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ffwD: eggplant “tartine” with tomatoes, olives, and cucumbers
This week’s recipe for French Fridays with Dorie tripped me up a little bit. I didn’t read through the recipe carefully. I didn’t even realize it wasn’t a true tartine, an open-faced sandwich with bread, until I saw some chatter about it. Then, when I was at the farmstand, I had picked up some slender eggplants, about the size of cucumbers, assuming the eggplant would be chopped, however, the recipe called for a large eggplant where the slices would serve as the base for the topping. I proceeded, following the mantra “cook with what you have” and surprised myself with a winning success.
All these ingredient hiccups resulted in total procrastination. I woke up this morning and, alas, still hadn’t made the recipe. I was going out for lunch and needed dinner to be extra quick tonight, plus Howard won’t eat eggplant, so he wasn’t about to try it. Still in my pajamas, I headed downstairs to roast my eggplant slices, make the tomato salsa, and slice the cucumbers. I would at least taste it, so I could participate with the other bloggers.
I have to mention that I love cooking in my pajamas. It always seems so decadent, and yet productive at the same time. Falling straight out of bed and into the kitchen to get things going, fitting in a shower while something bakes or simmers, it makes me feel like I’m squeezing something extra out of the day.
I hear that in the Middle East, they eat salads for breakfast, so I followed suit. I arranged my tiny eggplant slices on the plate, topped them with the tomato salsa, then loosely arranged some thinly sliced cucumbers on top with a little drizzle of olive oil. This served as an unusual appetizer for my usual breakfast of toast, cheese, and fruit.
My favorite part of this recipe was the caponata-like tomato salsa. I used a combination of diced farm-fresh tomatoes along with quartered backyard-fresh cherry tomatoes. These were tossed with celery (unpeeled, in case you’re wondering), scallion, garlic, olives, capers, and fresh oregano along with oil and vinegar. . I loved the contrast of the sweet tomatoes and the crunchy celery and scallion. I didn’t have any green olives on hand so used Kalamatas. I liked the way the purplish color of the olives complemented the similarly-colored skin on the eggplant.
Even though he doesn’t care for eggplant, Howard even took a container of the tomato salsa to eat as part of his lunch. We polished off the leftovers with tonight’s quick grazing dinner of things found in the fridge.
I liked the whole composition and would make it again, though more likely, I’ll only make the tomato salsa component to eat as a salad or to top some grilled chicken or fish.
I’m looking forward to reading about what my fellow FFwD bloggers thought about this week’s recipe. Check out their links here. We don’t post the recipes, but consider getting your own copy of the book, Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table.
ffwd: warm scallop salad and tomato-cheese tartlets
At my house, there are two definitions of August. To me, August = Tomatoes. To the other resident (husband Howard), August = Corn.
Selections for the first two weeks of French Fridays with Dorie were perfect. Tomato-Cheese Tartlets the first week, and Warm Scallop Salad with Basil, Tomato, and Corn. I missed last week’s deadline for the tartlets, but made both this week.
The tartlets were fun to make. The individual tarts were constructed on disks of puff pastry. I had a little trouble with the puff pastry. The package said you could defrost at broom temperature for 20 minutes or microwave for 90 seconds. I went with the quicker approach, but turned on the microwave and walked away. It got a little too soft and wouldn’t unfold. I just rolled it out with the folds making extra layers, but I had some tearing that didn’t mend as forgivingly as pie crust. But I liked the simplicity of cutting out circles and baking until lightly golden.
As with many of Dorie’s recipes, this one was more of a suggestion than a strict recipe. The disks were smeared with a layer of tapenade or pesto. I tried two of each. This is topped with alternating slices of tomatoes and cheese, goat cheese for me. I warmed the tartlets under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese started to melt. A final drizzle of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a fresh basil leaf garnish and it was done. We each ate two of these for dinner, but one tart accompanied with a salad would have made a lovely lunch. Sipping a glass of cold white wine on the side is the perfect accompaniment.
The warm scallop salad was another summer treat. The scallops were a bit pricey, but worth it for the end result. I left out the nectarines, but the lightly dressed corn, freshly picked backyard cherry tomatoes, and fresh basil coulis were packed with flavor. The vegetables surrounded the seared scallops which were the star in the center of the plate. Each component was super simple to put together, now that I’ve learned from several Dorie recipes how foolproof it is to pan-sear scallops. I could make this for a weeknight dinner after a long day at work. The final dish was restaurant worthy.
All-in-all, it was a good week for enjoying new recipes spotlighting seasonal ingredients.
Recipes aren’t posted, but are available in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table. To read about other home cooks’ experiences with these recipes, check out the Leave Your Link posts at French Fridays with Dorie.
A Plateful of Happiness 