The Chef Within

I grew up in Brazil.  There were lots of perks that came with living overseas…the biggest being that our family had a maid and a cook.  My mother was happy to turn all those responsibilities over to someone else and we children were happy to see her do that.  Every meal was something to look forward to. 

I will have to say that my favorite dish was fried eggplant.  I loved it on its own or layered in a parmigiana.  Honestly, I love well prepared eggplant in any format but fried eggplant is indeed for the gods.   Plump dates and eggplant have be on the menu in heaven.

The procedure is stunningly simple.  Simply wash the eggplant, cut out any bruised or ultra soft spots and start slicing.  The slices should not be too thin, perhaps a generous 1/4 inch.  I will say one thing about eggplant though.  The selection of an eggplant is crutial.  Many pieces are hard and green.  They look lovely on the outside but once you cut into them they are green and underripe, like alot of the foods we buy today.  Try and find one that has some give when squeezed, even if it means cutting out a spot or two.  The flavor and texture will be so much better.

The peel is edible but I like to score it to minimize the chance of getting a mouthful of a long strand of skin.  The random striping breaks the skin at intervals which makes the bites of skin smaller and pleasant.

To get set up 1) have your slices ready as well as some 2) buttermilk and egg mixture  and 3) some seasoned bread crumbs (salt and pepper at the very least) and/or seasoned flour.  Even though I have used breadcrumbs for this batch I actually prefer just the seasoned flour.  For the buttermilk dipping liquid I would use one large egg to 1/2 cup of buttermilk or 1/4 cup milk.  Dip the slices in the buttermilk, then the flour and set aside.  Refer to an earlier post on the technique for mess-free dredging.

Heat about 1/4 inch oil in a larger frying pan and when it is ready (the oil should sizzle immediately when a few crumbs contact it)  add as many slices as will lay comfortably in the bottom of the pan.

Cook the first side until deep golden, adjusting the heat if things are cooking too slowly or too quickly…and then flip to the other side and cook that as well.  I would suggest using a fork to do the turning and removing from the pan.

When the second side gets brown remove with a fork and drain on paper towels or a paper sack.

Continue frying the slices in batches, adding more oil, if the pan gets too dry.  The last batch will always be a little darker because of the accumulated browned oil and bits, but they will still be delicious.  Sprinkle them generously with salt.  That’s part of the deliciousness.

Serve them plain as a side dish…no accompaniment is needed for this delicacy or encorporate into a parmigiana casserole.  You can also use the fried slices in a sandwich (warm or cold) or add them to a salad or placed on a pizza.  Yum!

With the new trends in cooking, there seem to be a lot of recipes calling for roasted peppers. If you’re wondering how to roast peppers there are generally two methods.  Both are easy.

The first method requires a gas stove.  If you have a gas stove, turn the flame on high and set one or two peppers directly over the heat.  Try and position them so the pepper is directly over the  points of the flame.  When the skins blacken on one side rotate the pepper with a pair of tongs and blacken the other sides.  And I do mean blacken.  When the peppers are at least 75 percent blackened then take them off the burner and put them in a plastic bag and let them sit for 20 minutes.  That resting time is important because as peppers sit in the bag, the steam inside the bag helps loosen the skins.  Then when the peppers are cool enough to handle, simply peel off the blackened skins with your fingers and with the help of a little running water to rinse your fingers free of black bits periodically.  Try not to rinse the peppers because that will remove some of the great flavor.  What’s left is the meat of the pepper.

The second method is done in the oven under the broiler.  For this you turn your broiler on high and get the oven good and hot.  Set the peppers on a baking sheet and place them as close as you can to the broiler element.  When the tops get blackened (and you’ll want to keep an eye on them) rotate the peppers, to blacken the next side.  It’ll take a few minutes to blacken each side.  When all the sides are black, take them off the baking sheet, wrap them in a plastic bag and let them sit for a few minutes.  Same as the gas stove method.

Roasting peppers does so much to enhance the flavor of the food and it’s really an easy way to get dramatic results.

 In our area there are several flowering plum trees.  These are meant to be ornamental trees and highly appreciated because of their beautiful spring blossoms and rich burgundy colored leaves.  But inspite of it’s genetic change the tree still produces tiny fruit. 

Last Sunday the family came over for dinner and our grandchildren asked if they could pick the fruit from the tree. 

To be honest I had forgotten that the tree bears fruit and it’s easy to forget because the leaves and the fruit are identical in color, so the fruit does not stand out.  The kids picked a small container full and brought it in for everyone to try.  The fruit was slightly tart but delicious.  I thought to myself…I have got to put that wonderful, pesticide free, natural and organic fruit to use.  I asked the girls to pick enough for a batch of jam and it was awesome and then today they picked more and we made plum syrup which we will use for pancakes, ice cream and anything else we can think of.  If you have these trees in your yard (or neighbor’s yard or in your subdivision common area, here’s how you can make this syrup. 

Pick a small container of plums.

Give them a good rinse under cold water.

Transfer the fruit to a quart pan and for this amount of fruit (which would be a generous two cups) use one cup of sugar.

We even added a cinnamon stick to this recipe and in the batch we made earlier, we included a vanilla bean.  Both those items are totally optional.  No need to add water.  Take the saucepan to medium heat and stir the sugar into and around the plums.  Soon enough the heat will force the juice from the fruit and you will have a syrupy liquid.

If you have a potato masher, help it along by mashing the fruit.

Allow the mixture to simmer for about five minutes and then remove from the heat.

Add a tiny amount of salt and then pass the contents through a sieve, pressing and stirring with a spoon to get every last drop.

 You’ll be left with a pulp which contains the seeds and skins.

That’s it! 

Transfer to an airtight container and keep in the fridge.  If the syrup is too thick you can thin it with water.  If it is too thin just simmer it a little longer until it thickens up.

I even made a batch of jam with these whole plums and simply strained the mixture once it had cooked for the recommended cooking time.  It was awesome.  Such a good way of putting these lovely, free fruit to optimum use.

Last Sunday the family was coming over for dinner and when my two granddaughters come through the doors their first words are usually “what can I do to help?”

We were having pan-fried snapper so I put one of them to work dredging the filets.  They were getting a quick dip in buttermilk and then a coating of crumbs.  Grace began and before long both hands were covered with a gummy mess.  So she washed her fingers and I showed her how to dredge the filets and maintain clean fingers while doing so.  We designated one hand for the dipping wash which in this case was buttermilk and the other for the dry crumbs.

Her left hand became the wet side and so the filet is dipped and wetted on both sides…

and then laid in the crumb mixture.  The right hand takes over and becomes the crumb handler.  Crumbs are scooped up and placed over the wet filet…

and then pressed into the filet so seal a bit. 

all the time keeping both hands free from a gummy mess.

As the filets are completed they get placed on a piece of parchment paper or on a clean, dry baking sheet. 

This technique is the same for chicken, beef…any meat OR vegetable.  If you’d like tips for making fine bread crumbs please refer to an earlier post.