The New Love of My Life: Grilled Eggplant & Arugula Salad

Well. I'm in love. This is perhaps the best salad I have ever made or eaten. I want to go buy more eggplants and arugula RIGHT NOW, but it will have to wait till I've eaten my other produce. Arugula can be fairly peppery, but don't be tempted to mix it with another green here because it does an amazing job of balancing out the sweet, melt-in-your-mouth eggplant. Please, please make this.

Grilled Eggplant and Arugula Salad

2 medium Asian eggplants (the long thin kind), cut into 1/2 inch thick rounds (could substitute regular globe eggplants, cut into small chunks, but it's nice to have some skin on each piece for the texture)
1/2 large bunch arugula, maybe 1 1/2 cups
1 small wedge lemon
1-2 tbsp + 1/2 tsp olive oil
salt
pepper

Preheat your George Forman grill. Toss the eggplant slices with 1-2 tbsp olive oil in a bowl, until just lightly coated. Arrange the eggplant slices on the grill; it will probably take two batches. Close the grill tightly. Grill about 12 minutes, until there are charred grill marks and the eggplant is very, very soft.
Meanwhile, tear the arugula into small pieces and arrange in your bowl.
When the eggplant is done, arrange it on top of the arugula. Squeeze the lemon wedge over. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp olive oil. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Serves 1

Blackberry Cupcakes

Some might call these muffins, but to me, they are cupcakes. They are now, perhaps, my favorite cake ever. The basic cake recipe uses Clotilde Dusoulier of Chocolate & Zucchini's recipe for Yogurt Cake as a base, but is adapted to best fit blackberries. You could also use other summer fruits--diced peaches or nectarines, or raspberries, maybe. The blackberries remain mostly whole and fairly tart, which is a nice contrast to the sweet cake. The top gets light brown and crispy, and is the most delicious part.

Blackberry Cupcakes

about 56-60 blackberries, thawed at least partway if frozen
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt, NOT vanilla (it will mess with the texture because it has more sugar in it)
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
zest of 1 lemon
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
3 heaping teaspoons cornmeal

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the yogurt, sugar, and lemon zest. Add one egg, beat well; add the other egg and beat well again. Add the oil; beat. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cornmeal; mix just until combined. Do not overmix.

Spoon the batter into your muffin tin, about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way up. Place four blackberries on top of each; they will sink in as they bake. Bake about 35 minutes, until the top and edges are light brown.

You can eat these as-is, or you can top with whipped cream, creme fraiche, sour cream, or yogurt.

Makes 14 cupcakes.

Green Beans with Shallots, Spiced Pistachios, and Blue Cheese

I have time to cook again! For a potluck last night, I made these green beans (no photo because it just didn't occur to me yesterday). The idea came from a figs-green beans-and-hazelnut salad I saw on a restaurant menu; what I actually made turned out to be something entirely different, but equally interesting. It's pretty rich for a vegetable dish, so you don't need that much per person.

Green Beans with Shallots, Spiced Pistachios, and Blue Cheese

1 large bowlful of green beans, about 2lb
3 large shallots, sliced thinly
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/3 cup unshelled pistachio nuts, salted or unsalted
2 tbsp brown sugar
1-2 tbsp fennel seeds, to taste
3-4 grinds fresh black pepper
4 tbsp olive oil, divided

First, make the nut topping. Place the pistachios in a small plastic bag and roll over them a few times with a rolling pin to break them up a bit. In a small frying pan, combine 1 tbsp olive oil, pistachios, sugar, fennel seeds (don't be afraid of using a lot), black pepper, and some salt if using unsalted nuts. It should be enough pepper to make it slightly spicy. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar has melted and coated the nuts and the nuts are fragrant but not blackened--about 4 minutes. Pour into a bowl, and stir with a fork every so often while it cools to keep it from solidifying into one big glob.

Second, cook the green beans: the idea is to get them charred in places and starting to be wilty. The fast method is to boil them for about one minute, drain, and saute in 2 tbsp olive oil over medium-high to high heat; you can also skip the boiling and saute them in oil over slightly lower heat for a bit longer, maybe 10 minutes total. When their skins have begun to blister all over, remove them from the heat.

Third, cook the shallots. Saute the three sliced shallots in 1 tbsp oil over medium-low until light brown, stirring frequently; about 7 minutes.

Combine the beans, nuts, and shallots in a serving bowl. Chill until cool. Add half the blue cheese; mix thoroughly. Sprinkle the rest of the blue cheese on top as garnish.

Serves 8 as one of several side dishes.

Comfort Food

To me, comfort food is fruit. Lots and lots and lots of summer fruit. With yogurt. Here's what I've been eating every day for nearly the past week as I study for the upcoming bar exam. You'll notice it's the same every day (though I've broken from it once or twice)--once I figured out a menu that includes some of my absolute favorite food treats, I decided to stick with it, so I get plenty of treats in my study-filled day. Plus then I make sure to eat enough (I have trouble eating enough sometimes if it's hot or I'm anxious), and it helps me avoid stress stomachaches. This is what makes me happy!

Breakfast: bowl of Kashi GoLean, berries or nectarine (cut up, obviously), skim milk. I love Kashi GoLean. If you know me, you know that. Plus it is high protein!

All Day Long: many glasses of iced Red Zinger or Raspberry Zinger tea. Yum.

Lunch: Smoothie!!! Usually frozen mango chunks, nectarine, lots of plain yogurt, a little milk, and a teaspoon or so of rosewater. Thick, so you have to eat it with a spoon. Also, two Joseph's Flax, Oat Bran & Whole Wheat Flour mini pitas, toasted with butter--bought them once by mistake, and they're actually way tastier and softer than regular pitas, while at the same time being quite low in calories and very high in protein and fiber.

Mid-Afternoon: Chocolate break! One square dark chocolate. Yay.

Dinner: Tomato salad (a cut up tomato or a bunch of cut up little tomatoes, one sliced green onion, sometimes some basil, a drop of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt). Then pasta with Parmesan (a good three tablespoons' worth). Then, a bowl of fruit (blueberries if at all possible), with a nice spoonful of plain Greek yogurt and honey!







Late Evening: Chocolate, and wine. Then bedtime.

Repeat the next day.

Summer Spicy Chicken Salad with Rice

Yum. Nice cool chicken salad. Cilantro. It's a meal-in-a-bowl.

Summer Spicy Chicken Salad with Rice

1 1/2 cups of the green sauce listed here, or a little over 1 cup of this green sauce with 1/2 cup coconut milk stirred in (if you have the second handy one in the freezer)

2 cups cooked basmati rice or other long grain rice
3 chicken breast halves, poached and diced
3 cups diced green cabbage
2 diced scallions
salt to taste

Combine all ingredients, using enough sauce that it is quite moist but not mooshy or runny. Chill. Eat.

Serves 3-4.

Amazing Summer Tofu Salad

Wow. This is good. It's really hot today, and as I was studying this afternoon I was thinking about what cool and delicious yet filling dinner I wanted. And thought this might work. AND IT DOES. Soft, fresh, and crunchy all at the same time.

Amazing Summer Tofu Salad

1 container firm or extra firm tofu, well drained and cubed
3 cups diced green cabbage (can be roughly diced--I'm not a good dicer)
1 lb frozen peas
1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
3 green onions, white and half the green part, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
salt to taste


Boil water in a saucepan. Cook the peas about three to four minutes, until just hot through but not yet wrinkly.
While the peas are boiling, combine yogurt, vinegar, oil, fennel seeds, and salt; mix thoroughly.
When the peas are done, drain them and rinse immediately with cold water to cool them. Combine tofu, cabbage, peas, and yogurt mixture in a large bowl. Toss well to coat. Taste, and add more vinegar if necessary.
Garnish with chopped scallions.

Serves at least 4 as a main dish.

The idea of this was that it is fairly bland, but you could add some cilantro, some hot jalapenos, etc to spice it up a little.

Deep Dish Nectarine Cobbler

This is not very different from the other cobblers I've already posted, but it was the first time I'd made an all-nectarine dessert in some time. Turns out, much as I love nectarines, I like pies/crumbles/cobblers better if there are some berries in there too. Still, not bad.
Make sure your nectarines are dead ripe, or they won't get soft enough by the time the topping is cooked. And use more nectarines than you think are necessary!

Deep Dish Nectarine Cobbler

1 recipe cobbler batter (using rind of one whole lemon instead of half; ok to substitute light cream for heavy cream)

Filling:
5-7 nectarines, sliced medium-thin (not peeled)
3 tbsp-1/8 cup sugar depending on how ripe they are--taste and check
2 tbsp flour or cornstarch
1 tsp orange blossom water (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix filling ingredients in a small baking dish (somewhere in the neighborhood of 6x6, but any shape). Using your fingers, take pinches of batter and cover the top of the fruit; it should be a little over 1/2 inch thick, and there should be almost exactly enough to cover the whole top.

Bake until the top is golden, about 40-45 minutes.

Serves 3-4.