like sweet potato latkes!)
1/4 c flour
1/4 c Parmesan cheese
1 Tsp alt
1 tsp pepper (not in original recipe, but necessary-it gave it the extra spice it needed!)
Canola oil

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the sweet potatoes and boil for 20 minutes (do not peel them beforehand!). Let it cool on a plate before peeling them, either with a knife or a peeler.

Shred the sweet potatoes to have three cups' worth. Wring them out in paper towels or a cheesecloth to remove the extra moisture.

Combine sweet potatoes with flour, cheese, pepper and salt. Mix well to combine. When in doubt, add just a little more cheese.

Using a 1 Tbs measuring spoon, portion out tater tots, and form into small tater logs.

Fry in a deep fryer or a deep pot filled halfway with oil, at 350 degrees, for 3-5 minutes, until brown (we found that four minutes was perfect, but it may depend on whether you're frying with a cover or not.).

These tater tots are perfect without any sauce, but feel free to use your favorite. If I have to pick one, it'd be honey mustard, but to each their own.

Baked Curried Sweet Potato Fries

Oh, curry and sweet potato. One of the greatest matches I never knew about.

Sweet potato fries are becoming quite popular at restaurants. I love that...now. What's bizarre is that I didn't always love them. They're something I grew into. I held onto my beloved potato for so long until I realized that sweet potatoes were just as good.

Curry was the same way. For a very long time, I hated curry. I hated anything with spice. It made my mouth go on fire, my face would turn purple, and it was pretty uncomfortable for me.

That being said, I've come a long way. I don't know where I decided that curry was good, or for that matter that sweet potatoes were awesome, but I'm really happy I did.

The first time I came across this recipe I was sitting at home, perusing the internet for something easy to have for dinner. I had one sweet potato in the house and a few burgers left over from my Christmas box o' meat. I knew I was going to have a burger and some fries but wasn't sure how to go about it...and then I found a recipe for baked curried sweet potato fries. Seemed awfully simple to me, and I could easily throw this one together while the burger was defrosting and even while on the grill.





And how.



These sweet potato fries had enough spice, enough crunch (even for being baked!) and some really, really good flavor. They were simple, natch. Spice in bowl. Check. egg white in bowl, check. Potato sliced, check. Mixture spread around fries. Check. Bake until you can't stand it anymore. Almost stupidly easy. After I made these for myself I made them for Adam and me for dinner another night, and I had to swat his hand away because he kept snacking at the pan before the rest of the meal was ready. I think he liked them too. :)



I also liked these because although there was oil involved, these fries weren't fried. I can't say they were totally healthy, but I felt somewhat better about eating these fries than ones that came from a deep fryer. Somewhat.

Baked Curried Sweet Potato Fries (recipe obtained from Joy The Baker)

1 medium to large sweet potato, peeled
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 large egg white
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (or 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper, which I've done a few times)
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

Place a rack in the center of a preheated 400 degree oven.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Take the peeled sweet potato and slice into sticks or wedges.
Toss the potato slices with olive oil on the baking sheet. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk egg white until foamy and frothy. Add curry powder, cumin, turmeric, and crushed red pepper flakes and mix until fully combined. Pour the egg white mixture over the potato sticks and toss to coat the potatoes. Using your (clean) hands is likely the best way to do this.
Place in the oven and bake to desired doneness and crispiness, roughly about 40 minutes.
Remove fries from the oven and serve.

Scalloped Tomatoes

I know what you're thinking. Scalloped doesn't go with tomatoes, it goes with potatoes.

(I also know all of you are all "what? two posts in a row?" Indeed, friends, it is true.)

In honor of a tomato festival that's happening at Wilson Farm this weekend, I thought it appropriate to post about a recipe I actually made a few weeks ago, but only decided to post tonight. I really shouldn't have waited, though I guess if I didn't wait, some of you might have asked me to share.



This dish, I couldn't share. This one was all mine.



I have never had a dish like this. It was simultaneously fantastic, light, and flavorful. I liked that there weren't too many steps to it, and that it was something that was interchangeable: I ate it with some chicken for dinner, then had it with a poached egg the next morning for breakfast.



Sometimes, I'll get sick of eating the same leftovers day after day until I get rid of them. This was one dish that I actually felt sad about scraping the bottom of the pan and polishing off. I loved, loved, loved this dish. I'm contemplating making an extra one and freezing it for later. I loved how the basil stood out and made an appearance, complimenting the tomatoes perfectly (basil and tomatoes just work together, anyway). Best of all, I loved how I could eat it for days and it would just get better with each meal.



Do not wait. Do not pass go until you have cooked this dish. You will absolutely not be sorry.

Scalloped Tomatoes with Croutons (recipe found on the Smitten Kitchen website)
3 tbsp. olive oil
2 c. bread from a French-like boule bread, in a 1/2-inch dice, crusts removed-if you have extra, that's okay!
2 1/2 lbs plum tomatoes, cut into 1/2-inch dice
3 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tbsp.)
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1/2 c. thinly slivered basil leaves, lightly packed
1 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the bread cubes and stir so that they are evenly coated with oil. Cook cubes until toasty on all sides, roughly about 5 minutes.

Combine tomatoes, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper in a large bowl. When the bread cubes are toasted, add the tomato mixture and cook them together, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the basil. Pour into a shallow pan and top with Parmesan cheese. Bake 35 to 40 minutes until the top is browned and the tomatoes are bubbly. Serve hot or warm.

"That Spinach Thing"

"That Spinach Thing" is so named because I kept forgetting what the technical term for it was (it's a Spanish dish, though the website where I found it called it Spinach and Chickpeas, which really doesn't leave much room for interpretation), and since it seemed really close to something else I had seen made a few months back by a college friend of mine called "chickpea thing" I figured I'd give it a shot. Plus, the website from which it came from is awesome, and I love getting ideas from it.

I think the fact that I sat on this post all day trying to figure out how I'd write it while having a banana walnut chocolate chunk cookie in my hand is very telling.

This meal (or side, depending on how you choose to serve it) is pretty simple, really. Spices, spinach, garbanzo beans, and fried bread (which I omitted because I just didn't feel like frying up bread, and all I had was some leftover Herb Bread from my favorite sandwich/bakery place ever in the freezer. In retrospect, I should have used it-I'm now very interested to see how it would have tasted.).

I liked this dish, but I didn't *love* this dish. Quite frankly, if I hadn't made it I'd probably know no better. I don't think this is a dish I'd crave; but I'll still eat it-it's not that bad for you, it's easy, and it's filling. I think my problem is that it has too many chickpeas. I thought maybe it just gave it a weird texture or something. Something's just missing from this. I really think it's the bread. The recipe said it was optional, which is why I didn't add it the first time. Next time, I'll definitely do it.



Try it and see if you can come up with something that works. I really think this dish has the potential to work-I just couldn't do it this time around. Separately, it's very good. Together, I just miss something. Maybe I should take out some of the chickpeas and add something else-maybe some chicken or something-but that will change the dish completely. Or, put in more spinach and maybe some extra garlic!

I will have to go back to the drawing board on this-but I won't give up on it! If you find a good combination, let me know-I'll be interested to see what happens with it!



Sidenote-I do wholeheartedly agree with the addition of the smoked paprika. It was a strangely different spice that I really liked and also really liked being able to sprinkle as much or as little as I wanted on it. There's a distinct possibility I'll be adding more to "Spinach Thing" tonight.

Spinach and Chickpeas (aka "That Spinach Thing", aka Espinacas con Garbanzos)(recipe obtained from www.smittenkitchen.com)
2 cans of chickpeas (15 oz), drained well
6 tbsp olive oil
1 lb. baby spinach
1 large slice of Country Bread (or whatever you might have on hand)
1/2 c. tomato sauce (I used eggplant marinara. I'm glad I had something different to contrast it, but feel free to use whatever tomato sauce you have, or none at all)
3 garlic cloves, sliced thin (I used a spoonful of minced)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 pinch of red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp smoked paprika (try to find this if you can. It really does have a distinct difference from regular paprika)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Lemon juice, to taste

Place a large saucepan over medium heat and add 3 tbsp. of the olive oil. When it is hot, add the spinach and stir. Depending on the size of your pot you may only be able to add a little at a time (I had to put it in a half at a time) When spinach is tender, drain in a colander and set aside.

While the spinach cools, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Fry up the bread for about 5 minutes or so, then one tbsp of oil and the garlic, cumin and pepper. Cook for another minute or until the garlic is golden brown.

Transfer to a food processor along with the vinegar (a blender also works), and mash mixture to a paste. Put the chickpeas and the mashed mixture back into the pan and add the tomato sauce (if you choose-I'd suggest it, but it can be regular marinara or whatever you like). Stir until the chickpeas are heated all the way through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the spinach and cook until it is fully heated. Serve with paprika sprinkled over the top.

Colcannon (Happy St. Patrick's Day!)

If you're an avid food blog reader like I am, you know a lot of blogs are profiling popular St. Patrick's Day recipes today. Irish Stew, Corned Beef and Cabbage, Irish Soda Bread. Not me, kids. I choose to buck the trend, and I made Colcannon.



Colcannon was such a foreign Irish dish for me that I wound up having to Google it to find out what it meant and what the origins were. That's where I found out that it's actually more of a dish made around Halloween time, because that's when kale (which seems to be the original green used) was in season. Who knew. Oh well, enough of the history lesson.

I got home somewhat early last night and proceeded to get to work (I knew I wouldn't have enough time tonight to make it if I waited). Oh, how I worked. The recipe called to steam the potatoes, instead of boiling them. That should have been my first red flag. Does anyone know how hard it is to mash steamed potatoes? I really thought I'd lose an arm. I mashed. and mashed and mashed and mashed and mashed. It took forever. It took so long and went nowhere so fast that I decided to just add the melted butter and hot milk because I was so irritated and I just wanted this to finally mash up. Thank goodness that tactic finally worked, but not for awhile. I finished the potato mashing and got to work on the rest of it: boiling and dicing the cabbage and sauteeing the ham. The original recipe calls for a pound of ham, boiled, but I took a shortcut and bought a pound of deli sliced ham, diced it and pan fried it. I don't know I'll really know the difference. I'd say if you are vegetarian, leave it out. If you want to try bacon, do that instead. And if you're really bold feel free to use the original recipe's suggestion of a whole pound of ham, boil it, and dice it up.





The cabbage and the ham weren't so hard. It was getting it to be done that was the problem. I didn't use a big enough pot for boiling the cabbage so water popped all over my stove, and then it was too hot to touch for about 25 minutes. The ham just wouldn't get hot enough to brown. It was starting to get to be too much. Finally, I shocked the cabbage under cold water so I could touch it, cut and diced it up, and threw it in the bowl. Then I put the ham in and combined everything together. Overall, it wasn't a complicated meal, ingredient wise. I should have known-Irish food is typically known for being on the milder side, with not as many spices and stuff.

After all that work, I was so sure I'd hate this dish. I had this post all planned out, telling you how much I hated it, how bland it was, that the cabbage was all wrong.

I didn't hate it. I actually liked it much more than I thought I would. The little bits that I had (because I had to have at least a little bit!) were more flavorful than I expected. I'll blame that on the salty ham and the extra pepper I put in it. The cabbage though, the cabbage added some weird element that I couldn't put my finger on, but it definitely helped the dish come together. I liked all of the textures that went along with this and I'm glad I found this particular Irish recipe to try something different.



Next year, though-next year, I'm bribing someone else to make it for me.

Colcannon (from www.foodnetwork.com)
* 3 lbs russet potatoes (this wound up being about 4 potatoes for me)
* 2 sticks butter (I only used 1)
* 1 1/4 c hot milk
* Freshly ground black pepper
* 1 head cabbage, cored and finely shredded (I shredded this after it had been boiled-I put it in the pot in pieces and cored it before I cooked it, though)
* 1 (1 lb.) piece ham or bacon, cooked the day before (I instead used deli ham, about 1 lb.)
* 4 scallions, finely chopped (I ran out of scallions, so I skipped this)
* Chopped parsley leaves, for garnish (skipped this too-didn't feel the need-but it does make the dish pretty!)


Steam the potatoes whole for 30 minutes. Slice in half and peel them using a knife and fork. (Next time, I'd suggest boiling them like you do regular mashed potatoes). Chop with a knife before mashing-I swear you'll be glad you did that. Mash thoroughly until mixture is smooth. Add 1 stick of butter-if it's frozen, melt it. Otherwise, if at room temperature, add in pieces. Add hot milk in stages, stirring constantly. Season with black pepper.

Boil the cabbage in unsalted water until it's darker, about ten minutes or so. You can add 2 tablespoons butter to make it tender (as the recipe directs) but I skipped that step too. Drain completely, then dice into small pieces.

(Put the ham in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes until tender. Drain. Remove any fat and chop into small pieces.) -This is from the original recipe. If you opt to use my short cut, dice up one point of deli ham and put it in a skillet to pan fry until just browned.

Add cabbage, scallions (if using), and ham to mashed potatoes, stirring them in completely.

Sprinkle parsley on top (if you're using) and put another pat of butter in the center of each portion (again, optional). Serve.

Scalloped Eggplant

I felt like I was on an episode of "The Next Iron Chef" this morning. Or "Chopped", or one of those cooking competitions where you have an hour or something to create a dish.

This morning, with most of my area totally under water and my need to be out of the house by 7:30 (which turned out to be closer to 8), was a really bad choice to be feeling like that. I've recently been waking up at a unnecessarily early time, mainly because my body's in some weird sleep pattern right now. Last night I was up at 1 AM for almost an hour (I swore it was time to get up and nearly took a shower when I got a closer look at the clock and made myself go back to bed) and then this morning I woke up at 5 AM, just because my body decided it was time to get up. So I did what any normal person would do at that hour. I cooked.

...wait, you say no normal people do that at that hour? Hm. Food for thought (ha! pun intended. Forgive me, I'm a little tired).

Anyway, I proceeded to make this Scalloped Eggplant so I could have it with my dinner tonight (but I did try it this morning. Hot cereal and a bite of scalloped eggplant. Breakfast of champions), and was trying to get so much stuff chopped, put together, and trying to multitask with my breakfast, lunch, getting myself ready to get out of the house and putting my gym bag together, plus cleaning up my mess that I nearly stopped this meal right in the middle of preparing for it. But that's not my style to just stop. That's way too much food to waste.



That being said, this isn't a hard meal to put together. It's a lot of chopping (I sense a theme with that in most of my dishes lately), and a lot of sauteeing, and then, unfortunately for me, a bit of waiting in the oven, when I was a little impatient and trying to get out of the house. On a regular night, not so bad. This morning with negative time to spare, big problem.



Oh wait, hold on. This post is about scalloped eggplant, not my ability to get out of the house on time and avoid the flooded roads. Sorry.



I wasn't sure how this dish would hold up on taste factor. On the surface it seems almost a little bland. It's seasoned really only with salt and pepper, and not even a lot at that. I sauteed the veggies in a bit of butter spray so that it wouldn't stick, and found that the tomato juices created a bit of a marinade or something. The recipe says that this dish has a sweet mellow taste. I'd say that's about right. It's pretty decent, not bad as a side dish, and yes, has a very mellow taste to it. It doesn't jump out, so if you're planning on making this for dinner plan on having something maybe a little bolder with it, like a garlic chicken or something (or don't, if mellow's your thing).I liked it (or rather, the spoonful I had while it was piping hot directly out of the dish), but think it might need a little something extra to enhance it even more. Maybe a bit of oregano or basil or something.

Scalloped Eggplant (recipe by Chef Scott Doughty; recipe obtained from www.phantomgourmet.com)

Ingredients

3 lbs eggplants, peeled and diced (about 2 large eggplant)
1/4 c butter (I skipped this and used the spray, as I thought this was supposed to only keep the sauteeing veggies from sticking to the pan, but as the veggies are supposed to simmer in this I wish I might have used it or something similar, like olive oil or something)
1/4 c. finely diced green pepper
1/4 c. finely diced onion
2 lbs diced tomatoes (probably between 3-4 tomatoes, depending on the size. I used 1 large tomato and 4 smallish ones)
1 1/5 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
3 c. fresh bread crumbs (I used whole wheat)
2 Tbsp butter


Saute the green pepper and onion in 1/4 cup of butter (or spray) for about 10 minutes, or until the mixture is soft and just browned.
Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper and eggplant and bring mixture to a simmer (your pan will be very full, so be careful when trying to get everything evenly heated. I'd say don't overcrowd the pan, but I did...and it still turned out okay) Cook for about 10 more minutes, or until eggplant starts to look a little bit browned.
Put the eggplant mixture into a baking dish.
Melt 2 tbs of butter and combine with the breadcrumbs, and spread over the top of the eggplant (this is a lot of breadcrumbs. Maybe decrease this by a cup if you'd like).
Bake in a 375 degree oven for 40 minutes.

Black Eyed Peas

I've gotten to the point where when I see the words 'black eyed peas' I think not of the food, but instead of the music group. As it stands, the last time I ate black eyed peas was about seven years ago (what???) when a friend made it with catfish and cornbread. I got an email last week from one of my favorite places, Dave's Fresh Pasta, that was advertising fresh catfish and I started craving it, along with everything that went with it-black eyed peas, collard greens, cornbread, the whole bit. I bought some on Friday to make for dinner today with a friend of mine.

The catfish got me thinking back to that meal that my friend made, and I just wanted to create it again. Problem was, I'd never made any of that stuff before. So I did what any sane person would do. I looked up the recipes for collard greens and black eyed peas on the internet. I found a crockpot recipe for the black eyed peas that I just had this gut feeling about, and it just sounded great.

This morning I got to chopping and cutting (I make it sound like I broke a sweat in the kitchen. Not so, really. A few tears from the onion, yes, but that was about it. About ten minutes worth of work, tops). I threw everything in the crockpot and turned it on, and I left for the gym.



(Does anyone remember that infomercial that was on a few years ago, by the way, that advertised a machine that you could "set it and forget it!"? That phrase kept jumping in my head the entire time I was putting this in the crock pot. Now it's bothering me to find out where it came from. I suppose I should google it.)

This afternoon, I returned home to find a very good smelling dish in my kitchen that I essentially did nothing for. It looked great, and I was quite excited for what was in store.





And it was awesome. :) It was everything I expected it to be, and the peas were nice and tender. I was so pleased.



Slow Cooker Spicy Black Eyed Peas (recipe obtained from www.allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

* 6 cups water
* 1 cube chicken bouillon
* 1 pound dried black-eyed peas, sorted and rinsed
* 1 onion, diced
* 2 cloves garlic, diced
* 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and diced
* 1 jalapeno chile, seeded and minced
* 8 ounces diced ham
* 4 slices bacon, chopped
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
* salt, to taste
* 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

1. Pour the water into a slow cooker, add the bouillon cube, and stir to dissolve. Combine the black-eyed peas, onion, garlic, bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, ham, bacon, cayenne pepper, cumin, salt, and pepper; stir to blend. Cover the slow cooker and cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours until the beans are tender.

One of the easiest things I ever did.