EGGPLANT SALAD GREEK STYLE (MELITZANOSALATA)

Every summer our love affair with eggplant is renewed.  Grown in backyard gardens and sold at vegetable stands all over the world, eggplants come in various sizes, shapes and colours.  Bake them, stuff them, fry them, grill them, or even make sweet preserves out of them (yes, very small eggplants can be turned into a spoon sweet, a type of Greek dessert).  One of the most popular ways for Greeks to cook eggplants is to turn them into this luscious salad.  It's served as an accompaniment for drinks or as a starter to a meal. You can spread it on a piece of bread or eat it plain.  Either way, it is a heavenly summer treat.  Its texture is that of a spread or a dip, but Greeks simply refer to it as a salad. 

There are two types of eggplant salad:  One is really smooth and is made with grilled or roasted eggplant which is pureed with just some olive oil, lemon juice or vinegar, and a touch of garlic.  The other type, the one I prefer, is country-style rustic and chunky.  Its ingredients depend on regional interpretations.  For example, southern Greece produces a tremendous amount of tomatoes, therefore tomatoes tend to be added to just about anything, including eggplant salad. In Macedonia, where peppers are really plentiful, roasted peppers are added, and in Thrace, folks like to add walnuts. You could say that just about every Greek cook has his or her own version of this  salad. Being descended from Macedonian and Thracian stock, I add peppers and walnuts. That's how my grandmother made eggplant salad, and I follow suit.
  

The key to making a great tasting eggplant salad is to get fresh off the farm eggplants. Not long ago I bought some from the supermarket; they wound up tasting like cardboard. This time around I drove the two extra miles to a wonderful farm stand and there I found some really cute, and as it turned out great tasting minuature  eggplants. They were turned into a delicious salad. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

 black pepper to taste

1 teaspoon white balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 shallot or the half of a small onion

1 small clove of garlic 

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

2 Italian frying peppers or 1 large sweet pepper
2 tablespoons walnuts to make walnut butter

1 tablespoon well crumbled feta cheese 

5 or six baby eggplants

Directions:

• Prick the eggplants with a fork, set them on a baking sheet and roast them in a 400°F /200°C oven until the skins are wrinkled and the eggplants have collapsed. This should take about 40 minutes. 
• During the last half hour place the peppers in the oven and let them roast. 
• Remove the eggplants and peppers from the oven and allow them to cool until they are safe to handle. Peel the skin from the peppers and remove the seeds.
• Slice the eggplants down the middle and remove their flesh. Chop it up, chop up the peppers too, and place everything in a large bowl. 
• Chop the onion and garlic and throw that in the bowl as well.  
• Add the parsley, oregano and crumbled feta.
• Place the walnuts in a food processor and grind them until they are smooth and begin to release their oils. That's the walnut butter. Add it to the rest of the ingredients. If you don't want to go to all the trouble of making walnut butter, just chop the walnuts really well and use them that way. I alternate between the two methods, depending on my mood. If I feel that I'll enjoy washing the food processor, I'll make walnut butter.  If I want to stay away from suds, I just chop up the walnuts, and that's that!
• Now add the olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, and salt and pepper. Mix all the ingredients well.  You may need to play around with the amount of oil you're going to use.  Sometimes eggplants want just a bit more oil, sometimes they don't.
• I hope you love this recipe. The salad will keep covered in the refrigerator for about three or four days. But the longer it hangs around, the more potent the taste of garlic becomes (keep that in mind when you are adding garlic to it). If you're having company, the eggplant salad will be polished off, no worries! 

CREAMY AND CHEESY ARBORIO RICE WITH ASPARAGUS AND ARTICHOKES

How about a cheater's risotto? Here's a recipe for it, boys and girls! If you would rather not stand over the stove to keep adding liquid as the rice cooks, here is an alternative method of making risotto. The rice is left to cook on its own, and then cream, Gruyère and Pecorino are added to make a good, creamy rice. 

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup arborio rice 
3 and 3/4 cups no-salt vegetable broth 
1 lb asparagus trimmed and peeled

1 cup frozen artichokes, thawed and sliced into quarters
2 tbsp unsalted butter plus one tablespoon olive oil
2 shallots, chopped 
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 of a cup grated Gruyère cheese

1/4 cup Pecorino Romano cheese 

1/4 cup heavy cream
2 scallions, white and light-green parts only, sliced
some herbs: 

fresh parsley, fresh chives, fresh dill, chopped well

some dried tarragon
pepper to taste

Directions:

• In a medium pot heat the oil, add the rice and stir over medium heat for about three minutes. 
• Pour in a quarter of the broth and cook, stirring until the broth is absorbed. 
• Add the rest of the broth, bring to a boil, and cover the pot. Lower the heat to low and cook for twenty minutes. Turn off the heat set the rice aside, letting it finish cooking on its own. 
• Cut the asparagus into two-inch pieces and reserve the tips. 
• Bring a small saucepan of salted water to a boil. Drop in the asparagus and cook for two minutes. Scoop it out and reserve.
• Throw the asparagus tips in the water. Allow them to cook for two minutes and drain. 
• Over medium heat, melt the butter and add the shallots and artichokes. Cook stirring for about five minutes. Halfway through cooking add the garlic. 
• Stir in the asparagus pieces (not the tips) and remove from the heat.
• Over low heat, stir the cheese into the rice. 
• Add the heavy cream.
• Add the shallot and asparagus mixture.
• Mix in the scallions and herbs. 
• Season with pepper.
• Place into a serving bowl and top with the asparagus tips.

SHRIMP WITH RICE

 

 Here is one of my favourite recipes for shrimp and rice, easy to make any time. It's my idea of comfort food. Try it, it makes a great dinner! It has a nice mixture of vegetables, and the tomatoes and broth make the rice taste wonderful.  Peas are a nice addition here, and I usually include them, but this time we did without because I forgot to buy them. I think the best part about making this dish is having leftovers. They make an excellent non-liquid nightcap!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped 
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 green pepper (or red if you like), finely chopped
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
1 cup frozen peas
1 1/2 cups long-grain rice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup white wine 
3 cups hot vegetable broth
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 small bay leaf
1 cup of tomato sauce
1 tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped.
2 pounds shrimp, peeled, deveined.

Directions:

• In a large skillet heat the olive oil and add the onions, celery, and green pepper. Cook until the onions are soft, about ten minutes.
• Add the rice and cook while stirring, until the rice turns golden in colour.
• Add the garlic and stir for about a minute
• Add the wine and the mushrooms, stir, and then simmer for five minutes.
• Add the broth, tomato sauce, tomato, parsley, thyme and bay leaf. Cover and cook for about twenty minutes or until the rice is soft, stirring occasionally.
• Add the shrimp and the peas. Simmer about 6 to 7 more minutes, until the shrimp are done.
• Remove the bay leaf and serve.

BREADED PAN-FRIED HALIBUT

I'm almost embarrassed to post this recipe because it was so simple to make. I had purchased some halibut fillets wanting to cook them in a completely different manner, but my mother convinced me to pan fry them since that's her favourite way to eat fish. I didn't know how breaded pan-fried halibut would taste, and I was a bit nervous about the outcome.  I shouldn't have worried.  The fish came out delicious. 

• The most important thing was to make sure the fillets were completely dry before being prepared for cooking.  So I washed them well and then patted them dry with paper towels.  
• Next, I seasoned them with salt and pepper. 
• I got the frying pan ready: a nice heavy one, large enough to accommodate the fillets and have room to spare. They should not be overcrowded while being cooked. I poured some good vegetable oil into the pan, enough so that it would reach about 1/4 up the sides of the halibut fillets. 
• I prepared three bowls.  In one bowl I poured some flour.  In the another I beat an egg along with the juice of half a lemon. Then I chopped a large basil leaf and added it to the egg mixture. In a third bowl, I poured some panko breadcrumbs.  Panko is good to use here, because it doesn't absorb too much oil and because it stays crunchy after cooking.  
• I waited for the oil to heat up in the pan and then I dipped each fillet first in the flour, then in the egg mixture and then in the breadcrumbs.  
• As soon as each fillet was well coated on both sides, I placed it in the frying pan.  I cooked each side until it was browned, then I placed the halibut on a serving platter.
• The last step was to sprinkle just a little lemon juice on each fillet. Yup, never forget the lemon juice. It's a Greek thing. Greeks are obsessed with lemons and lemon juice: good in savory foods good in desserts, makes one's hands really soft, deodorizes the kitchen, and I think sprinkling a little lemon juice on laundry will make it come out of the washing machine a lot cleaner... well, I haven't actually tried lemon juice on laundry, but who knows, there might be something to it.  
• To keep things tidy while frying, I used the same hand to do the dipping in the flour, egg and breadcrumbs. I kept my other hand clean so I could use it to touch surfaces and utensils without leaving spots of batter all over them. That's a really neat trick!
• The halibut came out moist, not greasy at all, and it made a great dinner. 

PANZANELLA, a lovely bread and tomato salad

There are so many ways to make panzanella! Sometimes, in summer, I make a very simple version just by cutting up stale bread into chunks, combining it with a sliced tomato, and mixing it up with some lemon juice and olive oil. If I want to get fancy I top it with a little crumbled feta cheese. Very simple and it hits the spot.   

Panzanella is a summertime bread salad made popular by the Florentines. It's a good way to use up leftover bread, and it's true peasant fare, which means it's really good. In addition to the bread, panzanella includes tomatoes, lots of basil, and sometimes other fresh vegetables. The salad is dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, or vinegar. It's a great choice for dinner on a hot, hot, day. I made some recently when the temperature was hovering around 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and here's how I put it together:

Get a piece of stale bread and cut it into cubes. Sprinkle with olive oil and mix well. Place the bread cubes in a skillet and cook them on the stovetop. Make sure they are cooked on all sides. As soon as the cubes finish cooking add some grated pecorino cheese and mix. Set the bread cubes aside and let them cool. 

In a large bowl toss the following: 1 sliced large tomato, some cherry tomatoes of various colours cut in half,  a few Kalamata olives cut in half, lots of basil leaves coarsely chopped, and a little Italian parsley coarsely chopped. 

Make a dressing by combining 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of white balsamic vinegar, 5 tablespoons of olive oil, some black pepper, a dash of salt, and a pinch of fresh thyme. Pour it over the salad. Add the reserved bread and toss everything well. Top the salad with a small amount of crumbled feta cheese. Chill for about an hour in order to allow the flavours to blend, then serve and enjoy!!! 

FILLET of COD en PAPILLOTE

Here's a recipe for fillet of fish en papillote that can be prepared both with salmon or cod. I happened to find some nice cod in the market, so cod it was. There just aren't enough good things I can say about this recipe.  The fish came out tasting incredibly delicious! This is a recipe by Dorie Greenspan that's meant to treasure and make again and again. 

En papillote is a method of cooking by wrapping food in parchment paper or aluminium foil. This method seals in the flavours during the cooking process and renders a more aromatic and tender product. That's exactly what happened here. The aroma of the cod was incredible and its texture was truly succulent.
 

I made two fish packets.  To start off, I washed the fish well and patted it dry. Then I placed it in a bowl and seasoned it with salt and pepper. I sprinkled the juice of one lemon over the fish and I let it absorb the lemon flavour while I continued my prep work. I made some tomato concassé, which is nothing else than diced tomatoes, peeled and with the seeds removed. I always do this when I cook with fresh tomatoes because I really dislike finding loose tomato skins or seeds in my food; they are tough and bitter, so out they go! I salted the tomatoes and sautéed them in some olive oil. Then I cut two large pieces of aluminium foil and placed them on the counter. After that, all that was left to do was a layering of ingredients. Some basil leaves went on the foil, then the fish, then the tomatoes then some lemon rind.

The layering continued with some chopped scallions, a couple of thinly cut lemon slices, a few dashes of olive oil, a bit more basil and a sprig of fresh thyme. I folded the foil over the fish and herbs, forming well-sealed packets. The fish cooked in a 400° F oven for about 12 minutes. 

I opened up the foil packets and a fragrant puff of steam rose up from them, catching me by surprise. But I soon breathed in the aroma of basil, thyme and lemon.  

The fish was plated and served right away. It was seasoned perfectly, and the en papillote method had ensured the cod came out very tender. 

How can I not cook this again?