Root-ing Through the Fridge

We're in the final throws of our CSA deliveries and this means our fridge looks like a root cellar. Peering into the cold storage, we had some beets that I'd roasted but left adrift in the veggie drawer, an overflow of carrots, and miraculously two eggplants, each a week or more old, looking perky.

With that in mind, I thought this dinner might take root in the souk -- my favorite Moroccan carrot and beet salads, as well as the tabbouleh that pops up so frequently Chez Lemon.

The Baba Ganoush is hiding...can you find it?

And I broke out my version of baba ganoush. I love baba ganoush more than most and for years thought I was eating a healthy treat from my favorite falafel spot until I asked for the secret ingredient. What was it? Mayo. Yes, MAYO. Spoonfuls of mayo, I had been eating as my healthy afternoon snack and my "light" lunch option.

So, that said, I started making my own baba ganoush, and I didn't feel bad about subbing in ingredients. If mayonnaise could make it's way into a real falafel joint, then my consistent lack of tahini was not an impediment. Here's what I use instead: toasted sesame oil. It lasts a while in the pantry, I use it in Asian dishes and it gives a lot of sesame flavor with just a sprinkle or two. I also use it in my hummus. That's my secret ingredient.

Baba ganoush

1 medium eggplant, 2 Japanese eggplants, split in half

olive oil

1 clove garlic

1/2 lemon's juice

4-5 sprinkles of toasted sesame oil

1/3 cup plain yogurt

1/4 teaspoon cumin

Turn the oven up high -- 420F. On a lined baking sheet (tin foil works fine, parchment is nicer), place the split eggplants cut side down. If using tin foil, drizzle a little olive oil on the foil so it doesn't stick to the eggplant. With a paring knife, make a few shallow slits on the skin to release steam. Roast for 30 minutes, or until the skin starts to look really wrinkled. The time depends on the size of your eggplants. Remove and set aside to cool.

Once cooled, scrape out the eggplant flesh away from the skin. It should be tan colored and very soft. Discard the skin. If there are still larger pieces, run a knife through the eggplant. Usually it is pretty goo-ey by this point.

Mix in the minced or grated garlic, lemon juice, cumin, sesame oil and yogurt.

Pomegranate and Parsley Pork with Spicy Eggplant

Sometimes an entire dinner comes together to participate in my no-ingredient-left-behind policy.

There are two main ways I've found to stop ingredient-wasting pitfalls and both of them play a role in this evening's dinner.

First: keep track of what's in the fridge. I try to keep tabs on "investment" ingredients (condiments, sauces, salty/pickley treats) and cycle them through now and again, in different permutations to keep it interesting. Pomegranate molasses, I'm looking at you.

Second: Make friends with the freezer. Find a great deal on meat but don't want to eat the same chicken breasts all week long? Freeze it. Family packs are great for this, especially when you don't have a family.

So here's how this meal is a waste-saver: I'm using the pomegranate molasses dish-by-dish, I'm freezing the half of the pork loin chop family pack I didn't cook, and all the veggies come from the CSA vegetable dump, which is getting so big as summer comes to a close that I'm going to start freezing some items we don't get to each week.

Pomegranate and Parsley Pork

3-4 lean boneless pork loin chops

1 heaping Tablespoon pomegranate molasses

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1/2 c. parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper

In a shallow bowl, mix the pomegranate molasses, olive oil and parsley. Add salt and ground black pepper. Slide the pork loin chops in and turn until well-covered with the marinade. Set aside for 10 minutes. Heat a nonstick pan with a little olive oil over high heat. (You can try it without the olive oil, too, but I just find my pan needs a little help to prevent sticking.) Cook pork on both sides. These were thin cuts so they cooked about 3 minutes a side.

Spicy Eggplant

1 medium-size Japanese eggplant

1 teaspoon Ras el Hanout

2-3 scallions, chopped

olive oil

Slice off the ends of the eggplant and cut in half. I cut 1-inch slices, but if you are short on time, go smaller. In a bowl mix the eggplant with the Ras el Hanout. Set aside.

Heat some olive oil (about 1 Tablespoon) in a saute pan over high heat. Chop the scallions and start to saute in the pan. Then add the eggplant on top and cook, stirring, until the eggplant has turned darker and is soft. The scallions will get crispy and the eggplant will be nice and tender.

Salad: lettuce leaves + juice of 1 lemon + olive oil drizzled + sea salt

Tally:

Standard veggies and lean protein take a trip to Morocco

Pantry items find new ways to the table

Pork family pack's $5 split over two nights = thrifty

On the Waterfront

Sometimes, Mr. Lemon and I are lucky enough to get our thrifty-selves out of the city for an adventure. We're very fortunate to have wonderful friends like Mr. and Mrs. Tomato (they chose their name) who invited us out to their beautiful boat on the Northfork of Long Island this weekend. It was, in a word, lovely.

Boats may appear larger in rearview memory

via Greenport Chamber of Commerce

I'm not a full-fledged sailor yet, so my job was to figure out dinner. For all those NY cooks who think that their apartment's kitchen is small, try getting dinner ready in a real galley kitchen. It's a fete that calls for using as few pots as possible and ingredients that you can use up in one night (because the boat's refrigerator can only hold so much.) Zero waste, easy clean up...just my kind of cooking.

And being on the waterfront, we had to make something fishy for dinner. Mrs. Tomato and I splurged, picking up a locally caught slab of monkfish, which the gentlemen-sailors grilled on shore with a little lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper. It was delicious and hearty in a way that white fish rarely is. Almost like lobster, is how Mr. Tomato described it.

We also marinated vegetables from the Northfork's famous farm stands: eggplant, zucchini, onion, cherry tomatoes plus olive oil, garlic and salt. On (soaked) wooden skewers, these veggie kabobs cooked up quickly for a healthy side dish--and one dish cooking, as well, since we marinated, skewered and served all in the same bowl. And of course, no summer meal is complete without some sweet white corn and a generous glass of white wine.

Sadly, no photos were taken. These tired shipmates were just happy to enjoy the food, wine and good company in the dark, cozy galley.

As we were getting our fishy friend ready, I learned from Mrs. Tomato that I was not the only one who had a tin of sardines lurking in my pantry waiting for action. I shared my recent sardine savvy, including this recipe, which is sort of a re-constructed caponata that I took apart and put back together as a way to bring those sardines out of their tin.

Eggplant Stacks with Sardine, Ricotta and Capers

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tin sardines packed in marinara sauce

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon capers, drained

1 small eggplant, sliced into 1/4-inch disks

1/4 cup ricotta

basil chiffonade to garnish

In a small saute pan heat 1 Tablespoon olive oil and add onion and 1 clove minced garlic to cook over medium heat. When the onions begin to look translucent, add the entire contents of the sardine tin and start to break up the sardines with your spoon. Simmer.

In the meantime, in a larger nonstick saute pan heat 1 Tablespoon olive oil and when hot add the eggplant disks in one layer along with 1 clove minced garlic. Cook on both sides, turning once until the eggplant's interior starts to brown and is soft. It will look a little liquidy -- this is good.

Finish the sauce with the capers, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Plate the eggplant slices, topping each with the sardine sauce, a dollop of ricotta cheese and some finely cut basil.

This could be a nice starter, or a lighter supper to give a little seaside flavor to a land-lubber's weeknight.