Once upon a time there was a girl who had grown up on garden goodness. She loved the food that her family cultivated and how the freshness made her feel. She would pick from the vines and eat, taking in the nutrients of the fruits and vegetables she found in the rows of crops in her family’s gardens. As she grew up and went out into the world beyond the walls of her family’s lands she found realms of fast, processed and just plain gross food. The girl longed for the days of fresh garden goodness of her youth. In her quest for those tastes she thought that she could grow them herself. She read. She studied and she planted in her tower in the dark city. There were sprouts of hope and even vines of possibility, but in the end she had nothing but dirt. She could not find her green thumb. Until the day she met her prince, who showed her the way to flavors and freshness she could distantly remember. She didn’t need the green thumb of mystery that had eluded her, she only need to contact something he called a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). When she did, she escaped from the dark, evil games of fast food thrones and found that heartburn was a distant memory like heartbreak. She found sweet natural flavors without preservatives, dyes and hormones. She discovered a new love for the things in her own “backyard”. The girl could only do one thing, marry the price and live happily ever after; eating local and fresh.
Are you happy for her? I am – I should hope I am since “she” is me! I took a little creative license. I guess it could have been worse, I mean I did just finish reading George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones. I managed to keep it clean and not too bloody. So, what brought on my tale telling? You’re going to laugh, but Fairy Tale Eggplant. Okay, maybe laugh wasn’t the word more like roll your eyes. I honestly couldn’t help myself. I hate being upfront all the time and saying “Hey! I’m going to talk about Sugar Beets in this post.” There is no challenge in that. (Hmmm…I will have to write that one soon so I can call it “We Got the Beets!” A little 80′s pop Go-Go’s lovin’ for you.)
Anyhow to get back on track, one of the things I love about summer is the Eggplant. I can’t get enough of it (fairy tale or otherwise) and when it’s gone I’m very sad. With the exception of American cuisine, eggplant is a huge staple ingredient in many of the worlds other cuisines from Japan to Spain. I grew up on it; being half Italian, eggplant was around most Sunday dinners. My Nana usually slices it thin (super thin – it’s amazing how uniformed they all look. I’m still working on that myself.) and breads them then fries them. It’s shocking how the eggplant medallions of goodness last long enough to make it to the table. If anyone is around when she is preparing them they are usually stolen as soon as she places them on the paper towel to drain off the excess oil. We’ll burn ourselves for just a taste before being chased from the kitchen. I’m going to let you in on a little secret…they’re better cold! If I have my choice, I would rather steal them from the depths of my mother’s refrigerator than from that plate fresh from the pan. Don’t get me wrong both ways have their glory, but cold and late at night – BETTER.
I said she breads them. Oh and she does. She does it twice in fact. She makes an egg and milk mixture and dips the slices in, then moving them to the breadcrumb mixture. Making sure to cover every inch of the slice. She lets them rest before taking another dip and roll in the baths again. She then fries them in olive oil until they are golden brown. A few years ago, a cousin of ours, Jo Ann, flew in from Chicago and she brought along her home grown eggplants from her garden. She prepared them for us a similar way, however she did it what I call down and dirty. Her slices of goodness only took a quick dip and roll, if they didn’t get covered too bad. It was unbelievable. I won’t say it to my Nana’s face, but that was the best eggplant I ever had. This past weekend with Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene dropping in I made some for Mad Dog, so that he could take them with him to work while he was away from us. My thought was that he didn’t have to worry about heating it if he lost power. Problem is he didn’t save it (or couldn’t) until Sunday when the weather was the worst.
If you’re not up for the big boyz, you can always check out the Fairy Tale variety. There small in some cases about the size of your fingers (only fatter). The ones Mad Dog picked up at Old Nourse Farm at our weekly CSA were white and purple. Super cute right? Super yummy too. They have less seeds than Italian Eggplant and lack the bitterness as well. This past week Mad Dog made a pizza with them for us, which is now listed among one of my favorites.
We found inspiration from the show Unique Eats. They had a pizza special which we of course had to watch. They showcased a pizza place in Chicago called Great Lake. The place is all about the ingredients and freshness. They feature only 3 pizzas on their menu. One of them “Sweet Corn, Smoked Bacon, Tropea Onion, Creme Fraiche, Chive” is where we found our inspiration. Mad Dog made his pizza dough and spread Creme Fraiche, which was infused with garlic and herbs, he topped that with caramelized onions, sauteed fairy tale eggplant and chopped bacon ends which I had been hoarding from Adams Farm. It so was unbelievable I could have cried.
It doesn’t matter if you’re frying it up, making an Eggplant Curry, or Spanish Eggplant dip for tapas or putting it on your pizza – what matters is that you check out this beautiful vegetable.
(Oh and one last quick thing…Please don’t tell my Nana what I said!)
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