Text 13180, 148 rader
Skriven 2008-09-01 23:59:52 av Janis Kracht (1:261/38)
  Kommentar till text 13132 av Nancy Backus (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Eggplant Parmesan  was: cooking echo Picnic
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Hi Nancy!

> Just to let you know I'm pulling for Priscilla, too... :)

Aw thanks.. she is such a good dog.. so gentle with the kids.. I know she
bowled over a couple of adults at the picnic (sorry Burt et al !!) but she's
never done that to the kids or to me.. guess she's used to my mis-steps.  Alex
used to take her food out of her dish and feed it to her baby-doll style.

> That eating
> for both dogs caught my eye... doesn't necessarily mean she's anything
> more than exerting dominance...

Could be!  It reminds me of when Toby was a lot younger.. When we first got
him, I thought Pricilla would be so happy.. her sister had been hit by a car
and killed while we were away from home, and she was so depressed after
Midnight died (happened right in front of her)...Even the vet thought it would
be a good idea..but she didn't like Toby from the start.. He was just this
incredibly tiny puppy (runt of the litter I'm sure) and all she would do was
growl at him when he'd try to snuggle or get close to her.. later as he got
bigger and they played and all that things got _much_ better. But one day when
he was about a year old, I heard this ungodly yelping in the back yard so I ran
out there.. Priscilla was SITTING on Toby, just letting him know she was TOP
dog ... I did make her let up on the poor guy :)

> but (with cats anyway, where my
> experience is mostly...) an animal that overeats may be trying to make
> something "feel better", which isn't a very good sign...  I hope she's

Yes, that happened with one of my cats once :( It was too obvious.. the poor
kitty was not only overeating, he was eating weird things.. very confused I
think at the time.

> ok, though, and stays that way... :)

Pricilla started eating everything in sight soon after she got spayed.. The vet
told me that getting her spayed would help with her trying to get loose all the
time (young labs are notorius for that, and for eating.  Period.  They will eat
anything.. walls, floors, bed-springs..(g)), and after Midnight died, we
couldn't take the chance of disagreeing with him. Before that, I'd really
thought about breeding them, they were both such good looking labs..

>> Oh I'd eat it if someone served it to me 'yet again' but this one you are
>> are hitting the 'tried it 15 times, still dont like it'.  It's main claim
>> to fame is to make it slightly edible.  So sorry!

>> hehe.. it can be poorly made, like anything else (grin)... but to each
>> his own taste :)

> There's enough variation that she may not have found a decent one yet...

I think so :)  I have had more BAD eggplant parmesean than good :) :)  It's the
same with ANY Italian food for me, to be honest.  I've had incredibly bad
Italian food...  As a matter of fact, unless we're eating in New Jersey, Ron
and I will rarely even bother to eat Italian.. except for pizza and then to
test.. and maybe go back a second time. Cortese's was good when we went there
with Lauren's in-laws so I knew it was pretty much a 'decent' Italian
restaurant, but it's no where as good as the ones in Jersey.  I make much
better Italian food than most of them.

> my first exposure to a good eggplant dish was when I was in college.
> Not sure exactly whose recipe it was, I think it was my friend's
> roommate's, but they both participated gleefully in the making of it.
> It was basically an Eggplant Parmesan, except that it had no parmesan

haha.. it never does :)  It's always mozzarella.

> cheese in it, that I remember anyway...  But it had plenty of Mozzarella
> slices between the eggplant.  There must have been a tomato sauce of
> some sort, but I don't remember now exactly what (might have been canned
> tomato paste or sauce or both...

Yes, a simple sauce like the one I posted in my earlier message.  The sauce
'isn't the thing' in this dish. It's the combination of the eggplant which MUST
be de-bittered, and the cheese and breadcrumbs.  It's not 'because the eggplant
has to be masked'.. hehe.. it has to be prepared the right way, that's all..
and few people do it right. It's like that with most Italian recipes.

> we're talking college boys batch-ing it
> here)...  Secret ingredient was a can of green chilies... I passed the
> test by not fainting with the heat... (G)

Good for you there :)  but that's an interesting twist.  I've never had a hot
spicy eggplant parm.. but I can see how it might be really good :) Now I want
to try it.. My aunt Carmella (dad's oldest sister..She was my favorite aunt,
actually) loved hot spicy italian sauce. My family, being of a more northern
persuasian except for Dad, like a sweet sauce. Aunt Carm was sicilian through
and through though.. and the hot sausages she found for her sauce and the red
pepper flakes said it all (grin).

> Recipe went something like this...  (from memory, and haven't made it
> myself for many years now, either)

> 1 lb pkg whole-milk mozzarella
> 1 medium eggplant
> egg, flour, salt, pepper, butter
> 1 can green chilies
> tomato sauce

> Slice eggplant, dredge first in beaten egg, then in flour seasoned to
> taste with salt and pepper, pan-fry in butter.

eek haha.. butter would help brown it fast though.. but we always used olive
oil. The flour would be the basis for an American bound breading.

> Slice mozzarella, taking care not to nibble TOO much of it (it's really
> for the dish, after all).

Yes, definitely a hazard.. especially with kids around, or grown kids.. or EVEN
the cook Lol

> Layer ingredients in a greased (preferably glass) loaf pan.  (This is
> why I think there must have been some sort of tomato sauce... I think
> you start with a little sauce).  Eggplant slices, then mozzarella, then
> spread some chilies.  Probably a little more sauce... then repeat until
> all in pan.

Yes, you should put some sauce on the bottom of the dish.. :)

> Bake in moderate oven, maybe for a half hour to an hour?  You want the
> flavors to meld and the cheese to melt.  :)

exactly.  Hope you saw my recipe :)

> I think for my friends, Bob and Pope, that the most important
> ingredients were the chilies and the Mozzarelle..  Pope was from New
> Mexico... and drove an aging Peugeot named Jacqueline...  :)  And the

Ok, that makes some sense for the peppers :)

> comment about not eating too much of the mozz was from Bob... they both
> were nibbling bits as they cut it up...  I think at least once they even
> got an extra package of it just so there would be enough for snacking
> on.   (G)

Lol :)  Too much.. leave it to guys to buy enough to snack on :) :) Reminds me
of college days when I had a couple of guys who decided they just had to take
care of me or something (g)  They asked me when I'd eaten last, and I said, I
dunno.. so they mixed spagettios (which I like) with everything they could find
Lol.. it was HORRID :) :)  Meanwhile, they were snacking on healthy things like
cheese, and fruit, etc. without the spagettios
:)

Take care,
Janis

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