Friday, November 12, 2010

Leaning Tower of Eggplant

ROBERTA: Since five out of the six of us are headed to the New England Crimebake in Deadham, MA this weekend, I thought I'd leave you with a recipe. At a recent dinner out with girlfriends to the Guilford, CT Bistro, we were treated to an amazing eggplant appetizer. Two towers of fried eggplant were interspersed with sliced tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. And then curlicues of arugula were arranged on top with a spritz of balsamic vinaigrette over all.

I just happened to have a few white eggplants and a few lingering
heirloom tomatoes from the tail end of the garden, so I decided to try
to recreate the leaning tower of eggplant for my husband.

Unfortunately, I didn't read instructions about how to fry eggplant
until right before I started the dinner. So too late to soak the
eggplant in milk for 2 hours, I took the Sicilian mama's suggestion
about slicing it lengthwise and salting. Once the liquid beaded on the slices, I washed and dried them, then dipped in egg, followed by flour. I used peanut oil for frying. when the slices were all nicely
browned, I layered them with fresh mozz slices and the tomatoes on a bed of greens. Then sprinkled arugula and vinaigrette over the top.
Truly delicious! the only bad part will be the lingering smell of
frying...and the fact that it's all gone...


8 comments:

  1. Yummmy yummy!

    We have to make sure we get a Junge Red photo at Crimebake--we can hold up the author photo of one of Rhys' books to make it as complete as possible...

    see you soon! Who's going?

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  2. All right, now just quit this right now. No more recipes. Sheesh. Now I have to get out of my jammies and actually go to the grocery store.
    Or maybe not. Do you think any one would care if I wore my bunny slippers?

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  3. I'm here at my office till noon then heading down the Maine Turnpike to Crimebake. Looking forward to seeing all of you there.

    Brenda B.

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  4. I'm going to try this Roberta,

    I love eggplant. I never get why people don't like cooking smells in their houses.

    I love the lingering smell of frying.... not to mention onion and garlic smells.

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  5. Rebbie,

    Wear hour bunny slippers. I may be behind you in the grocery line and will be able to figure out who you are :)

    See you at Crimebake Brenda!! Off to get haircut, so you can recognize me as the one (other than Hank) who looks like she came from the salon!

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  6. Sounds delicious. Now I know what we're having for dinner tonight. :)

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  7. I'm feeling left out and abandoned! Like Cinderella all alone at home with my eggplant.

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  8. OH, Rhys, your eggplant will turn into an Edgar! Or whatever happens in mystery fairytales.

    xox

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