Saturday night, Anne and I wanted to have some sort of date. I’ve been getting tired really quickly this week (doctor said to expect that) and I’ve had terrible headaches, so instead of going out, we stayed home and made dinner together.
I love cooking together. I love working together in the kitchen, helping each other out, and anticipating sitting down in our dining room when we’ve finished preparing our meal.
We made Eggplant Parmesan from a recipe I got from the Internets. Holy crap was it incredible. I think the key was using all organic and fresh ingredients, and olive oil instead of corn oil when we fried the eggplant. It took almost 3 hours from start to finish (the eggplant needed to drain for 2 hours) but since the whole idea was to hang out and make dinner together, the time didn’t matter; in fact, it was a bonus.
We also made this ice cream recipe that my mom gave us, using green tea soy ice cream, pineapple juice, coconut milk, and ginger snaps. It was kind of a weird choice, mixing something Asian with something Italian, but for mysterious reasons that are best left unexamined, it worked.
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I have always told my boyfriend it is “the small things that matter most”, like holding hands or cooking dinner together! Those make the best times.
Yesterday it was the Food Network and today it’s your post. I’m in complete “Need to Eat Awesome Food NOW” mode.
Also, fried eggplant with good fresh mozzarella is to die for.
I’m with you on the cooking together; it’s one of my favorite things to do with my best friend. For six years, we’ve been banning our various partners from the kitchen, and cooking up a storm together. There’s just this groove you get into with your cooking partner; a mix of talking, being quiet, and creating something. Once you find someone you can have that groove with, it’s pretty awesome.
Hope the headaches are abating a bit.
It looks like a very tasty recipe. I think I’ll suggest it to the other half the the next time we have a couple of hours to cook and start having the endless “What do you want for dinner?” conversation. Thanks for sharing! Hope you’re feeling better!
Cheers.
You sound like a Food Network junkie to me, Wil. Welcome to the club.
Original “Iron Chef” (I don’t think they show them anymore, snif) and Alton Brown . . doesn’t get much better.
Wil, Despite the whole married thing, I still think you’re a bachelor.. Corn oil to fry vegetables in?
I learned my lesson with this once by roasting potatoes in corn oil. Oy vey! that was disgusting..
Sounds delish. I rinse the salt off my eggplant slices because they always taste too salty to me if I leave it on. Of course that means you have to drain them some more.
I’ll have to get some eggplants now.
My favourite “date” is where I lye one way down the sofa while my bloke lies the other, and we rub each others feet as we watch a movie. Happens most nights ‘cos we’re currently broke 🙂
A good eggplant recipe–pretty close to what I do. A few comments:
1) The salting not only reduces moisture in the eggplant, it salts the eggplant for extra flavor.
2) I put the flour, egg, and breadcrubs in separate platters, and do dry, wet, dry when dredging them. Makes the coating extra crunchy and it won’t fall apart in the baking.
3) Of course I season the breadcrumbs with pepper, oregano, dried basil, parsley, onion powder, and garlic powder, as well as a handful of freshly grated Parmesan or Romano.
4) I bake the eggplant instead of frying it, to save calories. I do brush the slices with a some olive oil. I’m not stingy with it either, but it’s not so much that the eggplant is soaked, it’s just enough to get the breading browned well like it was fried.
5) Good organic canned tomatoes will make this recipe transcendent, as you’ve figured out on your own.
i dont like eggplant…. (although being a brit we call it aubergine, which is french… but hey…i don’t make the rules…)so not one that i would try… but absolutely agree that doing things like that are FTW…
i’m getting quite into dinner parties at the moment…had 6 of us last weds, we all made mexican food and then played cthulhu munchkin… the next one we’re doing lebanese food?!
ben and i will cook together though, and its a whole different vibe… sarakitteh approves 🙂
Hi Wil-
My hubby & I love to have dates like that. It’s so much fun to cook with your spouse. Would you mind sharing your mom’s dessert recipe? Being vegan, hubby & I only eat soy ice cream; I’ve been tempted to try the green tea flavor, but haven’t been brave enough yet. But I love coconut, so that dessert just sounds irresistible. BTW, I hope you’re feeling better soon.
-Alicia
[email protected]
http://www.thewagband.com
The recipe came out of a cook book my mom gave us, Alicia. I think it’s a copyright violation to reprint it.
I *love* the green tea soy ice cream, though. We got ours from Soy Dream.
Wil, recipes can’t be copyrighted.
The eggplant recipe does sound great, though I would also throw in 1/2c or so of red wine.
I understand, Wil. Can you tell me the name of the cookbook? I may even have it and not know it! 🙂 I really have been tempted with the green tea, but vegan ice creams are so expensive (and I have to save money ‘cuz I lost my job last month) that I’m afraid to buy it and then hate it. Oh well, I guess I won’t know until I try it! 🙂
-Alicia
[email protected]
http://www.thewagband.com
I’ve used the very recipe that you linked to, Wil, in the past and it turned out awesome. Thanks for reminding me to make eggplant parm!
I meant to say this in my last post, Wil- you had said, “We also made this ice cream recipe that my mom gave us,” which made me think it was your mom’s recipe, not one from a cookbook. Anyway, if you wouldn’t mind sharing the name of the cookbook, that would be groovy! 🙂
-Alicia
[email protected]
http://www.thewagband.com
You look as if you’ve lost some weight (being sick with sinus crap not withstanding), so do you attribute this to your vegan ways?
Alicia: It’s called The Fifteen Minute Vegetarian.
Camais: I still weigh 150, which is how much I’ve weighed for the last ten years, give or take a pound. Also, I’m not vegan, I’m vegetarian. I’ve got to have my cheese, you know!
Ah, thanks for the clarification on your dietary practices! I, for one, tried to be a vegetarian for like…um…5 minutes and couldn’t get past the consistency of tofu. Maybe it’s the type I’ve gotten or the kind I’ve had at vegetarian restaurants. It’s been rubbery. I also could use to slim down the dairy intake as I’m a Starbucks ho with a mission, apparently. Sigh. Anywho….
Hi Wil- Thanks for the title! I looked it up on Amazon, and there are a few with that title. Can I be a real pain and ask who the author is? I’d like to get the book. Personal question, which of course you don’t have to answer (I’m just curious.) When did you become vegetarian, and why? Feel free to tell me it’s none of my business, or to e-mail me privately if you’d rather not discuss it here. One more thing- most soy cheeses aren’t vegan, but if you’d like to try some yummy real vegan cheese, Tofutti slices are good, and for a cheese that you want to melt, try VeganRella.
-Alicia
[email protected]
http://www.thewagband.com