Eggplant Gratin with Herbs and Crème Fraîche

I don't know about you, but some of the food I prepare is a result of what's about to near its expiration  date.  In this case, it was a container of crème fraîche in the fridge. It was a brand new package and I couldn't bear to throw it out unopened. Yet I was leaving for a trip and knew if I didn't use it before I left, it would be wasted. 

Remembering a recipe I had seen a while back that involved eggplants and crème fraîche. I had to give it a try. It did not disappoint. This recipe contains parmesan, but it's not eggplant parmesan. The crème fraîche turns it into a creamy gratin and it's a nice change from the classic dish. It's a great recipe to prepare ahead of time and even freeze for the future.

Slice the eggplant and smear both sides with some olive oil.

Place on the grill when it becomes hot, and grill the slices until there are nice grill marks and the eggplants are cooked through.

Make the cream sauce using the crème fraîche and the herbs.

Assemble the gratin, alternating eggplant slices, tomato sauce, and parmesan cheese.

                                       Pour the creamy herb sauce over everything.

             Finish by sprinkling extra parmesan on top, and bake in the oven for an hour at 375 degrees.

Sit down to a delicious dinner.

Eggplant Gratin with Herbs and Creme Fraiche

From Winslow & Co.

printable recipe here

2 medium to large eggplant, sliced 1/2″ thick

salt & pepper

olive oil

1 quart simple tomato sauce

3 Tbs. minced chives

3 Tbs. minced parsley

1 Tbs. thyme leaves

12 oz. creme fraiche or heavy cream

4 oz parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 375.  Season eggplant slices with salt and pepper.  Brush lightly with olive oil.  Heat a large skillet or griddle pan over med-high heat and fry eggplant slices in batches until golden on both sides.  Set aside while you prepare the creme fraiche.  Place creme fraiche or cream in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Reduce to about 1 cup, then stir in half of the grated parmesan and all of the chopped herbs.  Season with a pinch of salt and pepper and set aside.  Oil a 9″ casserole or gratin pan and place eggplant inside in a single layer.  Cover with a thin layer of simple tomato sauce and a sprinkle of parmesan.  Make two more layers of eggplant and sauce, covering the top with tomato sauce.  Ladle over the reduced creme fraiche or cream and sprinkle on a final layer of parmesan cheese.  Bake uncovered until browned and bubbling, about 25-30 minutes.  Let rest briefly before serving.  Also delicious at room temperature.

Southern Style Coconut Cake

Find some occasion to make this cake -- any occasion. I don't care what it is -- first day of autumn, new season of Dancing With The Stars, the Mets are ahead eight games -- anything will do. But you have to try this cake. I have been drooling over it ever since I saw it posted on "A Feast For The Eyes." But I couldn't justify making this for one or two people. I needed a crowd.

My book club provided the perfect excuse when our selection this month was all about New Orleans (Gumbo Tales, by Sara Roahen.) As soon as I read the word "coconut" in an early chapter, I had all I needed and claimed dessert as my contribution to the book club dinner.

It was one of the best cakes I've ever eaten - light and fluffy with a decadent frosting and filling, made with whipped cream, cream cheese and coconut flavoring.

I had a little bit of a snafu early on though, after I poured the batter into the pans and realized I had forgotten the sugar. Fortunately, I hadn't put the pans into the oven, so I scooped out the batter, mixed in the sugar, cleaned and re-buttered the pans and I was off for a second try.

The slight diversion in preparation didn't seem to alter the results, and the cakes came out of the oven perfectly cooked.

I spread a thick layer of the filling on one of the cakes and covered it with some toasted coconut before topping with the second layer.

The cake should serve at least ten to twelve people, unless some (like my book club members) ask for seconds. Just sayin'.  I'm not naming names.

But I did manage to fight everyone off in time to reserve one last piece (and a half) to bring home.

Thanks Debbie, for a great recipe.

Southern Style Coconut Cake

From "A Feast For The Eyes"

printable recipe here

• For the cake:


• 5 large egg whites


• ½ cup whole milk


• 1 tablespoon coconut flavoring 


• 1 tsp. pure vanilla


• 3 cups cake flour  *NOTE: If you don’t have cake flour on hand, substitute 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour for 1 cup of cake flour.


• 2⅓ cups sugar


• 4½ teaspoons baking powder


• ½ teaspoon salt


• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature


• 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

• For the Cream Cheese Butter cream Frosting:


• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature


• ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature


• 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted


• 1-3 tablespoons unsweetened coconut milk or regular milk


• 1 teaspoon coconut flavoring


• 1 cup unsweetened coconut (I couldn't find unsweetened, so I used sweetened, and I used         about 1 1/2 cups)

• For the Whipped Cream Cheese Filling:


• 1 cup of the Cream Cheese Butter cream Frosting (above)


• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions

To make the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 8-inch (or 9-inch) cake pans and line with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg whites, whole milk and coconut flavoring.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. 

Add the butter and coconut milk and combine on low speed until moistened. Increase speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. 

Add the egg white mixture in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl and mixing just long enough to incorporate between additions.

Divide the batter among the prepared pans and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in their pans for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto cooling racks to cool completely. 

To make the butter cream:

Beat together the butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar on medium high speed until light and creamy. 

Add the coconut flavoring and enough coconut milk (or regular milk) to reach a spreadable consistency. Mix until smooth.

OPTIONAL: Spread the coconut on a sheet pan. Toast in a 350 degree oven until golden, checking every 2 minutes. Watch it carefully, the coconut will burn fast. Let it cool completely.

To make the Whipped Cream Cheese Filling:

With a whisk attachment, beat the heavy cream until it starts to thicken. 

Add 1 cup of the cream cheese butter cream a spoonful at a time while mixing on medium-high speed. Whip to soft peaks. 

To frost the cake:

If desired, slice the 2 cake layers in half to create 4 layers. Place one cake layer on a cake stand or plate. Cover with the whipped cream cheese filling. 

Repeat with the rest of the layers. Frost the entire cake with the remaining cream cheese butter cream and cover in the toasted coconut. 

Chill for one hour before serving. Store in the fridge, cake will keep for several days.

Note: If you have only 2-inch deep pans, consider using 3 pans or 9-inch pans.

I brought the cake to slightly room temperature for about 15 minutes, before slicing.

Putting Food By - Pickled Beets, Roasted Tomato Sauce and Cured Green Tomatoes too.

There are lots of things I'll miss when summer is over, including the fresh produce from farm stands, farmers' markets and my backyard garden. But you can capture the goodness of some of that produce to enjoy during the cold winter months in many different ways - canning and freezing, and even fermenting, as you'll see in the last photo of this post.

These pickled beets are so much better than what's available in the stores and they don't take long to prepare. You can choose to put the jars in a hot water bath and store them for months in your pantry (follow directions here), or if that's too much trouble, just prepare the beets, put them in jars and store them in your refrigerator.

As you can see, I used both purple beets and yellow beets. I don't think the yellow beets are as flavorful as the purple ones, but it's nice to make a few jars just to add a different color to your dinner plate.



With the purple beets, I like to take some of the juice and make purple pickled eggs. I grew up in an area of Pennsylvania where these pickled eggs were a common sight among the Pennsylvania Dutch community, and my Northern Italian mom picked up the idea of making them from them. Many a picnic basket included these when I was a young girl.

Just boil hardboiled eggs and drop them into the pickling juice after you've taken out some of the beets. Leave them in for about an hour or two to get a nice color.

 

I've even left them in the jar overnight, but the egg whites have a tendency to get a little rubbery if you leave them in any longer.

 One of my favorite ways to eat them is for breakfast or lunch with avocado toast.

They make colorful deviled eggs too.

And if you've got too many tomatoes and not enough ideas or time to figure out what to do with them, try roasting them whole. Just core the tomatoes, plunk some garlic and herbs inside (I used fresh oregano and basil), sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Place in a foil-lined cookie sheet and roast in a 400 degree over for about a half hour to 45 minutes.

 I left these in for nearly an hour and the liquid reduced considerably.

Put the roasted tomatoes in the blender or food processor and whir it all together until everything is smooth. Since I had forgotten to take these out of the oven after 1/2 hour, the sauce turned out thicker than I had planned, closer to tomato paste.



I poured the thick sauce into freezer containers and will be able to use these in recipes all winter long.



And for those tomatoes that just don't ripen, try making cured, or fermented green tomatoes, as my family's been doing for generations. They're dynamite in sandwiches, or just with a crusty piece of Italian bread. I posted them on my blog years ago, but each September, I get requests for them, so I thought I'd remind readers of how to make them. Click here for directions.

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Ciao Chow Linda is also on Instagram, as well as Facebook and Pinterest. Click here to connect with me on Facebook, here for my Pinterest page, and here for my Instagram page to see more of what I'm cooking up each day.

Pickled Beets

printable recipe here

about 3 lbs. beets

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 cup white vinegar

1 cinnamon stick

1 large onion, optional

Cook the beets in boiling water until you can just pierce them. It's best if you slightly undercook them since they'll be heated again after you place them into jars. Let them cool, then peel and cut into large slices. Slice the onion.

On high heat, dissolve the sugar into the water, then add the vinegar and cinnamon stick. Lower the heat to medium and add the sliced beets and onion slices. Let them simmer for just a couple of minutes, then pack the beets into sterilized jars, topping with liquid.

If preserving for the pantry, process in a boiling water bath for about 15 minutes.  Otherwise, store the canned beets in the refrigerator.

A Provençal Evening

A couple of years ago a friend asked me to become part of a newly formed book group for foodies. I readily agreed, knowing I'd not only be reading books on a topic I'm passionate about, but enjoying a thematic meal tied in with the book's subject and prepared by members of the group.

A recent choice was "Provence 1970," a book written by Luke Barr, the grandnephew of legendary food writer MFK Fisher. The book is a delight to read, recounting the year when Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard and other food luminaries were together in the South of France.

The meal prepared by members my book club was a wonderful way to capture the flavors of that beautiful region of France and pique my enthusiasm for my upcoming trip there. 

Our group is women only, but for this event, we decided to invite the men in our lives, even though the discussion of the book was given short shrift since not all the men had read it.

No one seemed to mind the abbreviated book discussion though, once all the food was presented.

We started with two appetizers: 

Emilia's pissaladière, similar to pizza, but with the traditional topping of caramelized onions, anchovies and olives.

      And it wouldn't be Provence without socca, a typical snack made of chickpea flour. 

Kay provided that, along with a delicious ratatouille that I forgot to snap, except in the last photo of this post.

Polly brought along a wonderfully refreshing salad with butter lettuce, goat cheese, wineberries and borage flowers picked from her yard:

Rosalie made a luscious plum tart for dessert.

 And her husband Evan even made some madeleines to share:

I took charge of the main course - pork chops with sage - a recipe I found in the cookbook, "Cooking School Provence" by Guy Gedda and Marie Pierre Moine.

Pork chops are easy to overcook, and once that happens, they're tough and dry. Marinating or brining helps, but knowing when to pull them off the grill or from the oven is crucial.

I don't use a meat thermometer for pork chops or steaks, but instead have learned to test meat with the finger test. It's got to have a little softness in it when you touch it, like the fleshy part of your hand. If you let it cook until it feels hard, then it's overcooked. It takes getting used to, but once you've mastered it, you'll never overcook meat again. Click here to get a more detailed guide on using the finger test for doneness of meats. 

These pork chops were smeared with Dijon mustard, sage and black pepper and left to sit overnight in the refrigerator. If you don't have all night, at least give it six hours to marinate. They were delicious the first time I made them, but when I repeated the recipe, I slathered on even more mustard and sage and the flavor was greatly improved.

Lolly brought along some fresh green peas, adding even more color and flavor to our plates.

If you're interested in starting a foodie book club, email me separately and I can give you plenty of book suggestions. Click here for a post I wrote years ago on books for foodies. Since then, I've got lots more titles to recommend.

Côtes de porc grillées à la sauge 

(Grilled pork chops with sage)

 From "The Provence Cookbook" 

By Guy Gedda and Marie Pierre Moine

printable recipe here 

 4 large, thick pork chops

Fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper

3 1/2 T. grainy Dijon mustard

1/4 cup olive oil

10 fresh sage leaves



Cut slits in the fat at regular intervals around the pork chops, and season lightly all over with salt and pepper.

In a small bowl, mix together the mustard (I used more) and oil. Coarsely chop and stir in 6 of the sage leaves (I used more). Arrange the chops in a shallow dish and brush both sides with the mustard mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.

Before cooking, return the chops to room temperature.

In Provence, the chops would be cooked in the hearth over pine cones for about 20 minutes, turned over regularly, and kept about 4 inches from the fire. Alternatively, grill over indirect heat or broil 6 inches from the flame, turning once, until cooked through but still juicy inside, about 15 minutes total, depending on the thickness.

Season with a little extra pepper and garnish each chop with a fresh sage leaf.