Cooking from the Farms: Eggplant…and everything else

Today, a persistent breeze, drier air blowing through the lavender on my deck.

I can smell the lavender every once in a while when working at the length of countertop below the window in the kitchen.  If I close my eyes, I can pretend there are fields of it on the other side of the kitchen wall.  I can even pretend it’s France outside if I want, that soon – soon – if I finish all the work in front of me, I’ll be able to step out of the kitchen’s confines and straight into flowering herbs growing wild.

It’s a bit of a stretch to make believe this place I call home is Provence, to convince myself the urban deck with its single potted herb is instead a field.  Still, I’m good at pretending, imagining, I always have been.  It helps to be able to make stuff up when in the habit of writing fiction.  I practice as often as I can: days full of drafting pages of stories, hours of developing characters and story lines even while my hands are occupied with things like the preparation of the next meal.

Often the active imagination comes in very handy when cooking.  When, for example, I am given ears of corn from the farm and decide I want to find its best complement for a batch of dinner couscous.  Finding that pairing is a process of sifting through taste and color and texture and aroma memories.  For me, one extended multisensory daydream that winds me up with an idea for a dish, a dish I’m pretty sure will taste good once it is actually made.

Writing, cooking – both are about making it up as we go along.

Then there are those times when the ingredients in front of me don’t need my help at all; they already know what dish they must become.  On days like this, my only job is to get them into a pan.

I packed up my Cider Hill share pretty quickly on Wednesday, noting the various fruits and vegetables as I filled my tote bag but not really registering them.  I was in a hurry, had some more running around to do and work to take care of before an engagement later that evening.  I needed to scoot home to put away the produce.

So that is what I did.  And as I unpacked and laid everything out on the counter I realized I had been given exactly what I needed for ratatouille: tomatoes, eggplants, squashes, peppers.  Standing there at the counter, I actually laughed a little at this bit of luck.

Luckier still, I knew I had the ingredients on hand – celery, capers, olives, raisins, pine nuts, vinegar, honey – to make a second dish of caponata, the ratatouille’s Italian relative.  I had enough of everything to make both.

So that is what I did.

I made the Caponata first.

  • olive oil
  • 1 hefty eggplant, or enough smaller eggplants to reach 1¼ pounds in weight
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, finely minced
  • 3 ribs celery, trimmed and finely sliced
  • ½ cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced
  • 3 Tbsp. capers in brine, drained
  • ¼ cup red wine vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp. honey
  • ¼ cup golden raisins
  • ¼ cup pine nuts
  • 2 tomatoes, blanched, peeled and chopped
  • ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
  • salt and pepper

Blanch and peel the tomatoes and set aside to cool.  When cool, chop them and set them aside for finishing the dish.

Peel the eggplant and cut it up into uniform size pieces.  Place these in a colander and sprinkle lightly with some salt.  Let the eggplant drain over the sink for about 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, pat the pieces very dry with paper towels and set aside.

Heat about 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed sauté pan.  Add to the pan the onion, garlic, and celery.  Saute over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until the celery begins to caramelize.  Regulate the heat under the pan so the onions and garlic soften but do not burn.

Add the eggplant pieces to the pan.  Stir the mixture often and let the eggplant cook for about five minutes or until it starts to soften.

When tender, add the olives and capers to the pan and stir, cooking the mixture for a minute or two.

Add the vinegar and the honey to the pan, stir, and let the liquids and vegetables cook down together.  After a few minutes, add the raisins and pine nuts and stir again, cooking for a minute or two.

Add the chopped tomatoes and their liquid to the pan and cook the caponata until the liquids reduce and the mixture thickens.  Turn off the heat under the pan and stir in the parsley.  Taste for salt, then add salt and pepper as needed.

Serve hot, warm, or cold.

Caponata may be used as a side dish, a relish for meats, a bruschetta topping, or as a topping for pizza…which is where it ended up at our house.

Ratatouille

This is a dish direct from Provence, perfect for a day when the air is full of lavender.  Some would tell you a true ratatouille should be finished in the oven.  But if the day is hot and you don’t want to light the oven, this quicker stovetop method gets the job done.

The following is not so much a recipe as it is a guideline and a method.  If you have more or less of one ingredient, just use what you have to end up with your own version of the classic dish.  For example, I had six or seven small new potatoes left over from another CSA share, so I partially steam cooked them and tossed them into the mix with the tomatoes.  A nice addition but not necessary.

  • olive oil
  • 1 hefty eggplant, or enough smaller eggplants to reach 1¼ pounds in weight
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, finely minced
  • 1 cup of a sweet variety of pepper, cored and chopped (I used 1 yellow bell pepper and 2 small cubanelles)
  • 3 slender summer squashes, cut in half lengthwise, then cut crosswise into half-moon shaped pieces
  • 2 tomatoes, blanched, peeled and chopped
  • ¼ cup fresh basil, chiffonaded
  • 2 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
  • salt and pepper

Peel the eggplant and cut it up into uniform size pieces.  Place these in a colander and sprinkle lightly with some salt.  Let the eggplant drain over the sink for about 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, pat the pieces very dry with paper towels and set aside.

Heat about 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed sauté pan.  Add to the pan the onion, peppers, and garlic.

Saute over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until the peppers soften.  Watch that the onions and garlic do not burn.  Regulate the heat under the pan as needed.

Add the squash pieces to the pan.  Stir the mixture often and let the squash cook for about five minutes or until it starts to soften.

Add the eggplant pieces to the pan.  Stir the mixture often and let the eggplant cook for about five minutes or until it starts to soften. I like to start adding a little salt at this point, so sprinkle the vegetables lightly with salt and stir. Let any liquid reduce.

When the eggplant is tender, add the chopped tomatoes and their liquid to the pan.

Cook the ratatouille until the liquids reduce and the mixture thickens.  Turn off the heat under the pan and stir in parsley and basil.  Taste for salt, then add salt and pepper as needed.

Serve hot, warm, or cold.

Ratatouille may be eaten like caponata, as a side dish, a relish for meats, or as a bruschetta topping.

©2010  Jane Ward

Category : Cooking from the Farms
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