Fairy Tale Eggplant Pasta

Did you know that Fairy Tale eggplants are a thing? Because if you don't, you should.

Fairy Tale Eggplants are not your ordinary eggplants. In addition to being incredibly-over-the-top unspeakable-adorable, they cook up quickly and beautifully, and they are sweeter and creamier than their larger siblings. They're a true treat with a pretty short season, so when I found them at the market this morning I snatched them up.

Fairy Tale Eggplant rock. Here's something to cook with them. Ingredients are pretty approximate. This is quite forgiving. 

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb pasta-- I used whole wheat spaghetti, but anything would do
• several fairy tale eggplants. I had 8, but depending on how itty bitty they are anywhere from 5-10 could likely work just fine.
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• two generous glugs of olive oil
• 1 sprig fresh basil, minced (stem too!) or 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 14 oz can pureed tomatoes
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 oz parmesan cheese
• additional freshly grated cheese for the top 

Procedure

• Cut eggplant into quarters, for smaller ones, or 8ths, for larger ones. Throw a glug of oil into a large pan and let it heat, then add the eggplant. Try to do as close to a single layer as possible. If you have too much eggplant, do this in two batches. (I did!) Meanwhile, put up water to boil and cook the pasta once it does.

• Let the eggplant caramelize over medium-high heat, turning as needed and adding a touch more oil if it sticks. When they're nice and soft (this shouldn't take more than 4 or 5 minutes), add the garlic, oregano, a little salt, and the tomatoes. 
  
• Turn heat to medium low, or all the way to low if it won't stop sputtering at you. 
• Let the mix come together gently, adding the fresh basil after a minute or two. 
• Remove from heat and stir in the parmesan, adjusting salt and pepper to taste.
• 
  
• Serve with additional cheese. Yum yum!
  

October Soup

Oh hello again, blog. It's been a while. A very long while. Anybody still out there?

A lot's happened since last we spoke. I've moved from California to Philadelphia and spent two years in rabbinical school. I'm on year 3 of 6 now. I've been busy. Really busy. I've made time for cooking but not for blogging about it.

The other day, though, I had this thought: what if I took blogging back up and talked a bit about cooking and Judaism? We'll see if it takes. Mostly, it's Thursday afternoon, it's been a long week, and I'm eager to decompress a bit.

This afternoon I made soup. I needed to. I had a butternut squash that was sitting on the corner of my pantry shelf looking mighty lonely.

As I started cooking, I threw in a bunch of other October ingredients. The result was quite scrumptious. There are no pictures of the cooking process, because I didn't think about blogging until after the fact. Hopefully you'll enjoy anyway.




Ingredients

• 1 medium butternut squash
• 2 TBS butter or oil (soup is vegan if using oil)
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 1 large apple, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup dried red lentils
• 2 tsp dried sage
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• approximately 5 cups stock or broth
• 1 cup apple cider or juice
• salt to taste

Procedure

• pre-heat oven to 375°F. Slice butternut (carefully!) in half lengthwise, oil a baking sheet, place cut side down and cook for approximately 30 minutes. Squash should be soft at the edges but still a bit firm in the middle
• when squash is cool enough to handle, melt the butter or heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook for approximately 5 minutes. Add the apple, lentils, and sage and cook for several minutes more. If lentils look like they're going to burn, add a little stock. 
• scoop as much of the squash pulp as you can into the pot (this may take a minute or two), stir in, and add the rest of the stock. Raise heat to high until the soup comes to a boil, then turn to low and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the squash is falling apart. 
• use an immersion blender to puree the soup (or blend batches in a blender). Stir in cinnamon and cider. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes more, or until the soup is thickened to your liking. Stir in salt to taste. Serve and be merry.