I’ve been waiting with much anticipation for this week’s issue of whatzup Magazine so that I could share this recipe with my blog readers. Though time-intense, for me, this dish is more than worth the wait. A complex combination of fresh flavors drive this dish past Ah-mazing. I am so glad eggplants are finally blooming in the garden. I just can’t get enough.
Recipe and article on whatzup’s site.
Jon’s ability to combine flavors that I’d never think to combine never ceases to amaze me. A few weeks ago, he decided to make Cumin Scented Eggplant with Pomegranate Molasses and Cilantro. The way he tells it, he searched high and low for the molasses, only to find it a few blocks away at a small convenience store. I think he will check there first next time. But the search was well worth it. The result: the most flavor-intense eggplant I’ve ever tasted.
Ingredients
Preparation
Stir 5 cups water and 2 1/2 tablespoons sea salt in large bowl to dissolve salt. Add eggplant slices. Place plate on eggplant to submerge; let soak 1 hour. Drain eggplant; pat dry.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, sauté eggplant until brown in spots and softened, 2 minutes per side. Transfer to large rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with remaining eggplant, adding more oil by tablespoonfuls as needed; arrange eggplant in single layer on baking sheet.
Mix cumin and cayenne. Sprinkle eggplant with cumin mixture. Roast until golden and cooked through, 30 minutes.
Remove eggplant from oven; sprinkle with garlic. Arrange eggplant on platter and drizzle lightly with pomegranate molasses. Sprinkle pomegranate seeds and cilantro over. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Yesterday, during our what-shall-we-eat brainstorming session, Jon and I decided to try our hand at making homemade pizza. We love cracker-thin crust and just haven’t found any we truly love in town. So, we looked at various recipes and used a combination of several to create ours. We prepared the dough yesterday and refrigerated it overnight. Today, we rolled it out and prepared our choice veggies. Usually, I let Jon do all of the prepping and cooking, but today I helped out and enjoyed myself immensely.
Ingredients
3 small eggplants (about ½ pound total), sliced diagonally ¼ inch thick
Fire roasted red and green peppers
Homemade Pizza Dough (http://www.pizzamaking.com/thincrust.php)
Fresh mozzarella
Pesto (http://www.pickyourown.org/pesto.php)
Salt
Pepper
Oregano
Directions
Follow instructions for pizza dough (we used ½ flour and ½ Quaker Masa Harina De Maiz). Because we like cracker thin crust, we rolled it very thin. Dice eggplants, roast red and green peppers and remove skin, and slice mozzarella. Spread pesto over pizza crust and mozzarella, tomatoes, red and green peppers, eggplant, salt, pepper and oregano. Put back into the oven at 500 degrees and cook for 12-16 minutes or until the dough is crispy and brown. (We cooked ours for 16 mins and rotated half way through).
This was, perhaps, my favorite of all time!
