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Skriven 2013-08-02 14:44:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: MD 961
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So I spent some time hanging with Lilli as United
slowly unmessed up one of her reservations that they
had messed up earlier - amazing. We started out
sitting together on the same record, and then the
airline had split us so as to give me a better seat,
leaving her alone, then repented and gave her an even
better seat than mine (directly in front of me, in
fact - I threatened to pull on her seatback through
the entire flight) - but had managed to cancel her
ongoing flight, mistaking her for another Lilli with
the same last name arriving from Amsterdam. They
found her a middle seat in coach instead of the
BusinessFirst seat that she'd been confirmed in;
at length I had to tear myself away from her situation
and catch the downtown bus, which I did with about
five minutes to spare. Then to Rosslyn, where I got
the blue line with a minute to spare, then at Metro
Center I caught the Silver Spring train with a minute
to spare, and so hustled to the Z bus stop, where I
caught the Burtonsville bus with ten minutes to spare,
as it was running nine late. It's a good service, and
they seem to gauge things well, as the bus was full
and nobody had to stand up if they didn't want to.
Got to Burtonsville about 10 behind but about 10 earlier
than I had told the Shipps (I'd planned to be on the
next bus).

Dale and Gail pulled up with Nancy in tow, right at the
scheduled time, and we went back to Columbia to check
out what is supposed to be the #1 restaurant in town.

(Lilli eventually got things squared away and flew
away in style, so Facebook tells me.)

Baingan Bartha
cat: Swiss, Indian, vegan, main, baingan bharta
yield: 4 to 8 servings

4 eggplants
2 to 4 garlic cloves
2 to 3 scallions
4 cm ginger root
oil (or ghee)
1 Tb whole coriander seeds
1 Tb whole cumin seeds
1 dried chili
5 to 8 black peppercorns
Mustard seeds oil

Indian Eggplant Spread Cooked Over Hot Embers

Start a large fire with hardwood or quality charcoal. No
briquettes and no softwood as they would impart a bad taste
to the food. When the wood has turned to glowing embers,
after about 30 min or so, carefully lay the eggplants to
rest, one by one, on this bed of embers. Leave them until
they are soft all over and the skin is shrivelled.

Remove the eggplants from the fire, brush off any ashes and
return to the kitchen.

Carve the eggplants open carefully so as not to introduce
any ashes. Miraculous! The vegetable has slept for 30
min on hot embers and yet it is still juicy inside.

Carefully scrape off the flesh from the eggplant with a
spoon, avoiding any black area. Burnt flesh is not the
problem but ashes are. They are quite caustic.

Seasoning is what makes this aubergine spread an Indian
baingan bartha. Use whole spices and dry roast them in a hot
frying pan. Do not add any fat and remove only when the
cumin seeds start to smoke.

Grind to a powder in a mortar or with an electric spice
grinder or manual pepper mill.

Mash ginger and garlic to a paste and finely chop the
scallions.

Fry in a tablespoon ghee or oil until soft.

Add the eggplant pulp and combine.

Add the spices. Now for our most dreadful ingredient -
mustard seeds oil. A very pungent taste indeed, more akin to
vinegar than oil. Use only the finest oil and make sure it
is not rancid or you'll ruin your fine efforts.

Add drop by drop and taste regularly until the flavor
balance satisfies you.

Serve with naan as a starter, a side dish or even a light meal.

I was inspired to cook directly over hot embers by The Magic
of Fire by William Rubel, an amazing book about cooking on
open fires. This is one of my 20 favorite cookbooks and I
have several hundreds cookbooks in 6 languages. You need to
get this book - the recipes are all traditional and yet
immensely original. Mr Rubel (www.williamrubel.com) is a
Californian home chef versed into literature and gastronomy.
He cooked some of his dishes at Chez Panisse, one of
America's top restaurants, and yet most recipes use only a
handful of ingredients. A masterpiece. Warmly recommended! I
wonder if Mr Rubel was in some accident or something
happened to him, I posted some pictures on his forum at
www.williamrubel.com but in 3 months he's never visited it.
Let me know if you have any information about his
whereabouts!

Published 15/11/2007
fxcuisine.com
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