Eggplant Parmigiano

Since I started this blog I have yet to cook one of my tasty Italian feasts that many of my readers are so used to me making. Our house guest requested Italian for dinner tonight and I took the opportunity to make my tasty eggplant parmigiano and chicken cutlets. It's not the ideal weeknight meal as it takes some time, but I was quite impressed that I pulled it off in 90 minutes. The eggplant is one of the first recipes I learned in the cooking class I took while I studied in Florence. Check out the recipe below:

Eggplant Parmigiano
serves 4

2 large eggplants - sliced lengthwise (you can leave the skin on or peel it, I've done it both ways)
fresh mozzarella - cut into strips
grated parmigiano reggiano
basic tomato sauce (recipe below)
vegetable oil
salt & pepper

1. Put a layer of paper towels on large cookie sheet or cutting board. Place the eggplant slices on the the paper towels. Sprinkle liberally with salt. Let sit for 30 minutes to a hour. This will bring the eggplants bitter juices out. Once the time has passed, take paper towels and blot up the liquid. You can also gently wring out the eggplant slices over the sink, they are durable enough to handle this. I skipped this step tonight, but find that the eggplant is that much better when I am able to take the time to do this and I highly recommend it.
2. Fill a large saute pan half way with vegetable oil. It seems like alot of oil but very little of it is absorbed by the eggplant. Heat the oil over medium high heat.
3. Once the eggplant is dry and the oil is heated place slices of eggplant into the oil, make sure they don't overlap. Fry all of the eggplant slices to a very light golden brown, remove from oil to drain on paper towels.
4. Lightly oil an 8x8 casserole dish. Cover the bottom of the pan with one layer of eggplant slices. Top with a thin layer of tomato sauce. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of parmigianao and 4-5 strips of mozzarella. Repeat the layering until all the eggplant is gone. Putting extra cheese on the top layer.
5. Put the dish in an oven heated to 350 degrees. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Until heated through and bubbly.

NOTE: This is not an eggplant parm that you can cut a neat little square and serve all pretty. It's easiest to just serve with a spoon and while not pretty, it is so fabulously tasty that's all that really matters!


Simple Tomato Sauce

2 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes
3 garlic cloves - chopped
1 small onion - chopped
1 tsp crushed red pepper
2 Tbsps fresh basil - hand torn
1 Tbsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup red wine
2 pinches of sugar
salt & pepper

1. Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a medium sauce pan. Add chopped onions to the heated pan. Saute for 5 minutes. Add garlic and crushed red pepper and saute until the onions become translucent, being careful not to let the garlic brown, approx 5 more minutes.
2. Add the tomatoes to the pan. Let cook over medium heat until begins to bubble. Add oregano and basil. Simmer over medium stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Add red wine and simmer for 5 more minutes.
3. Taste sauce, add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 5 more minutes and then add sugar, to balance out the acidity of the tomatoes.
4. Continue to simmer sauce over low heat until ready to use and/or eat.


Chicken cutlets
serves 4

4 boneless chicken breasts thinly pounded out
1 cup of seasoned breadcrumbs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg - beaten
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1. Dredge the chicken breast through flour, then dip in egg and then dredge in bread crumbs. Put coated cutlets on a plate and chill for 30 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Place two cutlets into the heated oil and cook until golden brown on each side and cooked through, approx 5 minutes per side.
3. Remove from pan to a plate and cook remaining two cutlets.
4. Serve. I like chicken cutlets topped with a little bit of sauce and a sprinkling of parmigiano.

While I was taking a picture of my plate there was not a word spoken by my sis or our guest. That's always the true sign of a great meal, silence and full mouths. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Peach-Blueberry Pie

I am back onto pies! I made my Apple-Blueberry pie for the boy's birthday which started as a bit of a disaster, but I pulled it out and the boy devoured it himself in less than a week. During all of my pie trials, the sis made it clear that she would like a Peach-Blueberry pie. I happened to have a recipe from my co-worker's mom that I used as a starting point for a failure of a Peach-Raspberry Pie. It was after that experiment that I realized I am not a good enough baker to improvise yet. So I am forced to follow recipes, but as the recipe came highly recommended I figured it was a goo one to try. With the exception of adding more fruit because I made a deep dish pie, I followed the recipe pretty closely.

Peach and Blueberry Pie
courtesy of Mrs. Neimand

2 Tbsps lemon juice
2 cups sliced, pitted peaches (2 1/4 lbs) (I used 4 cups peaches)
1 cup blueberries (I actually didn't measure mine but used two small grocery store containers)
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsps quick-cooking tapioca (I used 2 1/2 since I had extra fruit, thus extra juice to thicken)
1/2 tsp salt
Pastry for a 2-crust pie
2 Tbsps butter or margarine

1. Sprinkle lemon juice over fruit in large bowl.
2. Combine sugar with tapioca and salt. Add to fruit, tossing lightly to combine. Let stand 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees.
4. On lightly floured surface, roll out half of pastry into an 11-inch circle. Use to line 9 inch pie plate; trim.
5. Turn fruit mixture into pastry-lined pie plate, mounding in the center; dot with butter.
6. Roll out remaining pastry into an 11-inch circle. Make several slits near center, for steam vents; adjust over filling; trim.
7. Fold edge of top crust under bottom crust; press together with fingertips. Crimp edge decoratively.
8. Bake 45-50 minutes, or until fruit is tender and crust is golden-brown.
9. Cool partially on a wire rack; serve slightly warm.

This is a very tasty pie and the sis totally approved.

Grown-up Grilled Cheese

I figured since I made tomato soup yesterday, that there really is no better follow-up than grilled cheese. Since I made a rich and flavorful soup, I decided I needed a grilled cheese that was more than just white bread and American cheese. What I came up with was the tastiest grilled cheese sandwich, I've ever made at home. It was absolutely perfect dunked in yesterday's soup.

Grown-up Grilled Cheese
serves 1

2 slices whole wheat bread
1 1/2 slices white extra sharp cheddar (if you don't buy sandwich slices, enough thin slices from a block of cheese to cover a slice of bread 1 1/2 times)
1 1/2 slices Asiago cheese (if you don't buy sandwich slices, enough thin slices from a block of cheese to cover a slice of bread 1 1/2 times)
1 slice Gruyere (if you don't buy sandwich slices, enough thin slices from a block of cheese to cover a slice of bread 1 time)
1 tbsp unsalted butter

1. Heat nonstick pan over medium-low heat. Butter 1 side of each bread slice.
2. place one slice of bread, buttered side down in heat pan. Place on top of bread one layer of cheddar, one layer of Asiago, one layer of Gruyere and top with remaining cheddar and Asiago. Top the whole thing with last slice of bread, buttered side up. Cover skillet and let cook slowly for approx. 5 minutes or until bread becomes golden.
3. Carefully flip sandwich and cover, letting the other side grill to a nice golden color, approx 5 minutes.
4. Flip sandwich again, lower heat to low, cover and let cook for 5 more minutes. Repeat on other side. This step is to help melt the cheese without toasting the bread anymore.
5. Finally bring heat back up to medium, giving each side a blast of heat while covered to crisp up the bread. Approx 2 minutes per side. Cheese should be oozing out the side of the sandwich now.
6. Remove to cutting board and carefully cut in half. Serve with this tomato soup.

I love all kinds of things on grilled cheese...tomato, bacon, ham, avocado, but I have to say this one stands alone really well, especially with the soup. If you aren't having soup with it, go crazy with whatever fillings you like. This sandwich with tomato soup is the ultimate comfort food, in my opinion. It's not low-fat or low-calorie but every once in awhile it does the trick!

My Favorite Tomato Soup

For as long as I can remember I have always loved grilled cheese and tomato soup. When I moved to LA, I discovered Doughboy's (long before Oprah named it as the place with the best Red Velvet Cake in the US) and my favorite menu item there was their "After School Special" - delicious creamy tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich with Gruyere, Swiss and cheddar on their own bakery fresh bread. Well grilled cheese I have mastered and will make for you all in the future. But tomato soup not so much. Because of all of my traveling over the last year and the fact that my local Doughboy's closed and relocated over to Hollywood, I hadn't been in awhile. A few month ago I got a craving only to find that they had closed their doors completely! Imagine how disappointed I was to hear that I would never have their delicious tomato soup again. I went to the Doughboy's website to see if they had a new location opening anytime soon and instead found that they were closed due to all kinds of bureaucratic red tape. If you are interested check out their site here. Anyway, the owner, Frank, had his email on the site and I decided to get in touch to see if by any small chance he'd be willing to share his delicious soup recipe. He was willing and despite being extremely busy eventually sent the recipe along. His recipe was somewhat imprecise, which is actually my favorite way to cook, but I tried to get more exact measurements as I made my soup. Here you go!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

I am not very well-versed in any type of Asian cooking, with the exception of the stir fries I lived on from the cafeteria in college and I'm not quite sure they count as anything authentic. Through her guest appearances on Simply Recipes (one of the blogs I visit regularly and have cited recipes from before) I have found Jaden's Steamy Kitchen, which has so many tasty looking recipes that I can't wait to try. Her recipe contribution on Simply Recipes this month was for Sweet & Sour Chicken, my favorite dish from our local Chinese take-out when I was growing up. I had to try it. It helps that the sis loves Chinese, Thai, Japanese, basically any type of Asian food, so I thought it would be nice to make something that I knew she'd be in to as well.

You know the drill, my comments in purple.

Sweet & Sour Chicken
Simply Recipes via Jaden's Steamy Kitchen
Serves 4

1 pound of boneless and skinless chicken thighs or breasts, cut into 1" chunks
1 egg white
1 teaspoon kosher salt (1/2 teaspoon table salt)
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 10-ounce can pineapple chunks (reserve juice) (I could only find an 8 oz can at my local store so i went with that)
1/4 cup juice from the canned pineapple
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon kosher salt (1/2 teaspoon table salt)
2-3 tablespoons brown sugar (I only used two because i didn't want the sauce to be too sweet)
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cooking oil
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1. In a bowl, combine the chicken with the egg white, salt and cornstarch. Stir to coat the chicken evenly. Let sit for 15 minutes at room temperature or up to overnight in the refrigerator.
2. In the meantime, whisk together the pineapple juice, vinegar, ketchup, salt, and brown sugar.
3. Heat a large frying pan or wok over high heat until a bead of water instantly sizzles and evaporates. Pour in the 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and swirl to coat. It's important that the pan is very hot. Add the chicken and spread the chicken out in one layer. Let the chicken fry, untouched for 1 minute, until the bottoms are browned. Flip and fry the other side the same for 1 minute. The chicken should still be pinkish in the middle. Dish out the chicken onto a clean plate, leaving as much oil in the pan as possible.
4. Turn the heat to medium and add the remaining 1 teaspoon of cooking oil. Let the oil heat up and then add the bell pepper chunks and ginger. Fry for 1 minute. Add the pineapple chunks and the sweet and sour sauce. Turn the heat to high and when the sauce is simmering, add the chicken pieces back in. Let simmer for 1-2 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Timing depends on how thick you've cut your chicken. The best way to tell if the chicken is done is to take a piece out and cut into it. If it's pink, add another minute to the cooking. Taste the sauce and add more brown sugar if you’d like.

I will definitely be trying this recipe again. The sis suggested next time adding onions and/or water chestnuts which I think would go really nice with the sauce. I would also go with the recommended 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, as opposed o the 2 I used. I liked the sauce when I tasted it but as I ate it was slightly too sour. I think that additional tablespoon of sugar would be perfect. Looking forward to trying more of Jaden's recipes.

Chicken Piccata

Well I'm back from all my traveling, for a bit anyway. Despite my being jet-lagged from 2 trips back east in 11 days we needed dinner last night. When the sis and I are both exhausted, dinner always becomes a fruitless discussion, neither of us cares and neither wants to decide what we'll have. Even though I cooked a bit this past weekend, mostly breakfasts for the boyfriend's big birthday weekend, I was itching to get back into my fabulous kitchen. I was going to go for an old faithful, Pesto Chicken (which I promise to post sometime soon, it's really great and easy) but we eat that all the time I felt I should do something different. So to switch it up I decided on Chicken Piccata, something that used to be a standby for me, but I haven't made in awhile. Giada De Laurentiis is one of my top cooks on the Food Network, mostly because she uses such simple and classic Italian flavors. Her Chicken Piccata recipe is great! Take a look:

Chicken Piccata

from Giada DeLaurentiis on the Food Network

2 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, butterflied and then cut in half
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
All-purpose flour, for dredging
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (I like to squeeze my own lemons and it usually takes 2-3)
1/2 cup chicken stock (if I don't have chicken stock I have subbed white wine for this and it makes a really great and tangy sauce)
1/4 cup brined capers, rinsed
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped (I forgot to pick-up parsley so I left this out) 1/2 lemon thinly sliced (this I my own addition)

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour and shake off excess.
2. In a large skillet over medium high heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 3 tablespoons olive oil. When butter and oil start to sizzle, add 2 pieces of chicken and cook for 3 minutes.
3. When chicken is browned, flip and cook other side for 3 minutes. Remove and transfer to plate.

4. Melt 2 more tablespoons butter and add another 2 tablespoons olive oil. When butter and oil start to sizzle, add the other 2 pieces of chicken and brown both sides in same manner. Remove pan from heat and add chicken to the plate.
5. Into the pan add the lemon juice, stock and capers and lemon slices. Return to stove and bring to boil, scraping up brown bits from the pan for extra flavor. Check for seasoning.
6. Return all the chicken to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove chicken to platter.
7. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter to sauce and whisk vigorously. Pour sauce over chicken and garnish with parsley.

I usually serve this dish with a nice green vegetable like oven roasted asparagus or garlicky green beans, but last night the easiest thing was a caprese salad with fresh basil leaves. Enjoy!

Pizza at Home

Well, I was remiss in taking a picture of last night's pizza. Partially because, unbeknownst to me, my camera battery was dead, but mostly because I was just plain famished by the time this was ready to eat and while I love all of you that check out my blog, putting food in my tummy was way more important! I decided to make pizza because I was craving it, mostly due to the fact that the boy made an AMAZING pizza on Sunday night, chock full of tasty cheeses, sausage, onions and I don't even know what else. But I was also inspired by this post over at It's Melissa's Kitchen. Not only do the veggies from her CSA box look tasty and make me want to join one myself, but the pizza had to be made based on the photo alone.

I looked at her recipe and followed alot of it, but made my own tweaks along the way. See what I did below:

Pizza

1 package Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough
1/2 cup Trader Joe's Fat Free Pizza Sauce
1/4-1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (I didn't measure this so it's a really rough measurement)
Heirloom Tomatoes (if in season) sliced
Fresh Mozzarella - I used a ball and a half of the Ovaline size
Fresh basil
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

1. Remove pizza dough from package and let rise on the counter for 20 minutes
2. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
3. Once dough has risen, either roll or hand stretch to fit a lightly oiled baking sheet. I used a 15 inch cookie sheet (no round pans in my house yet) and I hand stretched, more fun that way.
4. Brush the crust with olive oil. Spread a very thin layer of Pizza sauce over the crust. The amount depends on taste and you can even omit this, I just like I little sauce on my crust even if I'm topping with tomatoes.
5. Sprinkle a small amount of shredded mozzarella over the crust. The bulk of the cheese on this is from the fresh mozzarella, but in my opinion you can never have enough cheese and I think this little bit helps for extra coverage.
6. Arrange the tomatoes and mozzarella over the pizza. Chiffonade the basil sprinkle all over
7. In true Italian fashion, top with a drizzling of extra virgin olive oil, salt & pepper.
8. Bake for 10-15 minutes until crust looks golden and pizza looks tasty.
9. Remove from over and let cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting.


I feel like the one time I tried to make pizza at home it was a disaster, albeit so long ago I can't exactly remember when. This was so very tasty and easy. I highly recommend it. My sis, who is cutting back on carbs and made her own dinner last night, commented on how good it smelled and I could tell a part of her wanted some.

Huevos Rancheros

I was out of town last weekend and am leaving town again on Friday. I fully expected not to post anything until later next week, but my thrown together dinner of Huevos Rancheros looked and tasted too good not to share. Living in Southern California there is great Mexican everywhere you go and Huevos Rancheros is a staple on most breakfast/brunch menus, that being said I often make them at home for dinner. It's a really great and hearty meal that is honestly perfect anytime of day if you ask me.

Huevos Rancheros
serves 2

4 eggs
1 15oz can of black beans
1/2 small red onion chopped
1 clove of garlic chopped
2 tsp olive oil separated
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 tbsp salsa (whichever you like best, I used Santa Barbara Peach Mango Salsa)
4 soft corn tortillas

1. Heat 1 tsp olive oil in a small sauce pan. Saute chopped garlic until translucent. Add chopped red onion and saute for 3 mins. Add black beans to saucepan. Simmer on medium low for 15 minutes
2. When the beans are 5 minutes from being done, heat the remaining tsp of olive oil in a frying pan over medium high. Place one corn tortilla in the pan, let heat up for approx 1-2 mins, then flip over. Add a second tortilla on top, using it to soak the excess oil of the first tortilla. Flip the tortilla stack and replace the original tortilla with a new one. Repeat this process until all four tortillas are heated and soft. Place on a plate and over with a towel to keep warm.
3. Spray Pam in the frying pan and heat over medium heat. Put two eggs in the frying pan let cook until approximately halfway done (I like a standard sunny side up egg here, so I cook until the white is mostly cooked). Put 2 tbsp salsa and 1/4 cup shredded cheese on top of eggs. Cover pan and cook on low until egg is done to desired doneness and cheese is melted.
4. Place two tortillas on a plate and top with eggs, salsa & cheese.
5. Repeat steps 3 & 4 with the remaining ingredients.
6. Top with sour cream and chopped cilantro as desired. (I didn't have either but my dinner was tasty nonetheless)

This recipe is great because it can be modified with whatever cheeses and salsas you like or have on hand. It's traditionally made with a basic fried eggs, but would be great with scrambled too. Since I've lived in Southern California I almost always have corn tortillas and black beans, two things that last for awhile, making this an easy meal to throw together. Enjoy!