PASTE & PESTO

See this stuff? It's jars of herbs that have been washed, dried and pulsed in a food processor with some oil. The one with Basil is called PESTO but this one has no nuts or cheese added. Those can be added later. You can use any of these to add to dishes as you like. Putting the herbs in oil also preserves them. I keep them in the fridge and use until they get moldy. The slightest sign of mold and I toss them out. Here we have Cilantro, Parsley and Basil that have been treated in this manner. I also grow Shiso leaves, or what is called Perilla. They are most commonly used with Sushi but they can also be added to salad or smeared on cooked fish, or whatever imaginative use you may imagine.

Next is a dish I made from whatever was around. I had some eggplant, a strange cheese called Provolone-Mozzarella, left-over lamb balls, a jar of Lidia's Marinara sauce (it's really good and not very salty like a lot of jarred tomato sauces...hurrah Lidia!), the pastes as above, Parmigiano cheese, and olive oil. By the time I thought of posting this dish I had already eaten most of it. So excuse a rather messy photo with poor lighting, etc. Pretty bad, huh?

The big issue with eggplant is how do you cook it without 'so much oil'....Okay, you can slice and bake, slice and steam. When you bake you do need a bit of oil. You can do the usual slice and salt, let sweat for about 30 minutes, rinse and dry with paper towels or with a kitchen towel. What I did was to do the slice and sweat routine, then I sprinkled the eggplant with Wondra flour and grilled them in a cast iron frying pan. I stuck some holes through the slices with a fork to make sure they cooked through. Eggplant does not need a lot of cooking. Just get it slightly grilled and toasty on the outside.

Then I poured some of Lidia's Marinara on the bottom of a small rectangular dish, made a layer of the grilled eggplant, added some grated Provolone/Mozzarella, a layer of the sliced lamb balls, some grated parmigiano, a dab here and there of parsley paste and basil paste, more Marinara, another layer of eggplant, and so on...top with the Marinara, and both cheeses. I think I put a  layer of breadcrumbs on top too...yes, I did. And sprinkled the top with one teaspoon of extra-virgin oo. Put into a  350 degree oven on top of a sheet pan, and bake until bubbly and a little bit browned on the top.

Take out. Cool a little. Gobble up. Your dish isn't going to look any nicer than mine but with any luck it will taste just a good. Instead of the lamb balls, use whatever you have....mushrooms sauteed, grilled artichokes,  leftover potatoes, Bob's your uncle.....