Food, Photography and Bon Mots
John Keats wrote that “a thing of beauty is a joy forever.” So it is with this beautiful salad. The colors are intense. The flavors and textures are delightful. There is joy on your plate. But why do certain foods, like this beautiful salad, tempt…
Trust me. You can do this. I know. I know. It’s (eek!) bread making. Still. This recipe is a “take” on the slow-rise fermentation bread making technique that was popularized some years ago by Jim Lahey, founder of New York’s Sullivan Street Bakery. Mark Bittman,…
It hasn’t worked for me with kale or spirulina, but I’m willing myself to love eggplant. As you know, if you have been reading this blog, eggplant and I have a fraught relationship–a bit like Donald and Melania. Eggplant recipes, especially ones that tout their world-class deliciousness, reach out to me but I don’t always reach back.
This is a very good recipe, again one adapted from the pages of The New York Times. The Times, by the way, has launched its food pages as a separate subscription service. For $5 per month, you can access thousands of recipes from great chefs like Martha Rose Schulman, Melissa Clark and David Tanis. It is a bargain, believe me. I read a lot of food sites (insomniac that I am) and the quality and breadth of the NY Times recipe archive is exceptional.
Here is the eggplant recipe. I loved it. My neighbors Gene and Sarah loved it. You will, too.
Yields 6 Servings
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Instructions
Notes
The original recipe omitted the spinach layer, the feta cheese and the mozzarella. The recipe is very forgiving. As I prepared leftovers, I put a portion of the eggplant gratin in an individual baking dish and grated more mozzarella on the dish. I covered it in foil and baked it at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes. Pretty wonderful.
This is my adaptation of a Martha Rose Schulman recipe from The New York Times and the Tomato Sauce Provencale recipe I posted earlier in the week. Here is the link to the original recipe: NY Times: Israeli Couscous, Eggplant and TomatoGratin .
We have a lot of things to thank Julia Child for beyond the fact that she popularized French home cooking here in the U.S. She made cooking cool. She pioneered a cooking show genre that has exploded into the countless cooking shows that eat…
Anyone out there who doesn’t like artichokes? I don’t see any hands. I think artichokes are a bit like avocados. Even served simply without a whole lot of fuss, both vegetables generate a lot of buzz around the table. Carrots and celery certainly don’t get…
Blue Cayenne will be two years old in October.
Over those (almost) two years, Marion Sutton has been one of Blue Cayenne’s (and my) most supportive friends.
I met Marion in one of Nami Aoyagi’s amazing Digital Media Arts classes at The Huntington Beach Adult School. As our friendship grew, we found time to explore our mutual interests in food and photography. We took photography junkets together. We lunched. We shared recipes. We learned how to bake creme brulee together at a Sur La Table class. We supported each other during tough personal times. Seldom in my life have I known anyone with Marion’s joie de vivre, talent in the kitchen, inner strength… or with such extraordinary cookie recipes. (I still remember the moment when I first tasted one of Marion’s cookies– transcendent cookies laced with oatmeal and nuts and some magical ingredient that I’m sure I will forever chase in my cooking quests–as we bounced around in the backseat of photographer William Hartshorn’s SUV on our way to photograph hot air balloons in Temecula.)
These days, Marion and her beloved dog Sushi “summer” at the family compound on a beautiful lake in Michigan where her family has gathered for decades. This summer she has been Blue Cayenne’s special correspondent in Michigan–exchanging any number of messages with me about the dishes she has cooked from this site. From the plum tart recipe to the savory butternut squash bread pudding, Marion has cooked Blue Cayenne for her family. And, from what I can make out, life (and food) at the compound has been very good.
Fortunately, Marion is an excellent photographer, too. Her beautiful photographs allow us to capture a bit of the magic of an unhurried summer on a beautiful lake in Michigan.
Love you, Marion. Wishing you many more recipes and cooking experiences. Enjoy your summer in paradise. Send cookies!
Which “vegetable” is actually a berry, has the highest nicotine content among all vegetables, and is 95% water? (Hint: Chinese ladies once used the dye extracted from this vegetable’s skin to polish their teeth to a then-fashionable gray hue.) It’s the eggplant. Who knew? (Don’t…
