recipes with rachel

I like eating. Food is emotional, and cultural, and social. I appreciate good quality food, and well-crafted meals.
But, I'm no Julia Childs, or Remmy (the rat), for that matter.

I've never baked my own Thanksgiving turkey, or grown my own basil, or juiced my own grapes.
I can barely tell you the difference between Fenugreek and Greek yogurt.

But, I have potential.

I have a kitchen.
I have a meat tenderizer, a lemon juicer, and a whole bucket of Christmas shaped cookie cutters.
I have all the makings of a budding kitchen goddess.

Something I also have on my side is Rachel. She's my sister-in-law and we share the same desire to bring our glimmering candle out from under the bushel of Ramen and peanut butter sandwiches, and create a wildfire worthy of Smoky the bear's attention.

And so, with the help of our new favorite smart phone app - Epicurious - Rach and I are building up a list of relatively healthy, budget-friendly recipes that we plan to conquer. Each week we'll try out something completely new, and document our experience. We'll gather tips and tricks along the way, as all good chefs do: "substitute baby prunes for oil" or "add a pinch of this ancient Mayan aphrodisiac 12 seconds after achieving a rolling boil", etc.

Our first culinary experiment was with a delightful veggie side called Eggplant Croquettes. This past Sunday Rachel and I both prepared these for our dinner - Rachel in the heat of Texas, and I in the pleasantly cooling air of approaching autumn.

This may be small potatoes to some, but it was a new frontier for me, and I have to give myself credit, they turned out pretty good! And now, for your viewing pleasure the Eggplant Documentary.



Eggplant Croquettes

Ingredients

•2 medium eggplants, peeled and cubed
•1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
•1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
•2 eggs, beaten
•2 tablespoons dried parsley
•2 tablespoons chopped onion
•1 clove garlic, minced
•1 teaspoon salt
•1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
•olive oil for frying

Directions

1. Place eggplant in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on medium-high 3 minutes. Turn eggplant over and microwave another 2 minutes. The eggplant should be tender, cook another 2 minutes if the eggplants are not tender. Drain any liquid from the eggplants and mash.

2. Combine cheese, bread crumbs, eggs, parsley, onion, garlic and salt with the mashed eggplant.

Mix well.

3. Shape the eggplant mixture into patties. Heat oil in a large skillet. Drop eggplant patties one at a time into skillet. Fry each side of the patties until golden brown, approximately 5 minutes on each side. Patties can be frozen before frying and cooked later.

I gleaned a few insights from the process and have added them to my bag of tricks.

First of all, the original recipe calls for A CUP of vegetable oil for frying. Sick. Makes me want to throw up a little. I just used a couple glugs of olive oil to lightly coat the pan. The goal was to get some nutrition from these, not set myself up for an early death.

Second, eggplants are an interesting creature. Kinda spongy, kinda fibrous. I discovered that tender is perhaps a relative term when dealing with eggplants. I microwaved them for a good 7 minutes, and I do think they were soft. They definitely weren't crunchy. But they do have a unique texture. I think I got them as tender as eggplants ever get, but with this being my first date with eggplant I don't have much to compare with.

I threw three patties in the skillet at a time, instead of the recommended one (why wait?).

This side was the absolute perfect compliment to the steak we had with it! I couldn't imagine a better dish to pair it with. I think we'll keep it in the recipe box for future steak night use!

Upcoming recipe? We've got homemade granola on the brain . . . and a load of recipes to choose from.