it has been a while

I haven't posted to this blog in quite a long time. My dear husband, Bill Fairchild died last fall and my heart has not been in it for a while. I am starting to get back my opinionated, bossy, written in stone wit comments on cooking and baking, so that's a good thing. This Sunday I will be at the farmer's market in hillsdale for tomato day. I have a couple of interesting things that i will be making, so all you Portlanders come out and check it out. I intend to post to this blog often with some great recipes and techniques. Also, I'll give ya some good suggestions for cookbooks that I love. This fall --October- I will be teaching a four class series at Robert Reynold's Chef's Studio here in Portland.

I also want to tell you about two connected treasures/secrets. You get the treasure at the secret hiding place: Pennsylvania Macaroni Co. in Pittsburgh's STRIP DISTRICT. The website is: Pennmac.com they have all manner of Italian ingredients (in case you're not freaked out by imports--once again, I couldn't resist it).
The treasure is a cabernet sauvignon vinegar from Spain called Forum. My friend Susan says,"you could put this in a wine glass and drink it." I swear, you cannot get this vinegar ANYWHERE else. I've looked. It costs about $14. for a 12 ounce bottle, Penn Mac will ship it to ya.

no meat today

After yesterday's comments, I am going to relax with the greatest of all foods--beans and greens. Let me say that if you are a bean aficionado or wishing to become one, check out Rancho Gordo-- ranchogordo.com this gentleman is dedicated to the growing of heirloom beans. They are heaven.

So, in almost every culinary tradition there is some type of dish that uses beans and greens as a staple. I like to refer to these peasant dishes to the "cucina rustica" from my Italian heritage.

Method:

saute' a dice of carrot, celery,onion and garlic in olive oil with some sage and rosemary.* add 1-1/5 cups of cannellini or borlotti beans with the liquid they have been cooked in and heat them gently to allow the flavors to marry.

now, in another saute' pan, heat some olive oil and 3-4 cloves of crushed garlic. when the garlic renders some aroma add your washed, salted greens--(roughly chopped escarole, kale, broccoli, mustard greens your choice) and saute' until wilted. I usually don't do a mixture of the greens because sometimes I'm in the mood for broccoli, sometimes escarole.

Place the beans and greens side by side on a serving platter

or divide into pasta bowls to eat. This dish may also be eaten with a grain like short grain brown rice, polenta or, of course, pasta.
In summer, it's good with a Caprese salad and some crostini.

is nothing sacred?

My great friend Donna sent me an article from the New York Times (July 11) about a local "cook-off" here in Portland, Oregon where several chefs are presented with a pig to do with as they wish--cooking, curing, serving to the (I believe) $100. per ticket guests who decided to partake of this Roman Circus. That in itself, is not so goofy--in fact my friend Therese and I had actually thought about going since Portland is such a great meat town.
It turns out that two of the attendees got into an argument over what constitutes local--sustainable and all those other buzzwords that the food elitists seem to adore, which I sometimes am tempted to commit suicide (or murder) if I have to hear again. Apparently one or more of the pigs did not have the appropriate Oregon, Willamette Valley credentials and was actually, possibly from Kansas--God forbid. So these two pig headed (I couldn't resist it) bird brained, horses asses got into a fist fight!!! And guess what? That begged the question: what happens when California or Washington berries are added to supplement the local Oregon berries--they're thinking this ACTUALLY happened in some Portland restaurants! Throw those restaurant owners into jail next to Bernie Madoff or Charles Manson. God in heaven.
Enough. Let's just say that as an operating room nurse in a level one trauma center--those jerks
at the pig fest have no clue as to what anything means--if those kinds of arguments are the problems that constitute their lives--they have it made--I suggest that might have a cup of coffee, eat a bag of chips with a baloney sandwich and ponder their good fortune.

Seriously, you can eat the eggplant this way with a bit of Parmigiano sprinkled on it as a side dish,or as part of a fritto misto with other vegetables. To continue with this dish, arrange the fried eggplant in a baking dish and drizzle it with tomato sauce (the recipe I gave is fine). Sprinkle it with Parmigiano and heat it through in the oven for 15 minutes or so at 350.
If you like you can also use some mozzarella, but to my way of thinking it is not authentic.
In addition, when I mentioned Grana--it is a grating cheese similar to Parm, that contains some wheat--in this regard it makes the egg batter stick a bit better. What to do with the leftover batter? Fry it at the end like little fritters!!!
More about frying soon.

Eggplant parmigiano--this dish is either one of the best things anyone could ever eat--or a soggy mess. but, like piecrust, it's all technique. Always try to select medium sized, firm eggplants--i like to peel them in "stripes" so that you have some of the skin intact.Cut them into rounds, treat them with salt, and let them render their moisture as decribed in the last blog.

For the egg mixture you will need:

4-6 eggs

1/4 cup of finely chopped parsley

2/3 to 1 cup of grated parmigiano (or grana padano) i'll explain later

and salt and pepper to taste

Dredge the treated eggplant which have been blotted dry in a coating of flour--shake off the excess. Dip the eggplant into the egg mixture and fry until golden on both sides.

At this point you may just devour the eggplant without going any further, but get a grip!

Getting back to the eggplant rant--the best recipe for rattatouille is from Julia Child in "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" volume one. As you can tell from the name, this is the (classic) French preparation of eggplant. Follow the recipe the way it is written--don't add a bunch of seasonings or herbs. Above all, the ingredients are cooked separately and combined to create a dish where all the components are discernable. Any cooking worth eating is worth the attention it requires. Eat this with roasted chicken or pork, or with any preparation of lamb, of course.
Next time I'll give you my method for eggplant Parmigiano--I'll gaurantee no one makes it better.