Get Growing In April

Get Growing

Welcome to our fifth Get Growing entry. This series will span 12 months, and is designed to help aspiring vegetable gardeners get out of the kitchen and into the garden. On the first of each month, we will discuss one garden project for the novice vegetable gardener. Because we are located in Houston, Texas, our growing conditions differ from many parts of the English-speaking world. To help guide gardeners in cooler climates, our Get Growing partner is Daphne of Daphne's Dandelions. Daphne gardens in Boston, and she will be providing monthly advice for Northern gardeners (although her excellent site is a wonderful resource for gardeners everywhere). For Get Growing in April, Daphne discusses growing brassicas.  Regardless of where you live, her advice is invaluable.

A BIG Seed Giveaway

We are very excited to offer a giveaway this month sponsored by Hometown Seeds.  We will select one winner from our site, and Daphne will also select one winner.  The prize is an amazing assortment of vegetable seeds from Hometown's Survival Seed collection, a total of sixteen packages of vegetable seeds ranging from beets and pole beans to butternut squash, cucumber, zucchini and sweet peppers.  The winner will receive almost a pound and a half of seeds, specially packaged to keep a minimum of 5 years. All the vegetable varieties are non-hybrids which is wonderful if you like to collect and save seeds.  

To qualify, you must live in the continental U.S. and you must post a comment here at any time between now and April 15th and mention the Hometown giveaway.  You may also send an email directly to vegmatter@gmail.com.  If you post a comment, please enable us to reply so we can retrieve your details if you are the winner.  Seeds will be shipped directly to the winner from Hometown Seeds later this month.

Get Growing in April

April is a great time to start eggplant seeds in Zone 9.  Eggplants are part of the solanum, or nightshade, family which also includes tomatoes, sweet and chile peppers, and tomatillos.  These plants all love the heat, making them well suited to our hot, humid climate.  You'll find that many vegetable plants sputter out when our long summer drags on, but eggplants remain extremely productive during even the hottest summer months.  In fact, eggplants started now should produce constantly from June through the first hard frost (which occurred last year in late November).   That's six months of harvesting pounds and pounds of eggplants, enough to fatigue even the most ardent eggplant lover by the end of the growing season. 

 

How to Grow Eggplants

Eggplants are easy to start from seed.  See our sidebar for our favorite seed suppliers.  We prefer to start our seeds in pots, but direct sowing is also fine.  The seeds are fairly small, so don't plant too deeply.  Keep moist until germination, and then be sure to protect the seedlings from any late frost.  Temperatures must be warm for the seeds to germinate, so you may consider starting seeds indoors if the ambient temperature is still chilly in your area.  Here in Houston we're already hitting the high 70's and low 80's during the day making it perfect eggplant-starting weather.

Grow your eggplants in full sun in rich, fertile soil, and plant in a section of the garden that did not include solanum species last year to prevent the spread of disease.  Because eggplants have a long growing season in Zone 9, the plants will become quite full and tall.  Leave adequate space in between seedlings to accommodate this growth.

We are a bit eggplant crazy in our family and have grown as many as 24 plants at one time, but realistically, just a few plants will supply enough eggplants for a family of four throughout the summer.   The plants should not have any significant pest problems, but keep an eye out for leaf footed bugs which like to congregate on the fruits.

Eggplant plants are quite attractive in the garden, with small purple flowers that are extremely ornamental.  Once the fruits appear, they add extra beauty and color to the plants.  For this reason, eggplants can easily be included in a flower border.  Just be sure they're planted somewhere that receives a full day of sun, and grow the plants somewhere that is easy to access for harvesting.

Eggplant Varieties

Part of the reason for our excess when it comes to growing eggplants is the amazing variety available.  Green, lavender, orange, white, purple, variegated.  Long, round, oval, and bite-sized.  It is truly hard to select just one type of eggplant to grow.  In fact, last summer we grew 12 varieties, admittedly a bit much.  But, we have a few favorites that we are happy to recommend: 

• Thai Long Green -- this is our hands-down favorite.  It is an Asian-style eggplant, with few seeds and a dense texture that cooks beautifully.  The plants are highly productive, and the long bright green eggplants are gorgeous.  These eggplants are tasty when picked while small, or when they reach maturity at 8 inches or more.  The only drawback is that this variety is a hybrid, which means that you cannot collect and save seeds.

 

• Cloud Nine -- this is the most prolific eggplant we have grown.  In fact, it became almost impossible to keep up with the never-ending supply produced by just 3 plants.  The small white fruits glow in the summer garden, making for an attractive and easy harvest.  If you wait too long, the fruits turn bright yellow.  At this point, they are full of seeds and not particularly tasty, but the color is wonderful.  This is another hybrid variety not suitable for seed collection.

 

• Rotunda Bianca Sfumata di Rosa -- the prettiest eggplant we grow.  This is a round, Italian-style eggplant in amazing shades of purple, white and lavender.  The fruits are so big and heavy, staking the plants is a good idea or your plants will start growing horizontally as the fruits weigh down the branches.  This is an heirloom variety, great if you like to collect and save seeds.

 

• Thai Hybrid Tiger -- this is a bite-sized eggplant that matures to the size of a golf ball.  Covered in green and white stripes, these are extremely ornamental in the garden before harvesting.  They can be sliced like other eggplant varieties, cooked whole, or stuffed.  As the name suggests, this is a hybrid variety.

Other varieties we have successfully grown include Ichiban, Black Beauty, Rosa Bianca, Green Doll and Pingtung.  Both Ichiban (long Asian-style) and Black Beauty (Italian style) are especially excellent producers of delicious eggplants.  This year, we are growing several varieties new to us including Antigua, Fairy Tale, Money Maker and Ma-Zu Purple.  Check back in June for our results with these varieties.



Pollination to Increase Production

Eggplants have "perfect" flowers.  This means that there are no female and male flowers to mess with, making the job for pollinators such as butterflies and bees fairly easy work.  But we have found that eggplants respond particularly well to hand pollination, and productivity is dramatically increased.   In addition, eggplant flowers are large enough to make this an easy and quick task.  When your plants start flowering, you should read all about hand pollination.

What to do with Eggplants

When you see just how productive eggplants are in Zone 9, you will understand why eggplant recipes are so popular in regions with climates similar to ours.  Grab any Middle Eastern, Italian, Indian or Chinese cookbook and you'll find a long list of recipes in the index  under "eggplant".  Eggplant is also popular in many French, Turkish, Thai and Vietnamese dishes to name just a few.  

Eggplants are best when used soon after harvest, so don't pick them only to store in your refrigerator for a week.  You can harvest your eggplants at any time from quite small to fully mature.  Baby eggplants are actually wonderfully delicate and delicious.  Harvest often to keep up your plants' productivity even if you're not dying to eat yet another eggplant dish.  You'll have no problem finding grateful recipients if (and when) you are harvesting more eggplants than you can possibly eat.

Other Posts in the Get Growing Series

Determining Your Gardening Zone and Growing Peas
Garden Planning, Planting Methods and Seed Selection
Growing Lettuce
Starting Seeds Indoors
Growing Tomatoes
Compost:  What is It, How to Make it, How to Use It
Growing Snap Beans
Spinach, Row Covers and Peas

Yangshuo-Style Eggplant and Tofu

If you're missing Ruth Reichl now that Gourmet magazine has folded, check out her weekly program on PBS.  It is a beautifully-filmed series documenting her trips to foodie destinations around the world with many unusual recipes.  One of our favorite episodes introduced us to the Chinese province of Yangshuo which offers breathtaking landscapes and amazing food.  After watching that program, we were inspired to create our own (vegetarian) version of an eggplant dish from Yangshuo featured on the program.  The recipe includes a few unusual ingredients, but we were lucky to find everything we needed at our local grocer, and our addition of tofu converts the original vegetable dish into a filling meal.  This is a quick recipe ready in just a few minutes once you have your ingredients assembled.

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Yangshuo-Style Eggplant and Tofu
serves 2 as an entree

Ingredients

1/2          lb         Japanese eggplant
2             Tbs      vegetable oil
2                         garlic cloves, minced
2             tsp        fresh ginger, minced
1/2          tsp        chile paste
1.2          tsp        fermented black beans (see picture above)
1/3          cup       water
1             Tbs       vegetarian stir-fry sauce (see picture above)
1             Tbs       soy sauce
2                          scallions, white and green parts cut into 3" pieces
8             oz         extra-firm tofu
1             cup       sushi rice

Procedure

1. Wrap tofu in paper towels and place between two plates for about ten minutes to drain excess liquid.  Discard paper towels, cut tofu into 1" cubes.
2. Cook rice.
3. Cut eggplant into thin slices .
4. Heat wok over high until it smokes.  Add oil and swirl around pan.  Immediately add eggplant and fry until softened and browned, about 2 minutes.  Add garlic and ginger and continue to fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
5. Add chile paste and black beans and cook about 30 seconds, then add water, vegetarian stir-fry sauce, soy sauce and tofu.  Cook until eggplant and tofu are coated with a thickened sauce, about 2 minutes.  Add scallions and cook briefly (about 30 seconds).
6. Serve immediately over cooked rice.

Eggplant compote with yellow split peas

Here we use the last Thai Long Green eggplants of the year.  This was definitely our favorite eggplant variety of the year -- beautiful, very productive and great taste.  Second place goes to Cloud Nine, even prettier and more productive but the fruits are smaller so a bit trickier to use in the kitchen.  Since both varieties are hybrids, we did not save seeds, but we will be sure to order Thai Long Green and Cloud Nine seeds for next year and we recommend that you do the same.

This dish is time-consuming, but well worth the effort.  It is inspired  by a Diane Kochilas recipe, but we adapted it to use our eggplants, basil and tomatoes.  A delicious weekend project.

Eggplant Compote with Yellow Split Peas

Ingredients

Split Peas
1        lb         yellow split peas, rinsed and drained
6        cups     water
2        cups     red onion, chopped
2/3     cup      olive oil
1                    bay leaf
2        tsp       sea salt
1/4     cup      fresh lemon juice

Eggplant Compote
1        lb        eggplant, sliced
1 1/4  tsp       sea salt
2        cups    tomatoes, peeled and diced
6        Tbs     olive oil
2                   yellow onions, diced
1        tsp      honey
2        Tbs     fresh basil, chopped
1/4     tsp      black pepper
2        tsp      balsamic vinegar

Procedure

Split Peas

1. Cook onions in 1/3 cup olive oil until soft.  Add split peas and mix well, then add water and bay leaf.  
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cook, partially covered, until peas have broken down, about 1 hour.
3. Add salt and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until peas are thick and creamy.
4. Discard bay leaf, add lemon juice and 1/3 cup olive oil, then cover and set aside to thicken.

Eggplant Compote

1. Heat 3 Tbs olive oil over medium and saute eggplant until golden.  Flip and repeat.  Remove to paper towels to drain.
2. In same pan, add 3 more Tbs olive oil and saute onions over low until soft and golden, about 20 minutes.  Add garlic and cook a few more minutes.  Add honey, then eggplant, tomatoes, basil, pepper and salt.  Simmer gently.
3. Add vinegar at the end, then remove from heat.
4. Serve warm compote on top of warm split peas.

Eggplant Compote with Yellow Split Peas made the Foodbuzz Top 9 today! The Foodbuzz Top 9 is a photo-driven collection of top-buzzed posts within the Foodbuzz community. Check it out here: http://www.foodbuzz.com/top9.. Congratulations again, and thanks for being a part of Foodbuzz! Cheers,  The Foodbuzz Editorial Team

Preserved Cloud Nine Eggplant

A beautiful way to preserve surplus eggplant, or create a unique gift from the garden.  The combination of the green mint leaves and jalapeno slices with the white skins of the Cloud Nine eggplant is particularly beautiful here, but use any firm eggplant from the garden.  Thanks to Friday's snow and freeze, we have harvested the last of this year's eggplant, making preserved eggplant a great way to enjoy our summer eggplant in the weeks to come.

Ingredients

1 1/2           lb           Cloud Nine eggplant, stems
                                 removed and sliced thinly
                                 sea salt
1 1/2           cups       vinegar
1/2              cup         white wine vinegar
1                 pint         bell jar and lid
2                                jalapeno, thinly sliced
                                 (we used "Early Jalapeno" from the garden)
2                                garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2                 Tbs         fresh mint leaves
                                  (we used a mixture of mints from the garden)
1                 tsp          dried oregano
                                 olive oil
Procedure

1. In a large bowl, make a layer of eggplant slices and then generously spinkle with sea salt.  Repeat layering eggplant slices and salt until all the eggplant is in the bowl.  Place a plate on top to cover, and weigh down with a full teapot or heavy cans.  Leave for 24 hours, draining liquid occasionally.
2. Combine vinegars with 2 cups water in sauce pan, cover and bring to a boil.  Add eggplant and cover.  As soon as liquid boils again, remove from heat and drain off liquid.
3. Spread eggplant slices on paper towels to dry, leaving out for several hours.
4. Sterilize jar and lid in boiling water.
5. Make a layer of eggplant in bottom of jar.  Top with one slice of jalapeno, one slice of garlic, a mint leaf, and sprinkle a little oregano.  Repeat layering until jar is full.  Fill with olive oil, using a butter knife to pull eggplant back from sides of jar to allow oil to go all the way to the bottom of jar.
6. Close tightly and return jar to boiling water to create a seal.
   
7. Cool, then refrigerate for at least one week to allow flavors to develop before using.
8. Keeps several weeks in the refrigerator.
   

Black and White Eggplant Layered with Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

Layer Black Beauty and Cloud Nine eggplant slices to create contrasting black and white tiers, with red tomatoes and fresh basil from the garden providing lots of color.  The flavors pull together with baked goat cheese and a thick balsamic vinegar-tomato puree.

Baked Black and White Eggplant with Tomatoes, Basil and Goat Cheese

Ingredients

1        lb          eggplant, half Cloud Nine and half Black Beauty
1        lb          red tomatoes
9        oz         goat cheese
1/4     cup       fresh basil leaves
1                    garlic clove, minced
                      olive oil
1/3     cup       pureed tomatoes
1/4     cup       balsamic vinegar
                      sea salt and black pepper to taste

Procedure

1. Slice eggplants and saute in olive oil over medium until golden brown.  Flip and repeat.  Remove to paper towels to dry.
2. Slice tomatoes thinly.  Slice goat cheese from the log thinly (use very cold cheese).
3. On a sheet pan, layer eggplant, goat cheese, basil and tomato.  Add a few pinches of pepper.  Start next layer with opposite color eggplant and repeat.  Finish with eggplant slices as the top layer.  Drizzle a little olive oil on top.
   
4. Heat convection oven to 300 (325 conventional).  Bake until goat cheese is soft and oozing a bit.
5. While eggplant is in oven, make sauce by combining garlic, balsamic vinegar, pureed tomatoes, and 3/4 cup olive oil in a food processor until well combined and thick.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. When layered eggplant is done, remove from oven and serve with balsamic vinegar-tomato puree.
   

Grilled Eggplant, Haloumi and Arugula Sandwich

Sandwich perfection. Cloud Nine eggplant, Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes, arugula and Marketmore cucumbers from the garden. Grilled haloumi cheese and tahini yogurt sauce on grilled sourdough bread.  Try to stop at just one.

Grilled Eggplant, Haloumi and Arugula Sandwich with Yogurt Tahini Sauce
serves 2 (barely)

Ingredients

1/2      pound     Cloud Nine or Asian eggplant, sliced thinly
4         oz           Haloumi cheese, sliced
1                        cucumber, cut into strips
12                      cherry tomatoes (more or less)
1/2      cup         arugula (more or less -- ours is VERY strong)
1         cup         thick Greek yogurt
3         Tbs         tahini
1/2                    garlic clove, minced


Procedure

1. Prepare sauce:  combine yogurt, tahini and minced garlic.  Mix well.
2. Saute eggplant in olive oil over medium heat until golden brown.  Flip and repeat.  Remove to paper towels to dry.
3. In same pan, add 1 Tb butter and melt.  Add more olive oil if needed. Grill slices of sourdough until golden and crusty.  Flip and repeat.  Remove and set aside.
4. In same pan (add more butter and olive oil if needed), saute haloumi until melted and brown.  Flip and repeat.
5. Assemble sandwiches:  generously spread yogurt tahini sauce on both sides of bread.  Add eggplant, then haloumi, then tomatoes, cucumbers and arugula. 
   

Stewed Eggplant, Tomato and Chickpea

Continuing to celebrate the month of the pomegranate, pomegranate syrup and sugar sweeten this savory dish which uses Thai long green eggplant, tomatoes and parsley from the garden; simmering enhances the natural sugars in the tomatoes.  These sweet undertones create a rich and flavorful eggplant dish that works as either a side dish or meal.   Although December is just a few weeks away, the Thai long green eggplants are loaded with fruit and flowers thanks to the mild autumn we have been enjoying.  This is another eggplant variety that deserves a spot in next year's vegetable garden.

Stewed Eggplant, Tomato and Chickpea
based on a recipe by Claudia Roden in Arabesque
serves 2 as an entree
 

Ingredients

1        pound        asian-style eggplant
3                         garlic cloves, minced
1        pound        tomatoes
1        tsp             sugar
2 1/2 Tbs             pomegranate syrup
14      oz              chickpeas
2        Tbs            Italian parsley, chopped
                            olive oil
                            salt and black pepper

Procedure

1. Cut an "X" on the bottom of each tomato.  Place in boiling water for one minute, remove with slotted spoon.  When cool, remove skin with your fingers and chop.
   
2. Thinly slice eggplant and saute in olive oil over medium until browned.  Flip over and repeat.  Remove to paper towels to dry.
3. In same pan, heat garlic in olive oil until just beginning to color.  Add tomatoes and stir.  Add sugar, salt and black pepper and cook for 15 minutes.  
4. Add 1 1/2 T pomegranate syrup, eggplant and chickpeas and simmer until eggplant is very tender.  Add 1 more T pomegranate syrup, salt and pepper to taste.  Cook briefly and serve, with parsley sprinkled on top.
   

Cloud Nine Eggplant with Pomegranate Seeds, Pine Nuts and Yogurt Tahini Sauce

Visually stunning red pomegranate seeds and golden pine nuts on a bed of grilled white eggplant and creamy yogurt-tahini sauce.  The bright white skins of Cloud Nine eggplants create the perfect backdrop for this dish, but any eggplant variety will suit the recipe.  Slice eggplant thin or thick to suit your preferences.   November 7th marked seven months of harvesting Cloud Nine eggplants from the garden, with just three plants producing a pound or more per week.  Make some room for this eggplant variety in your garden next year.

Cloud Nine Eggplant with Pomegranate Seeds, Pine Nuts and Yogurt Tahini Sauce
adapted from Claudia Roden's Batinjan Bil Rumman in Arabesque
*served 2 as an entree

Ingredients

1 1/2       lbs         eggplant, sliced
1 1/2      Tbs         pomegranate syrup
1 1/2      Tbs         white wine vinegar
2            cups        Greek yogurt
1                           garlic clove, minced
2            Tbs         tahini
1/4         cup          pine nuts
1/4         cup          pomegranate seeds
                             olive oil, salt

Procedure

1. Saute eggplant in olive oil over medium until golden brown.  Flip and repeat.  Remove to paper towels to dry.
2. Heat 1/2 Tbs olive oil and fry pine nuts briefly until starting to brown.  Remove from pan.
3. Combine pomegranate syrup, vinegar and 2 Tbs olive oil.  Toss eggplant slices in the mixture and place on plates for serving.
4. Combine yogurt, tahini and garlic.  Dollop on top of eggplant slices.  Spinkle pine nuts and pomegranate seeds on top.
   

Eggplant Rishta Bi (Eggplant with Lentils, Caramelized Onions and Pasta)

We made a brief stop in Cincinnati before relocating from Los Angeles to Houston.  Known for it's chili and German food, Cincinnati was far from the ideal city for a vegetarian.  In fact, it was so hard to eat out that we actually started cooking at home, something we never did in L.A.  After my many cooking disasters, David took over in the kitchen and the rest is history.   The one restaurant that we loved in Cincy was a little hole-in-the-wall Lebanese restaurant called Floyd's.  Back then the kitchen was always occupied by a grandmotherly type who fed us until we were ready to burst.  She made an amazing dish with lentils, rice and caramelized onions, mujaddara, that we remember to this day.

We have made mujaddara at home many times since, and a similar dish called rishta bi which substitutes pasta for rice.  We decided to put a garden spin on these classics by adding eggplant fresh from the garden.   We cooked with Thai Long Green eggplant, but any type will work.  Leave yourself plenty of time to caramelize the onions.  Thomas Keller has a technique that takes an entire day, but if you live in the real world and can't spend the day in the kitchen, our approach yields tasty onions in around an hour.  We use butter and olive oil for the onions, but vegans should use only olive oil and the onions will still taste great.  Just a few ingredients, amazing flavors.  Although it deviates from tradition, we think our eggplant rishta bi would make our old friend at Floyd's proud.

Eggplant Rishta Bi

Ingredients

1       lb            eggplant, cut into thin slices
1                      large onion, sliced
1/2    cup         brown lentils
8       oz           fresh tagliatelle pasta
                       (or 4 oz dry pasta)
                       olive oil
                       butter
                       sea salt and black pepper
                       fresh Italian parsley, chopped
                       
Procedure

1. Heat olive oil over medium and fry eggplant slices until golden brown.  Flip and repeat.  Remove eggplant from pan to paper towels to dry.
2. Melt butter (about 1 Tbs) and add a dash of olive oil over low heat and cook onions until brown and caramelized.  This takes about an hour.  Keep the pan covered to soften the onions.  We let ours turn almost black before removing from heat.
   
3. Boil water and add lentils, cooking until just tender.  Drain in a collander.
4. Cook pasta in salted water and drain in a collander.
5. Toss pasta, lentils, 5 Tbs olive oil, eggplant and onions together.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Top with chopped parsley.
   

Eggplant, Black Bean and Cotija Tostada with Spicy Tomatillo Jalapeno Salsa

We don't do much southwestern cooking at home, so my image of tostados is from Taco Bell commercials.   I pictured a crunchy, deep-fried shell with little taste, but our tostados were soft and golden brown with lots of fresh corn flavor.  The trick is to gently fry the tortillas just before assembling your tostadas.  The Spicy tomatillo jalapeno salsa can be made ahead of time, so just pick your fresh eggplant and tomatoes and dinner will be ready in no time.  We used Cloud Nine and Thai Hybrid Tiger eggplants, Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes and cilantro from the garden. I wish we had an avocado tree, but for now the avocados are store-bought.

Eggplant, Black Bean and Cotija Tostados with Spicy Tomatillo Jalapeno Salsa 
(makes enough for 4-6 depending on how much you load the tostadas)

Ingredients

2                 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4    cup     cilantro (or what you pick from the garden), chopped
2       cans    black beans (30 oz total), drained and rinsed
3/4    tsp      salt
1       lb       eggplant, sliced thinly
2                 avocado, chopped
1       pkg    corn tortillas
1       cup     cotija cheese, grated
1       cup     cherry tomatoes
                   Spicy Tomatillo Jalapeno Salsa
                   vegetable oil, olive oil

Procedure

1. Combine beans with 2 cups water and bring to a simmer uncovered.  Cook about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Drain beans but RESERVE LIQUID.  
2. Puree beans, 1/4 cup of cooking liquid, and garlic until smooth
3. Heat some olive oil in a pan over medium heat and fry eggplant until golden brown.  Flip and repeat.  Remove from pan to paper towels to dry.
   
4. Heat 3 Tbs vegetable oil over moderate heat, then add beans and cook until very thick, about 5 minutes.  Add salt and remove from stove.  You may have extra beans (we did).  If so, refrigerate and use later.  If beans get too thick to spread, just add some more of the reserved cooking liquid.
   
5. Heat tortillas in vegetable oil over moderate heat until golden brown.  Flip over and repeat.
6. Assemble tostadas:  spread beans over bottom, then salsa, then eggplant slices, avocado, and tomatoes.  Top with cheese and sprinkle with cilantro.
   

Risking it all for an eggplant

Would you risk your life for an eggplant?  This was the question I was asking myself last night as I searched in the dark during an intense thunderstorm for an eggplant to harvest for dinner.  When a lightning bolt lit up the sky, instead of dropping my metal hand pruners to avoid electrocution, I used the bright light to locate the Thai Hybrid Tiger eggplant that I remembered seeing on the plant the day before.   I captured my elusive prey, and ran into the house soaking wet but victorious.  

Vegetable gardening definitely triggers temporary insanity.  A gardening friend in Indiana e-mailed me about her frantic midnight lima bean harvest last month when an unexpected frost threatened to kill her plants.  And a customer at The Cutting Garden recently ordered flowers to be sent to her 86 year old aunt who broke an arm and a leg when she fell off the top of a wall while she was pruning her lemon tree.  

In my defense, the eggplant was needed for David's latest kitchen creation:  tostadas with black beans, cotija cheese, and eggplant.  On the side, an amazing salsa made with our fresh tomatillos and jalapenos.  Thankfully, I harvested the tomatillos and jalapenos before the storm hit.  I savored the dinner flush with the excitement of surviving danger in the name of gourmet cooking.  David just thinks I'm insane.   Please confess your craziest behavior in the name of a great meal - I know I'm not alone.

ps  Recipes for the tostada and tomatillo jalapeno salsa coming soon...

Risking it all for an eggplant made the Foodbuzz Top 9 today! The Foodbuzz Top 9 is a photo-driven collection of top-buzzed posts within the Foodbuzz community.  Congratulations again, and thanks for being a part of Foodbuzz!  Cheers, The Foodbuzz Editorial Team

Stretching the leftovers with Bruschetta

We love leftovers, especially for weeknight dinners.  Sometimes we're just too tired to cook after a long day at work.  To be honest, sometimes David is too tired to cook or I'm too hungry to wait for him to cook.  Yesterday, we had leftover penne pasta with caciocavallo, thai eggplant and cayenne peppers waiting in the fridge.  Unfortunately, the pasta is so good that we were a bit overzealous eating it the first night, so there wasn't quite enough left to fill both of us.   The quick solution:  bruschetta.  These are little open-faced grilled sandwiches, easy to make and very filling.

We had a bit of extra caciocavallo cheese from the night before, and of course there is always eggplant in the garden.  In just a few minutes, David turned these simple ingredients into amazing bruschetta.  They were so good, in fact, that the pasta was pushed to the side until every bruschetta crumb was gone.  What's not to love about bread grilled in olive oil topped with fabulous cheese and garden-fresh eggplant?

Bruschetta with Grilled Thai Eggplant and Caciocavallo
makes 4 Bruschetta


Ingredients

4      slices       ciabatta, sourdough, or similar bread
1/4   lb             Thai long green eggplant, sliced thinly
2      oz            caciocavallo (or whatever is leftover)
                       olive oil
                       red pepper flakes or 1 dried cayenne pepper

Procedure

1. Heat olive oil over medium high and grill eggplant slices until golden brown on both sides.  remove and drain on paper towels.
2. Cube half the cheese, and grate the other half
   
3. In same pan (add more olive oil if necessary), grill bread slices until golden and toasted on both sides.
4. Place cubed cheese on bread while it's still in the pan so the cheese will melt.  Remove from pan, then top with eggplant slices and grated cheese.  Sprinkle lightly with red pepper flakes or crumbled dry cayenne pepper.
5. Try to be nice and share the bruschetta with your spouse
   

Penne with Caciocavallo, Thai Eggplant and Cayenne Peppers

Although the temperatures have dropped and fall vegetable seeds are started in the garden, the summer eggplant harvest continues.  This year we have become particularly fond of Thai Long Green eggplant due to its firm texture, mild flavor, and lack of seeds.  The plants are also extremely prolific, with an almost constant supply of new eggplants from just two plants.  It is one of those vegetable plants that is great both for the garden and the kitchen.

When the cayenne pepper plants were pulled out of the garden last weekend, there were several cups of peppers on the plants.  We picked them all off, and will leave most to dry.  Many are over four inches long and a brilliant bright red.  David decided to make one last dish using some of those gigantic fresh cayenne peppers along with our Thai Long Green eggplant and Italian parsley from the garden.

We were worried about over-harvesting from our parsley plants so David bought a bunch at the grocery on the way home.  When we compared our freshly picked parsley with its bright green leaves and strong aroma to the store-bought parsley which was totally lacking in taste or smell, we tossed the purchased parsley in the bin.   Parsley should do more than add green specks to a dish.   Fresh parsley provides a nice zing to cooked vegetables, and it is loaded with vitamins A and C, as well as iron, folate and calcium. 

The dried pasta was from Rustichella d'Abruzzo, and we added one of our favorite cheeses, caciocavallo.  Caciocavallo is a wonderful Italian cheese.  We first tasted caciocavallo many years ago in Sicily where it originated.  The texture is similar to fresh mozarella, although a little firmer, with a delicious smoky flavor.  The "cavallo" suggests that at some point the cheese was made with horse's milk, but thankfully the milk now comes from cows or sheep.  On a business trip to Brescia in northern Italy David actually ate "cavallo", but that discussion will be left for another day.   For today, we are enjoying our pasta made with vegetables fresh from the garden with our "cheese on horseback".

Penne with Caciocavallo, Thai Eggplant and Cayenne Peppers

Ingredients

1           lb               Thai Long Green eggplant (or other Asian-style),
                               sliced thinly
                               olive oil
3                             garlic cloves, diced
5          Tbs             Italian parsley, chopped
3                             cayenne peppers, seeds removed and diced
                               (or 3 dried peppers, diced)
3          lbs               fresh tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped
12        oz               dried penne pasta
10        oz               caciocavallo, grated
                               salt and black pepper to taste

Procedure

1. Loosen skins of tomatoes by placing tomatoes in boiling water 1 minute, then allow to cool.  Remove skins and seeds, then chop tomatoes.
   
2. Heat 3 T olive oil over medium low and saute garlic, parsley and chiles until garlic is browned (about 5 minutes).  Add tomatoes and cook until a thick sauce, 20 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
   
3. Saute eggplant in clean pan with olive oil over medium until brown on both sides.  Remove and drain on paper towels.
4. Boil pasta in salted water.  Drain in collander, then add tomato sauce, eggplant and cheese.  Add salt and peper to taste.
   

Farro Pasta with Goat Cheese, Eggplant, Tomatoes and Greens

Dinner was Italian (sort of).  Pasta with eggplant and tomatoes.  So far so good.  But we still don't have spinach in our garden, so our Italian pasta dinner included senposai instead.  Senposai is such an adaptable green that an unsuspecting diner would probably never know the difference.   We have used senposai in Middle Eastern, Asian and Italian dishes.  Really it works in any recipe that calls for spinach, kale or cooked leafy greens.

Senposai is also a star in the garden, especially our hot Houston garden.  We've been harvesting from the same plants all summer, and many months later they are still growing.  The leaves are thick and green; when left on the plant they reach up to 12 inches long.  Senposai is tasty whether picked small or large.  We rarely let the leaves grow to full size because there's always a need for more senposai in the kitchen.

We selected a wonderful pasta from Rustichella d'Abruzzo made with organic farro.  Farro is an unhybridized ancestor of modern wheat with a dense nutty flavor.  The texture and taste pair well with vegetables fresh from the garden.  Imagine a pasta stand-in for brown rice.  Our recipe is really not much of one.  Use it as a guide for whatever vegetables you have on hand.  For us that means eggplant (of course), Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes, and senposai.  But this pasta would be delicious with kale or spinach, or even with brussel sprouts (my favorite vegetable).   

Farro Pasta with Goat Cheese, Eggplant, Tomatoes and Greens
makes 4 entree portions

Ingredients

1        box         dry pasta
1        pound      Italian eggplant, sliced thinly
1 1/2  cup          senposai or other leafy green
1        cup          cherry tomatoes
4        oz            goat cheese (we used Carpicho
                         de Cabra peppered goat cheese)
                         olive oil
                         salt and black pepper

Procedure

1. Cook pasta and drain in collander.  
   
2. Heat olive oil over medium in saute pan and saute eggplant until golden on both sides.  Place slices on paper towels to drain.
3. In same pan, saute senposai until soft, about 2 minutes.  It shrinks down like spinach, but not as much because it is thicker.  Remove from pan and set aside.
4. In same pan, gently heat a tiny bit of olive oil and add goat cheese.  Allow cheese to get warm, but not to melt into a liquid.  
5. Remove goat cheese from pan and add to cooked pasta.  Add eggplant and senposai and toss.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add cherry tomatoes.        
   

                 

Bulgur with Halloumi and Eggplant

Prepare to cry.  You may be moved to tears by the sheer genius of this simple dish.  But first you have to slice a lot of onions.  Don't be deceived by the short list of ingredients.  This Syrian recipe turns bulgur, eggplant and haloumi into a memorable meal.

If you are unfamiliar with halloumi, it is a cheese that is made in Cyprus.  We actually ordered a small recipe pamphlet devoted to halloumi from the Cypriot government a few years ago.  Halloumi has a great salty flavor and an unusual layered texture that it retains when cooked.  You can fry or grill it without the cheese turning into a liquid mess.   It is an amazing, unusual cheese that is one of our favorites.

For this recipe, inspired by Claudia Roden's The New Book of Middle Eastern Food,  we used our Thai Long Green Eggplant to add a nice punch of color to the finished dish.  You will be surprised by how many onion slices are required, but wipe away your tears and get cooking.  You'll be glad you did.

Bulgur with Halloumi and Eggplant
(based on Burghul bi Jibn wal Batinjan by Claudia Roden)
makes 4 large entree portions or 6 generous side portions

Ingredients

1          pound       Thai or Asian-style long eggplant, sliced thinly
1 1/2                     large onions, sliced
                             olive oil
2          cups          coarse-ground bulgur,
                             washed in cold water and drained
3 1/2    cups          boiling vegetable stock
7           oz            halloumi, cubed
                             black pepper to taste
                             Italian parsley, chopped

Procedure

1. Heat 2 Tbs olive oil and fry onions until golden.  Add bulgur.  Add the hot stock and cover.
2. Cook on very low heat until stock is absorbed and bulgur is tender, about 20 minutes.
3. While bulgur is cooking, fry eggplant slices in olive oil.  Drain on paper towels.
4. When bulgur is cooked, add 4 Tbs olive oil, halloumi, and eggplant.  Gently combine.
5. Re-cover and keep the pot on very low heat until the halloumi is soft.  Season with salt and pepper as needed.  Sprinkle with chopped parsley.  Serve hot.
   

Spicy Tofu with Asian Greens

This summer we experimented with growing Asian greens.  We ordered every variety that we could find that would survive the long, hot Texas summer.   The plants were quite hardy and productive, far exceeding our expections and producing heavily all summer.  The challenge for us then became what to do with these exotic greens.

We have discovered that Asian greens are amazingly versatile.  They can act as a stand-in for spinach in Italian recipes, as lettuce for our Middle Eastern salads, and as the vegetable for stir frys.  Last night, we created a Pan-Asian dish using a combination of three of the greens:  Senposai (Japanese), Yu Choy (Chinese) and Natsu Rakuten (Japanese).  We added Thai eggplant and jalapenos from the garden, plus tofu, to create a filling dish with a bit of a kick.  If you love heat, feel free to add even more chiles to the recipe.  You can also substitute any greens you have available if senposai, yu choy and misome are not sold at your local Kroger or Farmer's Market.

Spicy Tofu with Asian Greens

Ingredients

1       lb       tofu
                   peanut oil for frying
                   olive oil for sauteeing
8                 sections green onion, each 1" long
8                 thin slices ginger
2       tsp     chili paste
1       tsp     chopped fresh jalapeno
2       cups   assorted Asian greens
                   (we used senposai, yu choy and natsu rakuten)
1       lb       Thai (or other Asian-style) eggplant, sliced thinly
2       tsp      sugar
2       tsp      sesame oil
4       tsp      corn starch
5       tsp      soy sauce
2 1/2 cup     vegetable stock

Procedure

1.  Horizontally cut block of tofu into 3 sections.  Then cut each slice in the shape of an "X" -- on the diagonal each direction to make a total of 12 triangles of tofu.
2. Heat the peanut oil on high, then fry tofu about 4 minutes until both sides are golden brown.  Remove from oil and drain on paper towels.
3. Heat olive oil and saute eggplant until golden brown on both sides.  Remove and drain on paper towels.  Using same pan and oil, cook greens briefly (about 1 minute).  Remove and set aside.
   
4. Heat 3 Tb peanut oil over medium and saute onion, ginger, chili paste and jalapenos until fragrant.  Add tofu, eggplant, greens and all of the remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil and cook until sauce thickens, about 3 minutes.
   

Garden Pu Pu Platter with Crunchy Baby Lima Beans

When David was growing up, his family dinners were very predictable.  Thursday was meatloaf night, Friday was spaghetti.  Perhaps as a reaction against that routine, he refused to cook us the same dish twice for dinner.  Each night was a new recipe, with results that ranged from the spectacular to the inedible.  One constant was that we rarely ate before 10:00 at night as David forged his way through yet another unfamiliar recipe.   By the time dinner was finished, David was usually exhausted and cranky, the kitchen was a disaster area, and I was ready to go to sleep.

While I appreciated his efforts and loved the variety, too many nights of gnawing hunger and late nights forced me to suggest that David create a repertoire.  Not the strict schedule he grew up with, but a collection of tested recipes that he could draw from when planning dinner.  For our restaurant, we use a software program called Living Cookbook to store our recipes.  When the chefs (inevitably) lose a recipe or it gets covered in grease, we just print out a new copy.

For the house, we decided to go low-tech.  We purchased a binder, and David filed all his favorite recipes inside.  We still set aside several nights each week for experimentation, but we have a few nights each week to enjoy our favorites and spend the rest of the night relaxing.  This routine has been complicated somewhat by the vegetable garden.  Other than eggplant (which is always in supply right now), it's hard to know what will be ready from the garden each night.  So the key has been to keep the kitchen well stocked with basics (which for us means things like tofu, feta, couscous, onions, and spices) so that we can harvest each night and design the dinner accordingly.

Sometimes this means edamame on the side, other nights we have fresh snap beans or senposai.  Even though we have introduced a bit of regimentation to the schedule, we still have amazing variety thanks to the garden.  Last night is a perfect example.   From the garden we harvested cucumbers, tomatoes, dandelion greens, arugula, lima beans and (of course) eggplant.  David decided to make a salad, with some cooked vegetables on the side.  The result:  a garden pu pu platter with Jerusalem Salad (part of the repertoire) using the dandelion greens, arugula, cucumbers and tomatoes, plus sauteed eggplant and crunchy lima beans on the side.   The eggplant harvest was a combination of thai long green, rosa bianca, cloud nine and black beauty.  Each kept its color, making for a beautiful side dish in shades of green, purple and white.

The baby limas were also a mixture of varieties -- Dixie Butterpea, Fordhook 242, Henderson's Bush, and White Dixie.  David prepared Crunchy Lima Beans -- crunchy on the outside, still soft and creamy on the inside.  Easy to prepare, with a flavor that can't be beat.

Crunchy Baby Lima Beans

Ingredients

1-2       cups       fresh lima beans (removed from pods)
                          sea salt
2           Tbs       olive oil


Preparation

1. Boil salted water.  Add lima beans and blanch 3 - 5 minutes.
2. Drain in a colander and run beans under cold water to stop the cooking process.
3. Heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add lima beans, sprinkle with sea salt, and saute until they are slightly shriveled and dry-looking on the outside (about 5 minutes).  Remove immediately to avoid over-cooking.  Serve right away.
   

Cloud Nine Eggplant Souffle

The eggplant glut continues, requiring some creativity in the kitchen to avoid total burn-out.  We decided to do a week of eggplant dinners to highlight the versatility of this vegetable.  First up, eggplant souffle made with Cloud Nine eggplants.  This recipe is from Ana Sortun's book, Spice.  She and her husband are a mirror image of David and me -- he does the growing, she does the cooking -- and many of her recipes reflect their love of home-grown vegetables.  This souffle is excellent for those who are not totally enamored with eggplant because the the flavors of dill, asiago and sumac dominate in the finished dish.  Using fresh, firm eggplant is key to success here.

Eggplant Souffle
(adapted from Spice by Ana Sortun)

Ingredients

3      lbs       cloud nine eggplant (or any fresh eggplant)
1/4   cup      salt
1      cup      milk
1                 onion (outer layer only, peeled)
2     cloves  garlic, peeled
1                bay leaf
7     Tbs     butter
1/2   cup     flour
1/8    tsp     freshly grated nutmeg
1/2    tsp    sumac
1/4    tsp    black pepper
1/2    cup   grated asiago cheese
1/2    cup   fresh dill, chopped
4               eggs, separated

Procedure

1. Peel eggplants with vegetable peeler and cube.
2. Boil large sauce pan of water and add salt.  Add eggplant and reduce heat to medium high.  Cook until eggplant is soft.  Drain.
3. Puree in food processor until smooth.  Add pepper.  Measure 2 1/2 cups of puree and set aside.
4. Bring milk, onion, garlic and bay leaf to a boil over medium high heat.  Remove from heat and steep 10 minutes, then remove onion, garlic and bay leaf.
5. Melt 4 T butter over medium high until it starts to foam, then whisk in 1/4 C flour.  Whish until mixture is golden brown, then add hot milk and whisk until thick and doughy.  Add nutmeg and sumac.
6. Add cheese, dill and egg yolks.  Add eggplant puree.
7. Heat oven to 400.
8. Beat egg white to stiff peaks, then fold into the eggplant mixture.
9. Butter and flour eight 6-oz ramekins and fill each 3/4 to top with eggplant mixture.
10. Bake until golden brown and tall, about 20 minutes.
11. Dust with more sumac, and serve with greek yogurt and warm pita bread.
    

Cloud nine eggplant souffle made the Foodbuzz Top 9 today! The Foodbuzz Top 9 is a photo-driven collection of top-buzzed posts within the Foodbuzz community.  Congratulations again, and thanks for being a part of Foodbuzz!
Cheers, The Foodbuzz Editorial Team

Fried eggplant with hot chiles

I have learned that taste is totally subjective, especially with respect to saltiness and spiciness. At our restaurant, we have a constant debate about the right amount of salt for our soups. I prefer less, but our cooks prefer more. Our customers have joined in the debate, and there is seldom a consensus opinion. The same is true when it comes to heat. Some think our chicken tortilla soup is too spicy, and others dump tabasco on top.

I am a total wimp when it comes to eating spicy food, and am perfectly content to have nothing that is even remotely hot. This has been a source of conflict because many of David's favorite restaurants prepare dishes that bring tears to my eyes and a burn to my throat. The compromise has been that we order items that are not too hot, and then he dumps hot sauce and sriracha on everything.

When David selected a recipe for fried eggplant with hot chiles, I was excited to try a new eggplant dish, but the jalapenos made me nervous. My fears were not allayed when David showed me that the recipe called for using the whole chile, including the pith which includes all the heat. But we trust Bsisu, and decided to stick to the recipe as written.

The results were suprisingly tasty, and not at all spicy. The jalapenos just added a depth of flavor to the dish. David served these with a dollop of Fage Greek yogurt just in case I needed to cool down. The yogurt made a great dip for the eggplant, and I would recommend that you do the same.  Our garden is producing so much eggplant, and so many jalapenos, its wonderful to find a recipe that uses them together to such good effect.
 
Fried Eggplant with Hot Chiles
(adapted from The Arab Table by Mary Bsisu)

Ingredients

3          lbs             eggplants (we used a mixture of varieties
                             from the garden)
1          clove         garlic, smashed
1          TB            fresh lemon juice
1          TB            white vinegar
1          C              vegetable oil
4-6                       jalapeno peppers
                            ground sumac for garnish
                            Fage yogurt

Procedure

1. Remove eggplant skins with vegetable peeler, leaving a few thin strips of skin on each.
2. Cut eggplant into 1/2" thick circles.
3. Combine garlic, lemon juice and vinegar.  Set aside.
4.  Heat vegetable oil over high, then fry eggplant slices until edges darken and centers are golden brown, about 4 minutes per side.  Transfer to paper towels to dry.
5. Make a slit in each jalapeno and remove seeds.  Then fry them in the same oil used for the eggplants.  Remove when the peppers blister and turn white all over.  Transfer to paper towels to dry.
6. Mix eggplant slices with the lemon garlic sauce.  Add the fried jalapenos.  Sprinkle with sumac
7. Serve with warm pita and yogurt on the side.

Fried eggplant with hot chiles made the Foodbuzz Top 9 today! The Foodbuzz Top 9 is a photo-driven collection of top-buzzed posts within the Foodbuzz community.  Congratulations again, and thanks for being a part of Foodbuzz!
Cheers, The Foodbuzz Editorial Team