A Full Belly

Wayne and Tracie invited us over Wednesday night for a Turkish Themed Potluck. I love potlucks, and I love Wayne and Tracie, so I immediately hit the cookbook collection to search for an appropriate recipe. I ended skimming through Mediterranean-themed Olives & Oranges by Sara Jenkins and Mindy Fox, and settled on a recipe for Fried Eggplant Balls. Simple and delicious, and easy to make ahead, I was sold.

They turned out to be a huge hit at the potluck, especially among those who claimed to be former eggplant haters. Success! I'll definitely be making these again.

 

Fried Eggplant Balls

From Olives & Oranges by Sara Jenkins and Mindy Fox

Ingredients

2 large eggplants (about 2 3/4 lb)

1 large egg

2 cups medium-ground fresh bread crumbs

1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for garnish

3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus more for garnish

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Extra virgin olive oil for shallow frying

 

Procedure

Heat oven to 375 F. Prick each eggplant several times with a fork. Roast until cooked through, about 1 hour. Let cool.

Halve eggplants lengthwise, scrape flesh from skin, and place in a fine sieve set over a mixing bowl; discard skin. Drain for 4 hours at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator.

Transfer eggplant flesh to a food processor (discard juices). Add egg, bread crumbs, cheese, parsley, garlic, and salt; pulse to combine. Transfer to a plate or bowl. Form into forty 1-inch balls.

Fill a large skillet with 1/4 inch oil and heat to 360 F to 365 F. Using a slotted spoon add several eggplant balls into hot oil to cook until golden on all sides, about 5 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining balls.

Serve eggplant balls hot, dusted with a little grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and chopped parsley.

I like this concept: One page "cookbooks" focused on Indian cuisine. These are more like one sheet formulas, or Cooking for Engineers meets Ruhlman's Ratio. At the very least, a quick way to jog your brain out of a culinary rut. The latest one for biryanis will go in my recipe file, as will this one for traditional Bengali/Oriya sweets.

Blueberries, doughnut peach, yogurt.

Tomatoes for Spaghetti all'Aglio e Olio.

Quick trip to San Francisco included breakfast at Blue Bottle Sunday morning. I prefer my eggs a little runnier, otherwise YUM.

- Makes 12 cupcakes -

Ingredients

2/3 cup (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup buttermilk or 2/3 cup sour or regular milk

Procedure
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.

Using the paddle attachment of an electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy, a good 5 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each, and the egg yolk.

Beat in the vanilla.

Stir in the dry ingredients in thirds, alternating with the buttermilk, just until incorporated. Do not overmix.

Fill lined muffin tins with batter almost to the top. Bake at 350°F for about 20 minutes, or until set.

Vanilla Cream Frosting

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
pinch of kosher salt
4 cups confectioner's sugar (about 1 pound)
1/4 cup heavy cream

Procedure
Beat together the butter, corn syrup, vanilla, and salt until smooth.

Blend in the sugar to form a stiff paste.

Slowly beat in just enough of the heavy cream to make a spreadable frosting. If the frosting is too soft, add more sugar or chill it for a few minutes to firm up.

Homesick Texan: Austin and basic black beans.

This is my basic black bean recipe. It takes little effort and has a rich smoky flavor that comes from chipotles instead of the usual ham hocks or bacon. And, of course, if you’re bored by black beans at least now I have something to point to when I write in the future about really fun things, such as black-bean salsa, corn and black-bean salad or that Austin late-night staple, Mag mud.

Adam has his truth hammer at the ready:

Depending on how well Sceral trains the team, it's not going to matter if that oven burns at 1,000 degrees, rotates in a circle, shines my shoes, or calls me a cab in the morning. The proof is in the eating. And we'll see how that goes both while Sceral is at the helm and when he's not.

South Indian Restaurant Menu Decoder Ring - Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories:

So you need a decoder ring! Or at least a wallet card. With a little help from Wikipedia (check out their page on curry!) and the glossary in my copy of 1000 Indian Recipes, we've put together a South Indian Restaurant Menu Decoder Wallet Card (800 kB PDF) for your enjoyment, education, and dining pleasure. You can print it out-- single sided so no hassle --and it compresses to standard business card size: 3.5" x 2". You can also not print it out, and just view it on your iPhone. (And if you've never been to a South Indian place, isn't this a good time to try one?)

[Via Not Martha]

The Church of Allan Benton, John T. Edge:

....Those encounters reminded me to take a second look at a recipe that Allan shared with me a while back. It’s his take on red-eye gravy. And it’s as straightforward as the man himself, as honest as the cured pork that emerges from his smokehouse.

This recipe includes one of my favorite ingredients: "Hot biscuits, for sopping."

Serious Efforts: Whole Deer Neck | Serious Eats : Talk

I am going to receive a whole deer neck via FedEx tomorrow. It has been skinned and frozen solid, but is otherwise pretty much intact. I would like some advice from anyone here experienced with taking deer apart. I would like to remove the muscles from each other and from the bone in as large and unmolested pieces as possible. . . I plan on consulting some books and websites on the matter, but was hoping I could get some pointers from the community. Thank you!

10 Steps to Gardening from Scratch « Straight from the Farm:

These 10 steps are best applied to a garden being created from scratch.  However, a few of them are good to repeat with an established garden once in awhile.   

It’s only fair to add a bit of a disclaimer here too:  these steps are a tad idealistic and presume you all have plenty of time and resources on your hands.   Reality may not allow you to take all of these steps.  Don’t let that discourage you.  These steps are just what I’d do if I were starting over from scratch.  Use the ones that make sense for you and learn what you can from the others. 

Bird Houses: Using Nature to Control a Farm Pest.

John Bansen, a third-generation dairy farmer, demonstrates one of his techniques for using nature to control his fly populations.

Secrets of Minetta Tavern's Black Label Burger | A Hamburger Today:

The finished burger looks so simple, completely belying the rigorous preparation involved in bringing it to table. Although the bun might appear too large, it is so light and airy that as it compresses and conforms around the plump patty the beef-to-bun ratio is actually spot on. The acridity of the onions balances the subtle sweetness of the bun, allowing the flavor of the beef to be fully realized. The Black Label is simply ethereal—tender, succulent, and brimming with the flavor of dry aging: that musky, Roquefort-like tang that is so intoxicating.

I'm skeptical of any $20+ burger, but Nick's DVD extras-esque post about Minetta's $26 Black Label Burger has swayed me. *Added to To Eat List*

The Wednesday Chef: Heather Carlucci-Rodriguez's Chana Punjabi Recipe:

This recipe comes from Heather Carlucci-Rodriguez, who runs darling little Lassi in the West Village and has a way with Indian food that makes me weak in the knees.