Roasted, Marinated Eggplant Antipasto {Recipe}

I am so uninspired by eggplant that I scarcely could believe enchanting, chewy, tangy nosh a friend recently served me was eggplant antipasto.

I mean, I should love eggplant. It is purple, picturesque, and easy to grow in the backyard. But the often spongy, slimy texture simply isn't worth the weak flavor to spend time growing or cooking it. Or so I thought until eggplant antipasto.

I recreated my friends' dish at home with some irresistible Wayward Seed eggplant and ate piece after piece. I served some to another friend and between the two of us and Alex we cleared the plate in no time.

The lengthy preparation hardly seems worth the quick consumption. First, sliced eggplant must sit in a salt coating to leach out liquid. Then, the cook must squeeze out any remaining water and bake them for a half hour in the oven. Finally, the slices soak in brine for a minimum of four hours.

I would rarely recommend a method that requires so much time and fussiness but I assure you that even eggplant doubters will enjoy this preparation. It converted me.

Roasted, Marinated Eggplant Serves: 6-8 appetizer servings Time: 20 minutes active, 5 hours draining/marinating As flavors are concentrated in this recipe, high-quality ingredients are key.

1 pound small to medium sized eggplant, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds generous sprinklings of salt, approximately 2 tablespoons 1/4 cup quality balsamic vinegar 1/4 cup quality honey 1/2 cup quality olive oil 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

1. Place eggplant slices in a large colander sitting inside a bowl to collect drips. 2. Generously salt eggplant on both sides. Leave at room temperature, uncovered, for 30 - 60 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 3. Squeeze each slice to remove the maximum amount of liquid, brushing off excess salt grains. 4. Place slices in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with a few tablespoons of the olive oil. 5. Bake for 30 minutes or until slightly browned. 6. Whisk together honey, vinegar, oil, and white pepper in a small glass or ceramic container. 7. Add eggplant to the marinade and gently stir to be sure all pieces are covered. Let stand at room temperature for 4-8 hours. 8. Serve with toast points or bread rounds. Leftovers can be kept covered in the refrigerator for up to one month but always bring to room temperature before serving.

Friday Five: Great Events on the Horizon

It's time for another Friday Five! Here are five handpicked events that are sure to feed your soul in chronological order: 1. Field & Screen at the Wexner Center for the Arts - From February 4 - 24, the Wexner Center is featuring films about food and the environment. On the 24th, they will host a market and CSA preview with Wayward Seed farm and friends. Check the link for showtimes and prices.

2. Pecha Kucha at Columbus Museum of Art - Twenty notable persons will share twenty slides for twenty seconds each at the 16th Columbus Pecha Kucha event on February 10. Beginning at 6 pm with a performance, presentations will start at 6:30. Pattycake Bakery and the Museum's Palete Cafe will have refreshments and drinks available. I'll finally get to attend my first Pecha Kucha!

3. OEFFA Annual Conference Inspiring Farms, Sustaining Communities - On February 19-20, the farmers and home cooks on the front lines of sustainable food growing in Ohio. Workshops, locally sourced food, and keynotes by Joan Dye Gussow and Klaas and Mary-Howell Martens will fill the weekend with inspiration and foodie fellowship. Tickets are nearly sold out so get yours right away. Alex and I are speaking about Home Charcuterie on Sunday morning.

4. Wellness Forum Cooking Class at Hills Market - On Wednesday, February 23rd, Del Sroufe and Wendy Gabriel of Wellness Forum Foods will lead a two hour cooking class featuring three vegetable-based courses at the Hills. A kitchen demonstration will be followed by a three course dinner (with three wines!) in the Hills wine department.

5. First day at Clintonville Farmer's Market!! - In a mere 92 days, on April 30, the summer farmer's markets will open. I can almost feel the warmth of the crowd and taste the fresh bites of spring.

Flooding - bad for the gardener, worse for the farmer

Weather has not been nice for vegetable growers this year. First, the temperatures rose so quickly in early spring that many greens bolted and bittered far before their time. Now tens of inches of rain are flooding fields. The lack of sunlight leaves fruits unripened and rotting. Those of us who don't use pesticides are inundated with weeds. I have remarked more than once recently that I am glad I'm not a farmer. I feel anxious about my own harvest but I know I can always buy what I need if my vegetables don't turn out. Farmers do not have such a luxury: when their crops fail, their whole livelihood suffers.

The Wayward Seed farmers faced reality yesterday and suspended vegetable CSA shares for at least one week. In an email to shareholders, Jaime Moore wrote "Quality and service are of the utmost importance to us, and we will work tirelessly until we are able to once again resume delivery of vegetables to our members. We would rather suspend shares in the short term than give you anything that does not meet our standards of cleanliness and quality." Jaime invited CSA participants to own their share and help weed the fields.

Though I only purchase a fruit share from Wayward Seed, I want to see their fields thrive. I will be volunteering my time this Thursday morning. I plan to be at the farm in London at 10 am. If you can spare some time, please join me!

Hound Happenings: October 27, 2009

A few things that might interest readers:

• PBS stations are showing a program based on the book The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan.  I highly recommend reading Botany of Desire and am excited to watch the show.  Watch a preview here. Columbus residents can view Botany of Desire on Wednesday October 28 at 8 pm.
• Wayward Seed farms is offering a Thanksgiving CSA.  Their Thanksgiving box includes the turkey, local ingredients for nearly every dish you could care to make, and a tote for $165. Register now as I would expect this to sell out.
• Pearl Alley Market moves indoors starting next Tuesday and Worthington indoors farmers market opens November 21, just in time for Thanksgiving.
• I went to a fun networking and marketing class last night called Hands on Small Business.  Amy Turn Sharp of Little Alouette led the event.  There are three more dates in central Ohio and I encourage you to attend one if you are a current or aspiring entrepreneur.
• You might have noticed I added an email subscription option.  For those of you who don't use a feed reader (Hi Mom!), you can get all posts delivered to your inbox.
• Voting in Ohio is next Tuesday, the 3rd.  Some polling places are open now for early voting.  Please take the time to vote NO on Issue 2.

I am fascinated...

...with these over ripe exploding Italian plums.

Most fruits mold or shrink or bruise or brown.  The plums from our Wayward Seed Fruit CSA just burble juice from their tops like slow grenades.

...and this delicate squash tendril.

When I trained the squash away from the lettuce the other day, this coil of tendril clung to the bird netting.

How curiously beautiful life is when we take a moment to look closely.

Make it Yourself: Honey Berry Jam

The strawberry dilemma of a few weeks ago was solved this Wednesday when we got another six quarts of berries from our Wayward Seed fruit CSA.  I was thrilled!!

In the span of a few hours on Thursday, I made three quarts of berries into jam. Many people bemoan jam making, but it really is quite simple.

Over the last few years I have developed a recipe using honey instead of refined sugar for the sweetener.  Honey is arguably healthier and provides a delicious compliment to the tart strawberries.

Here's how I jam:

1) Wash three quarts berries

2) Remove stems and chop into pieces (I do this in my hand dropping pieces right into a ten quart cooking pot )

3) Place eight pint jars in your canner (I use our pressure cooker pot), add water, and bring to a boil.

4) Place lids (new) and rings (can be reused) in a smaller pot, fill with water and bring to a boil.

5) Back to the berries: Mash with potato masher and add one packet of Sure-Jell Fruit Pectin, Low Sugar.  Mash more until all large pieces are broken and Sure-Jell is well mixed.

6) Put strawberries on a burner set on medium and bring to boil.

(Yes, you now have three pots on the stove.  I suggest doing this on a cool day.)

7) (Meanwhile) Once jars are boiling, carefully lift out and place on a towel next to strawberry burner.  I use cooking tongs in one hand to grab the jar and a towel in other hand to hold it as soon as it is out of the boiling water.  Dip a ladle into boiling water to sanitize it too.

8) When strawberries are at boil, add in four cups of honey.  Stir frequently.

9) Allow strawberry/honey to return to boil and then keep at boil for five minutes.  Stir frequently.

10) Turn off the heat.

11) One at a time, fill jars:

• Funnel jam into santized jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of the top. I use a Stainless Steel Wide-Mouth Funnel to make this easier.
• Wipe rim with clean towel
• Place lid centered on top
• Screw on lid to finger tight
• Carefully place into canner

12) Fill canner with enough water that all jars are covered by at least one inch.

13) Return canner to high heat.  Boil for ten minutes.

14) Remove jars to a towel.

15) Allow to cool completely (24 hours).

16) Remove rings and wipe away any jam that may have escaped to the sides.

That's it!  I know 16 steps sounds like a lot, but it really isn't hard and only takes about two hours start to finish.  The quality is astounding compared to store bought jam.

Making jam is an investment initally.  Thrift stores often have appropriate pots and sometimes pint jars too.  You can see that I don't use or recommend a canner specific pot - any tall sided pot will do.  Jar tongs are handy but not necessary.  You do need to buy new lids each time to create a proper seal.

Do you make jam? What's your favorite kind?

Eating Local and CSAs at Wild Goose!

I just got this from Wayward Seed farm:

'Learn how to eat local and savor the season's best food all summer long. Join The Wayward Seed Farm on Wednesday, April 1st at 7:00pm at Wild Goose Creativefor a discussion about CSA and local food. Other farms planning to attend include Toad Hill Organic Farm, Bridgman Farm, Elizabeth Telling Farm, and 2Silos.

Also joining us and supporting our efforts...Donnie from House Wine with Organic Wines, Tehku Tea Company with tea and scones, and cupcakes from Hanford St. Bakery'

The Wild Goose site suggests a $5 donation. Wild Goose is located at 2491 Summit Street Columbus, OH 43202

The organic wine sealed the deal - I'm going to try to make it tomorrow night!