Eggplant Parm and Mushroom Risotto

Well, it has been quite some time, hasn’t it?  We’ve been cooking, of course (because, really, what else would we be doing?)–but I’ve been a little distracted on the food-blogging front.  My pup, Dewey, has been sick, and I’ve been contributing regularly to another blog, Hysteria!, which takes much more of a time commitment, interested as it is in feminism rather than food.  (Not that food isn’t important, mind you!  It’s just a little easier to write about quickly than, say, Health Care Reform.)

Anyway, we made this delicious Eggplant Parmesan and risotto a little while ago, but I’m just now getting to sharing it with you.  Which is a damn shame, because it turned out incredibly well, despite the fact that we deliberately made it lower in fat than we might typically: instead of frying the eggplant, we baked it in the oven.  Here’s how we did it.

To begin, Josh cut one eggplant into 1/4 – 1/2 inch slices.  He then put these in a colander, sprinkled them with salt, and put a weighted plate on top of them to squeeze out the bitter juices.  He left them there for about 25 minutes.

While this was hanging out, he prepped the vegetables for the risotto.  Basically, this involved making sure we had the following:

• Half an onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pint cremini mushrooms, chopped.
• About 2 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

When the eggplant was ready to go, he set up a dredging station with a bowl each of:

• flour
• egg wash (with a bit of milk)
• Bread crumbs, seasoned with salt and Italian seasoning

He then dredged each slice of eggplant through the 3 bowls (always in that order), and placed them all onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  These went into a 375 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes on each side.

While these were cooking, I started on the risotto (have you been wondering where I am during all of this?  I’ll give you a hint: we don’t have a dishwasher).  I sauteed the chopped onions and mushrooms in a bit of olive oil and butter while I heated up about 4-5 cups of vegetable stock on the stove.  When the onions were transparent and the mushrooms had shrunk considerably, I added the garlic, and then 1.5 cups of arborio rice, and let this saute in the pan without liquid for about a minute.  When the grains of rice began to get translucent, I began adding the broth, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring almost constantly.  After this, it was add, stir, add, stir, for about 20 minutes.  Unfortunately, I had no white wine to add that day, but typically, this is a standard risotto addition.  When the liquid was mostly absorbed, I added some grated romano cheese, and the parsley.

As I was doing this, Josh retrieved his eggplant slices from the oven and began constructing the eggplant parm.  He began by spreading a layer of marinara sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 9 baking dish (we’re using jarred sauce here; apologies to the Italians in the audience), and then constructed layers of eggplant, sauce, mozzarella cheese and basil to form a tasty casserole.  He finished the whole thing with a bit of extra parmesan and romano cheese on top, and then put the dish back into the oven to get melty and delicious.  When we took it out (after 10-15 minutes), we sprinkled the individual servings with thinly sliced basil leaves, and served it with the risotto.

This was Comfort Food at its finest–but a little more exciting than the traditional Eggplant-Parm-and-Pasta pairing.  And honestly, I couldn’t tell the difference between this version and the one that fries the eggplant slices individually.  It was still crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, and with the big flavors of the cheese and marinara, the decrease in fat was totally stealth.  My one regret about this meal was the lack of wine for the risotto, but next time, I’ll be prepared.

Not-Chicken Noodle Soup

Whenever I get a cold, my mom helpfully remarks, “Well, I’d tell you to eat some chicken-noodle soup if I thought you would.”  And to this, I typically respond with something along the lines of “yes, yes that would be good advice if I were someone who ate chicken.”  Then she tells me to take a Zinc supplement and drink some juice, which I always agree to do.

It’s the little predictabilities, you know, that make family relationships so special.

At any rate, while I don’t eat chicken or chicken broth, this recipe is one that I love even more than the real thing.  It’s warm and rich and flavorful and comforting, and it great if you have a cold (as I did when I made it), or if you just want a bit of coziness in your life.  My method here is a vegetarian adaptation of Tyler Florence’s Ultimate Chicken Noodle Soup, so if you want more specific measurements, check his recipe out.  Because this one is an Erin special–meaning ‘short on details, long on making stuff up as you go along.’

To start, I sauteed the following in a big soup pot:

• 1 diced yellow onion
• 2 ribs of celery, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced (add this a bit later to prevent burning)

In another saute pan, caramelize one diced onion, and preheat your oven to about 375.  You’ll see why later!

After the veggies get a bit softened, I added a bunch of vegetable stock (let’s say about 5 cups), and seasoned this.  My favorite things to season the stock:

• Creole seasoning
• salt
• cayenne
• thyme
• oregano
• fennel seed
• Worcestershire sauce

After this began to taste the way I wanted it (rich, peppery, herb-y), I got started on the not-chicken “meatballs.”  This sounds a bit crazy, but trust: it is delicious.  Tyler’s recipe is “ultimate” chicken-noodle soup because all of the elements are a bit more decadent than you’d expect.  So instead of plain chunks of chicken, he makes meatballs out of chicken-apple-sausage, and instead of flat noodles, he uses cheese tortellini.  I’ve done both the sausage and tortellini adaptations before, but for this round, we kept is simple with just the “sausage.”

To start, you need the caramelized onion from earlier (it should be just about ready now, if you’ve cooked it slowly enough).  You also need some fake chicken: in Canada, this one from PC is the best; in the States, I’d go with this one.  Once your fake chicken is thawed, put the following into a food processor:

• 2 not-chicken cutlets, chopped
• the caramelized onion
• 1 egg
• sage
• bread crumbs
• chopped parsley
• + applesauce, if you want to replicate the flavor of chicken-apple sausage

Pulse this until it’s broken down enough to form into balls.  Form the entire mixture into slightly-flattened balls about 1-2 Tbsp each, and place them all onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake these in the oven for about 10 minutes on each side.  (Alternatively, you could fry them in a little bit of oil on the stovetop.  This is tasty, but makes the soup a little greasier than I like it.

When you have 10 minutes left on your meatballs, taste the broth and re-season it if necessary.  Then, add whatever pasta you want.  This time, we used bowties, but tortellini is also great.  If you’ve timed things correctly, your pasta should be cooked at about the same time that your meatballs are done.  To serve, put a few meatballs in the bottom of each bowl, then ladle the noodle-soup on top of them.  Top the whole thing with some extra chopped parsley and serve with some crusty bread, and you’re in business.