Eggplant Parmesan

 

  By far one of my favorite Italian dishes of all time. I can never get enough eggplant. I would probably cook it everyday but I don't want to risk getting burnt out on it. There are 2 places that make excellent eggplant parmesan and luckily one of them is in my new home of San Diego. Mona Lisa's in Little Italy and the other is a hole in the wall Italian joint in West LA that we used to go to all the time called Alejos. (I think the name changed though and haven't been there since). But they were amazing. The reason they are so good?? You can actually taste the eggplant, excellent sauce and cheesy goodness.

 This recipe I made up really doesn't look or taste like my restaurant favs, but that's ok, it has all those key components but turned up a notch. It's sooo delicious! The beauty of cooking is that you can modify things to your tastes. "Parmesan" dishes are always crusted than smothered in sauce so that crispy breading gets lost. I fixed that in 2 ways. I used panko breadcrumbs for extra crunch, and I place the eggplant on TOP of the pasta & sauce so you can cut up the eggplant and eat it with the sauce. Instead of the classic mozzarella, which is tasty but doesn't have much flavor, I used Havarti cheese which is mild but has a slight nuttiness and is super creamy when melted. I'm ALWAYS doing it this way now! I cut the eggplant about 1/2 inch thick because I want them to have that meaty quality but still have that creamy, yummy inside eggplant gets when cooked. Lastly, I only use Rao's marinara sauce. It's a bit pricey, I know, but you get what you pay for and it makes all the difference in the world! (Unless of course you make your own killer sauce, which most of us only have time for on rare occasions, let's be honest) So try it. Seriously.

 I made this from a leftover eggplant one night for myself while Chris was up in LA working and my sister hanging out with me for a few hours before meeting her boyfriend for dinner later. As she watched me making it she ended up eating with me because she couldn't resist! Pretty sure she had to have a second "mini" dinner with her boyfriend later, but it was worth it. So I had to make it again for Chris since I know he loves eggplant almost as much as myself. It was again, a hit. Such a satisfying meal!!


Eggplant Parmesan (serves 4)

1 large eggplant
2 cups herb panko breadcrumbs
2 eggs
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup flour
1 large jar your favorite marinara sauce (homemade or I highly suggest Rao's)
1 lbs angel hair or spaghetti pasta (I always prefer angel hair)
6-8 oz Havarti cheese, sliced or grated
Kosher Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper
Olive Oil, (plenty) for frying

Fresh basil garnish (optional)
Fresh parmesan cheese garnish (optional)


 Slice your eggplant in 1/2 inch slices. And arrange on a sheet tray lined with paper towels. You can get at least 9-10 slices.

Sprinkle eggplant slices generously with salt. Let them sit for at least 30 min if you can so it will leach out some of the moisture. Then blot up all the moisture with paper towels. This just help them get a better texture when cooked.

 Next, start up your dredging station. I generously season the flour which I put in one container or dish. Whisk your eggs with the minced garlic in another container. Then place your breadcrumbs in a 3rd container.

 I also set up the sheet tray I used before and lined it with paper towels for the crusted eggplant. Once this ready, start boiling your water for your pasta.

So the normal "dredging" drill: coat eggplant in a light layer of seasoned flour, shake off excess. Then coat in garlicky egg bath, then into the breadcrumbs. Repeat until all eggplant is finished.

 Then start heating about 1 cup olive oil in your largest sauté pan, you can add more as needed. Heat your oven on low (170 degrees) to keep eggplant warm once cooked.

 

 When oil is hot (but NOT smoking), drop in your first batch of eggplant. Lower the heat to medium so that you give the thick eggplant enough time to cook inside without burning the breadcrumbs. Adjust your heat as needed. Cook about 3-4 minutes per side, or until golden brown.

 While frying the eggplant, start warming your sauce on low heat. Stir as needed.

 Place on a cooling rack on a sheet tray. As the eggplant finishes, place it on the cooling rack and stick it in the oven to keep warm & crispy. Continue to fry until all eggplant is done. Cook your pasta to the time listed on the box. Drain & toss in a touch of olive oil so it doesn't stick.

 Place your Havarti cheese on top of each finished eggplant just to cover each piece. The heat of the oven will melt it perfectly.

 Once all your pasta, eggplant & sauce is cooked, assemble! I place pasta on the plate, top it with a generous spooning of sauce. and lay a few eggplant pieces on top. Garnish with basil & parmesan, if desired.

Devour.

(Man, if I wasn't pregnant I'd be sipping a large glass of wine with this...)

 

 

Eggplant Parmesan (serves 4)

1 large eggplant
2 cups herb panko breadcrumbs
2 eggs
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup flour
1 large jar your favorite marinara sauce (homemade or I highly suggest Rao's)
1 lbs angel hair or spaghetti pasta (I always prefer angel hair)
6-8 oz Havarti cheese, sliced or grated
Kosher Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper
Olive Oil, (plenty) for frying

Fresh basil garnish (optional)
Fresh parmesan cheese garnish (optional)


 Slice your eggplant in 1/2 inch slices. And arrange on a sheet tray lined with paper towels. You can get at least 9-10 slices.

Sprinkle eggplant slices generously with salt. Let them sit for at least 30 min if you can so it will leach out some of the moisture. Then blot up all the moisture with paper towels. This just help them get a better texture when cooked.

 Next, start up your dredging station. I generously season the flour which I put in one container or dish. Whisk your eggs with the minced garlic in another container. Then place your breadcrumbs in a 3rd container.

 I also set up the sheet tray I used before and lined it with paper towels for the crusted eggplant. Once this ready, start boiling your water for your pasta.

So the normal "dredging" drill: coat eggplant in a light layer of seasoned flour, shake off excess. Then coat in garlicky egg bath, then into the breadcrumbs. Repeat until all eggplant is finished.

 Then start heating about 1 cup olive oil in your largest sauté pan, you can add more as needed. Heat your oven on low (170 degrees) to keep eggplant warm once cooked.

 

 When oil is hot (but NOT smoking), drop in your first batch of eggplant. Lower the heat to medium so that you give the thick eggplant enough time to cook inside without burning the breadcrumbs. Adjust your heat as needed. Cook about 3-4 minutes per side, or until golden brown.

 While frying the eggplant, start warming your sauce on low heat. Stir as needed.

 Place on a cooling rack on a sheet tray. As the eggplant finishes, place it on the cooling rack and stick it in the oven to keep warm & crispy. Continue to fry until all eggplant is done. Cook your pasta to the time listed on the box. Drain & toss in a touch of olive oil so it doesn't stick.

 Place your Havarti cheese on top of each finished eggplant just to cover each piece. The heat of the oven will melt it perfectly.

 Once all your pasta, eggplant & sauce is cooked, assemble! I place pasta on the plate, top it with a generous spooning of sauce. and lay a few eggplant pieces on top. Garnish with basil & parmesan, if desired.

Perfect Egg Salad

 

 

   Such a classic, nostalgic, simple, delicious salad. Egg salad & tuna salad are probably my 2 favorite sandwiches of all time. But with simplicity can come lots of imperfections or technical errors. Too much of a specific ingredient can ruin the balance of flavors. Over or undercooked eggs, bad quality of ingredients, etc can all make or break such a simple salad. I am a bit of a snob when it comes to these two sandwiches. I ONLY use Best Foods mayo, for instance. (in both salads actually). Not too much mustard, that will take over all the other flavors. Not too much onion, and you HAVE to mince it because you want it to enhance the salad, not make it taste oniony.

 

 You can blame my dad for making me this way...he's such a sandwich master. When my sister Heather & I were kids NO ONE could make a sandwich as well as my dad. His mastery of layering every ingredient so you get everything in every bite. Not a hunk of lettuce (he ALWAYS chiffonaded the lettuce too) and his tomato slices are papery thin and perfect. His recipes for tuna salad & egg salad were not to be compared with. People make things that taste close, but never as perfect in harmony as dad's.

 

 That has turned me into a sandwich perfectionist as well and I can tell I am already passing that ridiculous quirk to my daughter. I know how to assemble any sandwich so it is perfectly layered, doesn't fall apart and you get a bite of everything in each bite. Just like dad. Which does make ordering sandwiches in places a bit of a disappointment from time to time. How can you call yourself a sandwich shop if you throw one thick chunk of tomato in the center of the sandwich and slather the center with mayo so the outside of the sandwich is dry and you have to eat your way to any flavor?? I have "reassembled" quite a few sandwiches in my day. Such a pet peeve!!

 

 But back to the egg salad. It is a great balance of simple & fresh ingredients. And I will share my no fail technique for hard-boiling the perfect egg! (something that comes in VERY handy for many other uses)

 

 

Perfect Egg Salad: Makes about 2 cups (or a tad more...)

 

6 fresh large or X-large eggs

1 stalk celery, minced (about 1/4 cup)

2-3 Tbs onion, minced (about 1/4 of a small onion)

1 Tbs plus 1 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 cup mayo (Best Foods is best!! Their olive oil mayo is a great way to cut calories and still get excellent flavor )

Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

Sprinkle of Spike Natural Seasoning (optional)

 

 

 

To make PERFECT Hard Boiled Eggs: (this has been a tried & true method for perfectly cooked eggs EVERYTIME! So write this down!)

 

Place eggs in an appropriate sized pot (this works for any quantity of eggs. We are using 6 for this recipe). Fill pot with cold water until just covers all the eggs.

 

Turn heat on high and bring to a boil. Here is the key: Once the water comes to a boil, (not just those tiny little bubbles that start to form around the wall of the pot...a BOIL) set a timer for 8 minutes and let it boil away. After 8 minutes is up, turn off the heat, leave the eggs on the stove and set the timer for 5 minutes.

 

After the 5 minutes are up, immediately run the pot of eggs under cold water. Let run for a few minutes, you just want to stop the cooking process at this point. They don't have to be super COLD, but they should be cool or barely warm to the touch on the outside

 

I find that if you peel all the eggs at this point, the shells just slide right off. Even if I am using some eggs now, and some for later, I still peel them ALL and just store the eggs I don't need yet in a tupperware with a folded paper towel at the bottom of the container to collect moisture. If I stick my extra eggs in the fridge and peel them later, I find that some are easy to peel, and some aren't. But if you peel them right after cooking, they are a dream to peel.

 

 As you can see form the pic below, the egg yolks are PERFECT. Bright yellow, not runny centers (from under cooking), no gray around the yolk (sign of being over cooked). So that's it! Boil 8 minutes, sit for 5 minutes, cool & peel! Follow this and thank me later. ;)

 Now that we have our perfect eggs peeled, chop them up & set aside.

 

 In a med bowl, add your minced celery & onion.

 

 Then add your mayo & mustard. The ratio to me here is key. I usually know just by taste, but once again for the sake of the blog I measured to make sure you can get the same taste that I like. If you LIKE more mustardy flavor in your egg salad, by all means add more. But this is the level I like. It's all about balance and accent flavors to enhance the egg.

 

 Gently fold in your eggs in & season with salt & pepper to taste. I like to add a dash or two of Spike Seasoning. It's just a seasoning blend. Kind of like seasoned salt without the salt. My sister always put it in her deviled eggs and now she's got me hooked. But it's an optional thing. Just add a little zing. That's it!



 I like to chill my egg salad for at least 30 min-1 hr. But you can certainly enjoy it immediately if you are starving. I like it really cold but served on toasted bread and a sprinkling of organic arugula doesn't hurt either!

 

ENJOY!!

 

 

Perfect Egg Salad: Makes about 2 cups (or a tad more...)

 

6 fresh large or X-large eggs

1 stalk celery, minced (about 1/4 cup)

2-3 Tbs onion, minced (about 1/4 of a small onion)

1 Tbs plus 1 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 cup mayo (Best Foods is best!! Their olive oil mayo is a great way to cut calories and still get excellent flavor )

Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

Sprinkle of Spike Natural Seasoning (optional)

 

 

 

To make PERFECT Hard Boiled Eggs: (this has been a tried & true method for perfectly cooked eggs EVERYTIME! So write this down!)

 

Place eggs in an appropriate sized pot (this works for any quantity of eggs. We are using 6 for this recipe). Fill pot with cold water until just covers all the eggs.

 

Turn heat on high and bring to a boil. Here is the key: Once the water comes to a boil, set a timer for 8 minutes and let it boil away. After 8 minutes is up, turn off the heat, leave the eggs on the stove and set the timer for 5 minutes.

 

After the 5 minutes are up, immediately run the pot of eggs under cold water. Let run for a few minutes, you just want to stop the cooking process at this point. They don't have to be COLD, but they should be cool or barely warm to the touch on the outside

 

I find that if you peel all the eggs at this point, the shells just slide right off. Even if I am using some eggs now, and some for later, I still peel them ALL and just store the eggs I don't need yet in a Tupperware with a folded paper towel at the bottom of the container to collect moisture. If I stick my extra eggs in the fridge and peel them later, I find that some are easy to peel, and some aren't. But if you peel them right after cooking, they are a dream to peel.

 

 The egg yolks are PERFECT. Bright yellow, not runny centers (from under cooking), no gray around the yolk (sign of being over cooked). So that's it! Boil 8 minutes, sit for 5 minutes, cool & peel! Follow this and thank me later. ;)

 Now that we have our perfect eggs peeled, chop them up & set aside. In a med bowl, add your minced celery & onion. Then add your mayo & mustard. The ratio to me here is key. I usually know just by taste, but once again for the sake of the blog I measured to make sure you can get the same taste that I like. If you LIKE more mustardy flavor in your egg salad, by all means add more. But this is the level I like. It's all about balance and accent flavors to enhance the egg. Gently fold in your eggs in & season with salt & pepper to taste. I like to add a dash or two of Spike Seasoning. It's just a seasoning blend. Kind of like seasoned salt without the salt. My sister always put it in her deviled eggs and now she's got me hooked. But it's an optional thing. Just add a little zing. That's it!



 I like to chill my egg salad for at least 30 min-1 hr. But you can certainly enjoy it immediately if you are starving. I like it really cold but served on toasted bread and a sprinkling of organic arugula doesn't hurt either!

Nutella & Salty Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

  They are a mouthful to say, but every word in the title of these little babies peak the ears of EVERYONE that hears it. Neutella, Salty Caramel, Chocolate, Cookie...how could you go wrong?? Seriously. And they live up to the name! You can taste each component of deliciousness.

 These truly are a "Wow!" cookie. They look so simple and unassuming from the outside, but the cookies have a rich chocolate flavor and a fine tender crumb. The filling is luscious and creamy that melts in your mouth. Truly a bomb of decadent, soul satisfying goodness.

 Although the difficulty of these cookies is fairly low, they are a tad time consuming to assemble. But completely worth it. I doubled my recipe because I figured if I was going to make such a special cookie, I may as well have plenty to share & enjoy! So this is a DOUBLE recipe. You can cut it in half, but the double recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies which to me makes them worth all the work.

 This "stuffing" technique is giving me all sorts of ideas of other yummy things to put into cookies. And I love the dough for these cookies. First of all, you make the dough in a saucepot, not a bowl and don't have to wait to soften butter because you melt it in the pot. How cool is that?? The dough is so pliable and easy to work with. It doesn't really stick when you are assembling the cookies, which I love. Overall I love these cookies. Just make them (ASAP) and tell me what you think! ;)

Nutella & Salty Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies (makes about 4 dozen)

adapted from: TopwithCinnamon

1 cup butter

3 cups light brown sugar

1 cup cocoa powder

4 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

4 cups all-purpose flour

7 oz milk or dark chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate because the cookies are already so dark)

flaky salt/ fleur de sel/ maldon salt, for sprinkling

approx. 1 cup nutella

1x recipe for Salted caramel (recipe follows)

Line a baking tray with parchment paper or non-stick foil.

 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F

Make the caramel (see recipe below). Let cool a bit while making the cookies.

 

In a large saucepot, melt the butter. Take off the heat and stir in the brown sugar and eggs.

 

 

Then add the cocoa, salt and baking powder and stir until well combined. Add the flour and stir until no floury patches are left.

 

 

  Lastly stir in the chocolate chips.

 

 

 

Take 1 heaped tbsp of dough, and roll into a slight ball. (doesn't have to be perfect) use your finger make a large indentation the center of the dough.

 

 

Fill the indentation with a small blob of nutella (like 1/2 tsp ish), and top it up with the still-warm salted caramel.

 

 

 Ahhh...Nutella...life just wouldn't be the same without you...

 

 

  I have some mini spoons which made it pretty easy to fill the cookies, but a teaspoon would work just fine. (these cookies are so dark & chocolatey, so the pics are kind of hard to see...but you get the idea.

 

 Take a tablespoon of dough and flatten it like a disc.

 

 

Top each cookie with a flattened disc of dough and seal the edges down the sides.

 

 

Sprinkle with fleur de sel and bake for 8-10 minutes.

 

Balls of heaven ready for the oven!

 

Let cool slightly before transferring to a baking sheet. You HAVE to eat one of these babies after freshly baked. I think that's some sort of rule when baking cookies. (or it should be at least!) Enjoy. I know you will. :)

 

 

 Salty Caramel Recipe:
2/3 cup granulated sugar
 6 tbsp water
1 tbsp. butter
 6 tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
scant 1/2 tsp maldon salt

Measure out the butter and cream separately. It makes life a lot easier later.
Put the sugar and water into a medium saucepan. Stir together over a medium-high heat, just until the sugar dissolves. Now put that spoon down, you’re not allowed to use it for a while.

 Tilt and swirl the pan while the mixture boils (no mixing!). You’ll see it start to caramelize, probably in one corner of the pan, keep swirling until it has all reached a yellowish-golden color. TAKE IT OFF THE HEAT IMMEDIATELY. Add in the butter (you may need to step back for a sec, it bubbles up), and swirl it in. Then the cream & salt. Let cool by a window or a cool place until warm but not scalding hot (about 15-20 min)


Nutella & Salty Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies (makes about 4 dozen)

1 cup butter

3 cups light brown sugar

1 cup cocoa powder

4 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

4 cups all-purpose flour

7 oz milk or dark chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate because the cookies are already so dark)

flaky salt/ fleur de sel/ maldon salt, for sprinkling

approx. 1 cup nutella

1x recipe for Salted caramel (recipe follows)

Line a baking tray with parchment paper or non-stick foil.

 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F

Make the caramel (see recipe above). Let cool a bit while making the cookies.

 

In a large saucepot, melt the butter. Take off the heat and stir in the brown sugar and eggs. Then add the cocoa, salt and baking powder and stir until well combined. Add the flour and stir until no floury patches are left. Lastly stir in the chocolate chips.

 

Take 1 heaped tbsp of dough, and roll into a slight ball. (doesn't have to be perfect) use your finger make a large indentation the center of the dough. Fill the indentation with a small blob of nutella (like 1/2 tsp ish), and top it up with the still-warm salted caramel.

 

 Take a tablespoon of dough and flatten it like a disc. Top each cookie with a flattened disc of dough and seal the edges down the sides.Sprinkle with fleur de sel and bake for 8-10 minutes.