I'm Not So Dumb

On a spur of the moment trip up to Connecticut, I made round two of my ’stuffed’ eggplant rounds for the family.  This recipe is incredibly simple and tastes downright amazing as an appetizer.

The ingredients can vary drastically depending on what you have sitting around, although I do my best to use two separate layers, and eggplant is the one mandatory item.

First, cut the eggplant into rounds and hollow out the centers.  (These can be saved for another day or baked for dipping etc.)  Place these rounds down on a sheet pan or grates with aluminum foil covering.  Next, chop into 1/4″ cubes (or similar) any combination of bell peppers, squash, zucchini, onion, or any other relatively mild-flavored vegetable.  Place these in a large mixing bowl and add in a few splashes of soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, rice or rice wine vinegar and a little olive oil.  Season with two to three of your favorite seasonings, although I prefer honey, ginger, curry powder, salt and pepper.  Toss and scoop that mixture into and on the eggplant rounds.

For the second layer, slice mozzarella (hard is fine, this is used mostly for binding as it melts),  tomatoes and fresh herbs.  Place the mozzarella atop each round, covering that with herbs and tomato.  Splash with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a few pinches of salt/pepper.

Set this tray aside for at least an hour to let the flavors meld, then place in a medium indirect heat grill until the cheese is well melted and the tomatoes and herbs have wilted.  Slice, serve and enjoy!

Before cooking:

After:

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Before heading to bed I wanted to get the lamb marinating and the stuffing done, so come tomorrow (this afternoon?) I will be able to put this meal together quickly.  The lamb was pretty easy to skewer with my honing blade, and a few cold hands later, into a red wine and balsamic marinade it went!  The goat cheese/apricot filling was fun and surprisingly easy to make.  I was expecting the goat cheese to stick to everything and be impossible to whip up, however by adding just a little bit of whole milk, it remained mostly under control.  Together with the chopped dried apricots, there is a nice tang upfront although the sweet of the apricots finishes it out very nicely.

I finally made it back to Dukem, an excellent Ethiopian restaurant in northern Washington, DC with my friend L today.  For anyone who has not been able to try Ethiopian yet, I highly reccomend it.  We had a fairly common sampling of wot and tibs, although the star of the night was certainly our choice of kitfo.  In the past, I have had kitfo and gored gored without enough spices mixed in, and let me tell you, the difference when done properly is amazing.  For those that don’t know, kitfo is minced red meat (beef or lamb typically) mixed with clarified butter and a lot of spices.  As for the particular blend, I have a hard time parsing them all out, although there is certainly a significant amount of cardamom and dried chili of some variety.

After dropping L off, cleaning up a bunch and getting my daily dose of food network, I was hungry again!  Big surprise.  I will be making cert food for my co-workers tomorrow, and it will be the first time in a while that I have used egg roll wrappers.  The goal is to make lightly roasted lamb, stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in herbs and a crispy shell.  Being rather limited in my frying apparati while living in this town house, I was not about to do this on the fly.  Luckily enough, there was leftovers from Dukem.  Try one went decently well, although I used significantly less meat than one of my lamb rounds will be.  My second roll went even better still, although I have realized that when pan frying I certainly need to keep my oil temperature a little bit lower than deep frying, they are so easy to burn!

Unfortunately I was too hungry and forgot to take any pictures, however tomorrow I will make sure that is not the case.

So: I’m Not So Dumb has for so long been a holding company for my email address (honestly who can’t help but laugh when getting that on a business card).  Time to change that.

My world is a cyclone with science and technology caught in the eye, the end result being a serious need to maintain my creative juices. Ultimately writing here will be writing for me, however the topics discussed should hopefully run the gamut from fine cuisine to art and travel.  If you are wondering how something is done or what it is like, ask.  If I haven’t done it already, there is always time to be found for trying.

So relax, sit back and enjoy the show!