| First of all - Happy New Year everyone and may your headaches be
small!Q:
A friend gave us some eggplant from their garden. What do we do with
it? Love your column and appreciate your advice. Joanne M. - Santa Rosa
A: Ah,
eggplant, a.k.a. solanum melongena, berenjena, brinjal, aubergine and mulingani (Sicilian
dialect). A member of the nightshade family, including chilies, bell peppers, tomatoes and
potatoes, eggplant is commonly thought of as a vegetable, but is actually a fruit and has
been introduced all over the world, everyone putting their two cents in, so to speak. They
can be long or short, white, purple or green, big or small, round, oval or elongated. The
name obviously comes from the most common shape. The colonists grew them as ornaments
rather than for consumption, theirs looked like swan eggs. It probably took an Italian to
show them how to cook them - those guys could eat all those grains and boiled meat, weeds
and porridges - but give me a plate of pasta with tomato and eggplant and folks - now
we’re talking! Personally, I love grilled eggplant. Try this
Grilled Eggplant Recipe from my cookbook: |
|
| Serves
4-6: 1 large eggplant, olive oil, ¼ bunch fresh mint, 2 large garlic cloves, 2 T.
Balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper to taste. You may choose to barbecue your eggplant or
use a stovetop grill. Grill must be pre-heated until smoking. Cut eggplant into 1/2-inch
slices. Brush slices with olive oil on both sides. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill
eggplant for 5-8 minutes on each side. Place on a large serving platter, slightly
overlapping each slice with another. Coarsely chop mint. Finely chop garlic cloves.
Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar, mint and garlic. Drizzle with olive oil. Let sit for 5
minutes to absorb flavors, then serve. Q: Please share your recipes for
fresh olives that you mentioned in your column. Pamela H. - Carmel
Olives, Part One of Three:
From "The King" John
Mercurio (a.k.a. "Jean" - my brother-in-law): John learned by trial and error
over the years. His favorite are the Mission Olives found around here although he has been
known to pick anywhere he finds them. The best time for green olives is September through
November depending on location in the state. Picking is very important. The secret
is they should be a very light green. |
|
| Getting him to give me his
recipes was like pulling teeth. To make five gallons. Split the olives into two
five-gallon buckets. Submerge olives weighted-down in fresh water with one whole thinly
sliced lemon and one large handful of salt in each bucket. Change water every other day
remembering to re-salt. After seven days, it’s time to transfer to one-quart mason
jars. The jars must be very clean with tight fitting lids. Next make a pickling of bottled
water and distilled vinegar - 8 parts water to one part vinegar. Make a flavoring mixture
of crushed bay leaf, chopped garlic, fennel seed and crushed hot red pepper. As you put
the olives in the jars, put some of the flavoring mixture in the bottom of each jar then
in the middle and finally on top. Ladle in the pickling liquid leaving just enough space
for 2 ½ teaspoons of salt in each jar. Note: the lemon will keep the color of the olives
nice and green. To cure, store the jars in a cool, dark place for 3-4 months (make sure to
date jars so you don’t guess) and taste after 3 months. I like them to have a
slightly bitter taste. The examples John brought to my office were magnificent - they were
super-colossal. Use only a wooden or plastic spoon to extract them from the jar - never
your fingers or you risk contaminating them. To serve, rinse briefly in a colander, put in
a dish and enjoy! |
|
