Food Blog:
Cook In.
Eat Out.
Miss Tenacity.
New Mexico.
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Monday, November 7
Aubergine + Andrea
(Aubergine/Eggplant photo borrowed from Mariquita Farm CSA website)
In 1994, I took a 3 week trip to Europe as a college class to learn about Western Civilization, stopping off at all of the requisite sites: Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Athens, et cetera.
During that excursion I was under two conflicting states - that of being a lazy and of-necessity eater and also being exposed to TONS of great food. Unfortunately, it was all lost on me, every bite. The only food memory I took back, as a matter of fact, is that I hated moussaka - that casserole of Arabian origin which seemed to feature ungodly amounts of eggplant and many other things that just don't belong in a "lasagna" type of dish.
So, so, wrong of me. Shame on Andrea.
How else can I describe the stratospheric elevation of my tastes since then but to tell you that this evening I roasted some asian eggplants with just a bit of olive oil and not even any seasonings or salt, and when they came out of the oven I couldn't stop eating the little cubes like candy?!
So sweet, tender, just a wee bit charred.... they were heavenly. None of that famed bitterness that has fearful cooks everywhere rushing to salt and drain their eggplants before using them. Perhaps that is the crucial difference between Italian/Globe eggplants (the huge blackish ones, on the right side of the photo) and the Asian varieties, which are either long and slender or tiny and oblong (far left side of photo). Now that I know this, I doubt I'll purchase another Globe eggplant. Blech.
Now, those little cubes are roasted and I will make something with them tomorrow... I just don't know what yet. A salad with pine nuts, olives, and tuna? Hmmm....
Time posted: 19:12 [permalink]
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CONTACT ME: tenacity -at- gmail.com
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