Berenjena Asada/Grilled Eggplant
June 2, 2008 | Filed Under Argentinean Recipes, Cuisines, Eggplant, Fellow Bloggers, Foods I Never Liked Before Until I Started to Cook, From Argentina with Love blog, South American Cuisine, Vegetables | 12 Comments
Lately, I’ve been enjoying a relatively new food blog by Rebecca of From Argentina with Love. It’s a lovely blog that gives her experience in Argentina and mouth-watering recipes, and mesmerizing photos.
In one post, she wrote a story about how she and her husband got into an accident with a truck driver. Interestingly enough, later, the truck driver shared his lunch with them — marinated eggplant, which his wife had made for him. Rebecca described it as the best eggplant she’d ever tasted. I very much loved the story and the look and sound of the meal that I decided to make it.
Well, I’m sad to write that my marinated eggplant dish did not turn out well at all. It seemed relatively simple enough to make, but I apparently took some wrong turns on my cooking adventure road. I cooked the eggplant too long and I think I left the fire too high that the poor eggplant practically fell apart. It didn’t look appetizing at all and unfortunately it tasted even worse. I kept it in the fridge for five days before finally acknowledging that it really belonged in the garbage.
Later, Rebecca posted another interesting and easy-sounding eggplant recipe — Berenjena Asada/Grilled Eggplant. I could handle that, I thought to myself. I set out to make it. This time, it was smooth sailing for me. No problems. And my grilled eggplant tasted delicious! Yes!
I’m definitely going to try making the marinated eggplant again. I’m pretty sure that I’ll do a better job the next time around.
Paz
Grilled Eggplant
2 eggplants, washed and cut into 1/2 inch thick rounds
coarse salt
crushed red pepper
oregano
olive oil
Put the eggplant rounds in a roasting pan and sprinkle abundantly with salt. Let them ‘sweat’, and then drain them. Drizzle generously with olive oil, and sprinkle with oregano and crushed red pepper. Place on the grill, over indirect heat, until soft in the center — they will appear juicy and have grill marks.
The marinated eggplant that was not meant to be. I will try to make it again.
In the meant time, go here to see what it’s really supposed to look like.
Oven-Roasted, Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus
May 27, 2008 | Filed Under Asparagus, Foods I Never Liked Before Until I Started to Cook, Lucullian Delights blog, Vegetables | 17 Comments
"This is good!" my mom exclaimed after she took a bite of my oven-roasted, prosciutto wrapped asparagus, courtesy of Ilva’s recipe. She sounded and looked very surprised as she continued to eat it. She’s right: It WAS good.
I mentioned in a previous post that I never used to like eggplants — till I started cooking. Well, you can add asparagus to my list of ‘Foods I Never Liked Before Until I Started Cooking’. Back in the day, I’d purse my lips, scrunch my face and turn away from the offending green spear. I tried to keep asparagus far away from my plate. Today, I love asparagus — especially roasted. In this recipe, the prosciutto added an extra special delicious taste. Yup! It tasted good, indeed. Thanks, Ilva!
Paz
Oven-Roasted Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus
Fresh green asparagus, not too thin stalks
Prosciutto crudo or Parma ham
Extra-virgin olive oil
- Clean the asparagus, snap off the lower part, you can peel it if it is to thick skinned.
- Wrap approximately half a slice of Parma ham around each asparagus stalk, you have to judge yourself as the size of the slices may vary.
- Grease an oven-proof form with a litle olive oil and put one layer of asparagus in it.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven (175°C/347°F) until the ham is crisp and the asparagus has softened. It takes about 10-15 minutes.
Zucchini and Eggs
May 5, 2008 | Filed Under Eggs, Foods I Never Liked Before Until I Started to Cook, Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska blog, Vegetables, Zucchini | 12 Comments
I found this very easy and delightful Greek recipe on Laurie’s wonderful blog, Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska. I already had the basic ingredients (zucchini, eggs, lemons, onions, feta cheese. and bread) so I made it for dinner. With this simple recipe, I was happy I didn’t have to exert a lot of energy in the kitchen after a long day’s work. The only things missing were the olives and a glass of ouzo but my dinner was still delicious. 
Perhaps I shouldn’t point this out but the zucchini slices are supposed to be nicely browned but as I was preparing it, I was too hungry to wait for it to properly brown. It still tasted good — brown or not.
Paz
Zucchini and Eggs
Serves 2 as a main course or 4 as part of an appetizer spread
Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska
2 medium zucchini (1 pound)
3 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup diced yellow onion, 1/4” dice
4 eggs
Lemon wedges
In the same pan, adding olive oil if necessary, sauté the onions, lightly seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper, until they soften and begin to turn golden. Add the cooked zucchini and gently mix the zucchini and onion. Spread the vegetables out evenly over the bottom of the skillet.
Whisk together the eggs, and pour evenly over the zucchini. Sprinkle with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover, turn down the burner, and cook over low heat until the eggs are set. Slide the Zucchini and Eggs onto a serving platter, cut into quarters, garnish with lemon wedges, and serve immediately.
Zafiris serves Zucchini and Eggs with slices of feta cheese, olives, bread, and a glass or two of ouzo.
LiveSTRONG with a Taste of Yellow 2008: Corn Salad
April 14, 2008 | Filed Under A Taste of Yellow, Corn, Food Blogging Events, Salad, Vegetables, Winos and Foodies blog, Yellow Foods | 21 Comments
The Lance Armstrong Foundation provides the practical tools and information that people with cancer need to to live strong.
May 13, 2008 is LIVESTRONG Day, where different events are held worldwide to raise awareness and funds for the fight against cancer.
Barbara of Winos and Foodies is hosting LIVESTRONG Day event again this year. It’s a way for food and wine bloggers to show support for those battling cancer. Last year she organized the event and 149 bloggers participated. Wow! Wow! Wow! This is what I made last year for the event. Here is the roundup of 2007 entries. Check it out when you can, there are a lot of creative and delicious dishes.
Participants are asked to prepare foods in the color yellow. This year, I put together a corn salad. I love corn and I love bright food colors. Needless to say, I like yellow. For this salad, I mixed corn kernels, red bell peppers, scallions, and cilantro (my favorite! but you can use parsely). Then I added olive oil, white pepper, Kosher salt and some red pepper flakes (gotta add a little heat!). Oh, and some fresh lemon juice, I added lemon juice, too. I love my corn salad — healthy, tasty and colorful yellow. LIVESTRONG Yellow!
If you’re interested in participating in this event, it’s not too late. Please join us. April 19 is the deadline to submit your entry to Barbara. Go here for the guidelines.
I have two extra LIVESTRONG wristbands, which I’d be happy to send to anyone who’d like one. E-mail me if you’re interested. You can find my addy in the ABOUT section.
Thanks, Barbara, for putting this wonderfully supportive event together. If you visit Winos and Foodies on May 13, you can see the list of fantastic enteries that Barbara will put together.
Paz
Ed. Note: Check out the roundup of those who participated:
LiveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow Round Up 2008 Part 1
LiveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow 2008 – Round Up Part 2
Oven-roasted Carrots
March 18, 2008 | Filed Under Carrots, Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once blog, Vegetables | 23 Comments
Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once recently made an enticing dish of roasted multi-colored carrots — purple, red, orange, whiteand yellow. When I go to the grocery store, all I ever see are orange carrots. I never knew they came in other colors other than orange. See what I learn from my fellow food bloggers? <very big grin> Well, I didn’t have the other colors but I did have a whole bunch of orange carrots in my fridge. So, I pulled them out to make my own oven roasted carrots. Guess what? I liked it! I really liked it! If I ever find the other colored carrots (maybe at a farmer’s market), I’ll buy them. Thanks, Haalo, for the recipe!
Paz
Oven-roasted Carrots
Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once
Olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Garlic cloves
Orange-infused olive oil, optional
Drizzle them in a little olive oil, then grind over with salt and pepper – toss them well and then lay them out on a lined tray. Stud unpeeled garlic cloves amongst the carrots – these will caramelise in their skins as the carrots cook.
Bake in a preheated 180°C/350°F until slightly softened – turn them after 20 minutes to make sure they cook evenly. I like to keep a bit of a bite to the carrots but you if you like them softer, just cook them for longer.
You can serve them straight from the oven but I like to add an extra touch – a light drizzle of orange-infused Olive oil just lifts the flavour and adds an appealing citrus note.
