Eggplant Caponata

While A sat waiting for me outside the doctor's office flipping through various 'health' magazines, he watched this recipe on a Mario Batali show on Food Network. He, very obviously, ditched the magazine and concentrated on the show. We came back from the hospital and A immediately went and bought an eggplant. In true bourgeois homes style, he left for work asking me to prepare the Eggplant Caponata as shown by Batali, one of A's favourite chefs. While I am an eggplant afficionado, I saw that this recipe consisted of tomato and thought it will be like another Baingan-wali sabzi ;) But, boy, oh boy! Was I surprised or what! This recipe is a winner (inspite of the horrible pics!) and came out perfectly delicious and it is a regular now.

Without any further ado, this is the recipe. Here it is for your convenience (Thanks Nags!)

• 1/2 cup virgin olive oil
• 1 large Spanish onion, chopped in 1/2-inch dice
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts
• 3 tablespoons currants
• 1 tablespoon hot chili flakes, plus extra for garnish
• 2 medium eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (to yield 4 cups)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 teaspoon
• 1/4 cup basic tomato sauce, recipe follows
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 5 sprigs mint, chopped

1. In a large 12 to 14-inch saute pan, over medium heat, heat the olive oil until hot but not smoking. Add the onions, pine nuts, currants and chili flakes and saute for 4 to 5 minutes until softened.

2. Add the eggplant, sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa and continue to cook for 5 more minutes. Add the thyme, tomato sauce, and balsamic vinegar. Bring the mixture to a boil.

3. Lower the heat and simmer the mixture for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature, garnish with mint and chili flakes. Serve the caponata spooned on crostini or in middle of table with crostini on side to allow guests to help themselves.

Basic tomato sauce

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 Spanish onion, 1/4-inch dice
4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves, or 1 tablespoon dried
1/2 medium carrot, finely grated
2 (28-ounce) cans peeled whole tomatoes, crushed by hand and juices reserved
Salt

The changes I made to the recipe, apart making it for 2 people? Here you go:

1. More cocoa :P

2. Less tomato/tomato sauce and store-bought

3. Regular white vinegar instead of balsamic vinegar.

4. Used a regular white onion and not a Spanish onion

We ate it with some home-made bread, the recipe of which I may post later.

I thought this could very well serve as a great pasta sauce if thinned out with some more tomatoes or make it more liquidy with a little stock or pasta's starchy water. We initialy wanted to make a bruschetta of this and so the thick consistency! This is not an exotic recipe for all the hype in the name. Do try and let us know how it turned out!

Herby Panzanella!

Dill is one of my favourite herbs. My mom usually uses it to add flavour and greens to Akki Roti, an all time fave at my house. When I first saw Dill or Sabakki as we call it at the Indian store, I was ballistic, and bought a bunch home. In my enthusiasm of having correlated that dill = sabakki, and that it was easily available, I used up the entire bunch of dill for my first Akki Roti experiment. A hated it. It was way too bitter and I had to beg him since then everytime I had to buy dill! Ultimately, I stopped. Not because he said no. But, actually, I stopped being the romantic newly-wed wife who woke up early to make delicious breakfasts for the early bird husband of hers. So, no reason to buy dill, I thought and left it at the herb stall at my Indian store after having touched it lovingly. Last week, when I went to the Indian store, I made an on the spot resolution to wake up early from the next day and reaffirm my love to A. After a week of the dill lying in the fridge, I figured that if I my love for A had not made me wake up early, this rotting dill certainly won't! But I had to use it!

I'm an insomniac and have endless nights thinking about food, unkept promises and resolutions. One such night proved to be an inspiration. I dreamt/thought about a creamy dill dressing for a Panzanella salad. Though I'm not a salad person, I love my Panzanella! The next day, I opened the fridge to be greeted by wilting mint leaves too. So, I decided to be firm and use up the mint too. This is what I did!

Ingredients:

1 bunch of dill leaves, chopped
A couple of mint leaves, chopped
2 tbsp yoghurt or sour cream (optional, I did not add it because I did not have it. But I'm sure the taste'd have gone up a notch)
1tsp powdered cumin seeds
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 carrot, chopped lengthwise, into thin strips
Pieces of bread - preferably stale
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt
Pepper

1. Blend chopped dill, mint and yoghurt/sour cream together in a blender. Add some salt and pepper to the dressing.

2. In a bowl, add the chopped onions, tomatoes and carrots, add salt and pepper, lemon juice and powdered cumin seeds. Mix well.

3. Add bread, mix well.

4. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well. Let it rest for 5 mins.

5. Attack it with a vengeance (I always eat salad with a vengeance. No prizes for guessing why!)

With my last helping of the salad, I also added some fat-free herb crackers to make it salad ala herb overload. It was delicious to bite into crunchy crackers in between the soft salad! I did not lettuce that day, however, am sure lettuce is a great addition. This is the only salad I dreamt about again! However, this time, I dreamt it with some olive oil and Parmesan action :P