31-recipe challenge Day 9: Gluten-free Eggplant Parmesan

This one’s for my mama.

“Gluten-free” anything often seems daunting to me, but this recipe (from Gluten-Free Girl, natch ) just makes so much sense. Fry the eggplant without breading it first. Duh. (Also makes for a healthier fried eggplant.) This is also vegetarian, though definitely not vegan. So. Much. Cheese. YES!

*Side note: There are a lot of vegetarian dishes on this list. I don’t hate it. Kevin even got excited about making one tonight. More on that later.*

This was my first deep-frying endeavor, and I only walked away with minor burn marks. Victory! My yoga clothes may have taken a bit more of a beating, though…luckily I was wearing my black hoodie. (Yes, I know, I have an apron, but what good are exercise clothes if they’re not able to take a little oil splatter?)

There’s an irony here: Sunday marked my return to yoga, as I took my first class in ages, courtesy of Groupon. Then I went home and deep-fried a perfectly innocent vegetable. Life’s all about balance, my friends. (How very yogi of me.)

Anyway, this recipe’s pretty great on its own, I just halved it, as per usual. Mainly because I rarely have 4-8 people to feed. This recipe probably would have been even better if 1) my knife skills were better (i.e., actually cutting the eggplant into 1-inch slices, not some 1-inch slices, some 1/2-inch slices and some choppy pieces because the whole slicing thing wasn’t working out so well) and 2) I baked it in a shallower dish. Because I halved the quantity, a 9×13 baking dish seemed way too large for my meager eggplant, so I stacked in all in a small but deep casserole dish instead. It was a little…mushy. One of the two aforementioned things is likely to blame.

Nonetheless, it tasted good. Fried eggplant, even on its own, is pretty tasty. It made a good cooking snack. (Maybe eggplant chips will be the new “it” thing! Hey, a girl can dream.) My mom gave it a passing grade and especially like the less-common addition of the sautéed peppers and onions for a little flavor and bite. And the cheese. All the cheese. That alone makes up for any perceived imperfections.

Oh, and again my apartment smelled terrific. I really hope I’m making my neighbors jealous.

31-Recipe Challenge Day 7: Roasted Sweet Potato Risotto

I MADE RISOTTO! And it didn’t suck! Alas, risotto was a notorious downfall for the cheftestants on Top Chef, and I’m not sure this would save me from the wrath of Tom and Padma, but nonetheless, I made risotto on the first try and it wasn’t horrifically awful. As a matter of fact, it was downright edible! (Of course, I’m being modest…I’ve already tucked into the leftovers, so that’s always a good sign.) I also made brown butter for the first time, which also didn’t suck. As a matter of fact, I expected to need at least two tries to not burn it, but first time was a charm.  My apartment smelled delicious that night.

Cue happy dance number 3 of the month. (3? Or is it 4? I lost track…)

I didn’t just make any risotto, mind you. I made roasted sweet potato risotto from How Sweet It Is. This recipe basically combines all sorts of good things into one: risotto, which is obviously fabulous, sweet potatoes, bacon and cheese.

I was super-concerned during the cooking process that I was going to mess something up. If I didn’t feel like the stock and wine were absorbing at the right rate, I got worried. If I burned the garlic and over-toasted the rice, I freaked. (I mean, not that I did that…I totally did that. It still came out fine in the end.) Moral of the story? Don’t freak, you’re probably going to end up with a beautifully rich, creamy risotto at the end.

It made for a very good way to end the week and welcome in a snow storm–yup, we got hit by “Nemo,” though it wasn’t nearly as bad as what we’ve had in the past. And not having a driveway to shovel makes it even better. I also moved from a very quiet suburban street to a pretty busy local road, so we were plowed out before 9 am Saturday. That was nice.

So, the next time snow is coming your way (you can pretend if you live in a warm climate. Also, you can invite me over.), cook up a batch of creamy, wintery risotto, snuggle up with a glass of wine, and then head out and hit the bar before the snow really starts. Or you can just do the first part…(Yes, I did the latter, but granted, the bar’s only about eight blocks away and the snow didn’t even start til right before we left. Apparently Nemo’s a night owl.)

I feel like this night was the night I moved up a rank in the cooking world. Maybe I can call myself at least “intermediate” now. After all, I made brown butter AND risotto with it and both turned out on the first shot. Or maybe I’m just getting cocky. Either one.

 

Making something out of nothing

I mentioned last week that I’ve been sustaining myself on frozen food and Kind bars because I was too busy to cook, let alone go grocery shopping. Well, the other night I still had not gone grocery shopping, but I was hungry and I wanted to cook something resembling real food. So I raided my freezer and my pantry to pull together whatever I could find, and the results were not half bad. (Pretty tasty, actually!)

What I found:

A box of elbow macaroni
A bag of frozen spinach
Frozen green beans
Frozen ham steaks
Italian cheese/pizza cheese blend
Extra virgin olive oil
Fresh garlic
Fresh ground pepper
Red pepper flakes

My mom ended up coming home early, so in addition to my regular pasta, I boiled up some brown rice pasta for her (she has Celiac disease, so she has a gluten intolerance.)

First, get some water boiling with a bit of olive oil in it. While the water boiled, I thawed out the ham. It’s even better if you have non-frozen ham.
Cube the ham (I used one large ham steak) and sautee in a pan. Add frozen green beans to the pan and let it all cook together.
Once the water boils, toss in as much pasta as you’d like, let cook to a nice al dente and drain.
Thaw or steam the spinach and drain to get rid of the excess water (there will be a lot.) Add to the pan with the ham and green beans.
Mince one small clove of garlic and add to the pan. Add plenty of fresh ground pepper and a small palmful of crushed red pepper flakes to add just a bit of heat.
Once the spinach cooks down, add some olive oil to the pan–just a drizzle.
Put pasta into bowls, followed by the ham and spinach mixture. Add a generous drizzle of olive oil (mine’s closer to a pour than a drizzle) and top with the cheese. Heat in the microwave for a few seconds to melt the cheese, if necessary.

And the best part--leftovers! Made a great lunch at work the next day.

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