Linda's 5 Cheese Eggplant Parmesan

This is a staple dish for gatherings in my family. A big Sunday or holiday dinner always includes eggplant parmesan. It is a bit time consuming to make, but you will realize it's well worth the effort when you slice into those thick, rich layers of delicious eggplant, sauce and cheese. Although my family uses this as a side dish to a large meal, it can be a meal in itself. It is rich and filling.


Ingredients:
1 large eggplant
4 eggs beaten
2 cups seasoned breadcrumbs
2 grated parmesean cheese
24 ounces of shredded mozzarella
1/2 pound of mild cheddar, sliced thin or shredded
1 cup of grated fontina cheese
1 cup of grated asiago cheese

For those who noticed, no, cheddar is not a cheese normally used in Italian cooking. My mother, Linda, modified the recipe because the sheep's milk cheese one would actually use can be very difficult to find outside of specialty cheese shop. The result was positive. The cheddar adds a nice, rich, creaminess.

Cut off the top and bottom, stem sections of the eggplant and peel away all of the purple outer skin. Some people leave the skin on. It is edible when cooked, but can also be very bitter. This dish works best with peeled eggplant. You don't want the bitter flavor to over power the dish.

Cut the eggplant into thin slices.

Beat the eggs and and place in a large shallow bowl.
Place about a half inch deep layer of breadcrumbs into a second bowl.

Dip the slices of eggplant, one by one, into the egg making sure to coat both sides completely.

Place the eggplant slice into the bowl of breadcrumbs and coat it completely on both sides. Continue this until all of your eggplant slices have been battered. As you continue breading each slice, the breadcrumbs will become gummy and stick together. When this happens and you are find it difficult to easily coat the eggplant, discard the breadcrumbs and put more into the bowl.

Once all the eggplant has been coated and is ready for cooking ready, fill a frying pan with enough oil to completely cover the eggplant slices. These are going to be cooked just a few at a time as they need to be placed in the oil in a single layer.
Place the battered sliced eggplant into the oil, as few at a time so as not to crowd or overlap them in the pan. This may take a while but it is important. otherwise the eggplant will not be evenly and fully fried and therefore will not have the proper taste and texture.

Keep the heat at low to medium low and fry the eggplant until until the breadcrumb coating has turned a deep golden brown. keep an eye on the eggplant while cooking as it is very easy to burn it. Once it has turned golden brown, remove the cooked slices immediately and place on a thick layer of paper towels or a clean dish towel to absorb excess oil. Again, this is an important step so that your end dish does not come out greasy.
Continue this until all the eggplant has been cooked and drained.

Assembling the Dish:
Take your baking dish and cover the bottom with a thin layer of pasta sauce. place the fried eggplant slices into a layer along the bottom of the baking dish. Add a generous layer the cheese mixture making sure to cover all of the eggplant. add a layer of sauce. repeat the layers until you have used all the eggplant. The top layer should consist of sauce and cheese.
Cover with foil and bake at 425 for 40 minutes or until done. When the cheese has melted and begun to brown and the layers underneath are bubbling, your eggplant parmesan is done. remove from the oven and allow it to set for about 10 minutes. This allows the layers to firm up so that they cane more easily be served

Eggplant facts and tips:

Eggplant is a member of the nightshade family of plants. It was once considered to be poisonous.
Even after being cultivated as an edible vegetable, Europeans still believed that consuming the skin would cause insanity. In fact, the skin is edible but it does have a strong, bitter taste.
Eggplant comes in hundreds of varieties, colors, shapes and sizes. The purple skinned variety is the one that most people probably know. It is the most common variety in the US and much of Europe.

Sexing your eggplant:

No, this has nothing to do with a kinky use for eggplant. Sexing an eggplant means being able to determine whether the fruit is male or female.
Why should you care about the gender of your eggplant? Female eggplants have more seeds than males. Seeds make for a more bitter taste and a higher absorption of oil. Eggplants love to suck up oil when they are being fried or sauteed. Females will absorb more than males.

In some dishes, the bitter female is preferred. This would especially true in some Greek and Middle Eastern recipes.
In an eggplant pamesan the male is a better choice. It will have a milder flavor that will blend better with the cheese flavors. It will also soak up less oil while frying and have a less heavy, oily texture.

Some people find eggplant to be harsh on the stomach. For those people the male eggplant  may be easier to digest. Personally, I always prefer a male fruit. It is milder and blends better in a dish like this without over powering the other flavors.

So, how does one sex an eggplant, a question I'm sure many of you have asked many times.

To determine the sex of your eggplant, look at the bottom end opposite the stem. If there is an indentation, like a navel, it is a female. The male's bottom should feel smooth.
Another way to sex an eggplant is by weight. If you pick up two fruits approximately the same size, the lighter one is usually male.

Escarole Soup

Escarole soup is what many know as "Italian Wedding Soup."  The term, wedding soup, originates from a misunderstanding of the soup’s name, ministra maritata, which literally translates to married soup. The name refers not to the occasion for which it is made but to the marriage of flavors that exist in this soup when it is prepared properly.

Much of we see at weddings is poor quality version of the soup. Canned versions area horrible abomination created by soup manufacturers who, not knowing how to properly make it or wanting to cut corners, have created some of the most awful tasting concoctions of spinach and tasteless meatballs.
After making this soup from scratch and tasting it, you will understand and likely feel that you could never touch a canned "Italian Wedding Soup" again.

This recipe does take a bit of prep time, but is well worth the effort. I'm sure you'll agree when you smell the mouth watering aromatic steam that wafts through the kitchen. The flavors are fresh, rich and blend together perfectly. You will notice the lack of herbs or spices in this version of the recipe. That is because it doesn't need any. 
Although some people use spinach in this soup, the traditional recipe calls for escarole. Escarole has a more delicate flavor than spinach and it tends to compliment the flavors of the other ingredients rather than compete with them.

Ingredients:

One head of escarole
Two skinless chicken breasts
One pound of baby carrots
One bunch of celery
One large yellow onion or two medium onions
One pound of ground beef (ground veal will make lighter, melt in the mouth meatballs)
A large can of good quality chicken broth (or homemade chicken broth if you are ambitious)
Seasoned breadcrumbs

Pour the chicken broth into a very large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let the broth simmer. Put the chicken breasts in and let them cook completely.

One thing to note, you can use any part of the chicken you like. I use the breast because I personally do not like any other part, but thighs and legs, even a whole chicken work as well.
While the chicken cooks, start preparing the vegetables. Wash the escarole thoroughly. Escarole can be very gritty and sandy deep in the leaves so you do need to wash it carefully. See some tips after the recipe on how to select and properly clean escarole.
Once the escarole is cleaned, gently tear the leave into small pieces and set aside. Cut the onion into bite sized pieces. Cut the celery into slices, you can also use any leafy ends that be left on the stalks. Place the celery and onions and carrots into the bowl with the escarole while you tend to the chicken.
Once the chicken is completely cooked, remove it from the pot, set it aside on a plate and let it cool while you prepare the meatballs.
Mix together the ground beef and breadcrumbs in a large bowl. Add water to the mix as needed to keep the mixture moist enough to roll into balls and firm enough to hold together. Taking small bits of the ground beef, roll into bite sized meatballs. One pound of ground beef mixed with breadcrumbs will make approximately one hundred meatballs. This is enough for two large pots of soup.
After the meatballs are made, check the chicken for temperature. If the chicken if cool enough to handle, begin shredding it. I like to shred it by hand into small spoon sized bits. 
When you are done with the chicken, put the vegetables and chicken in the pot and gently drop the meatballs in on top of those. Note that the meatballs are not fried prior to being added to the soup. This allows to gently simmer and cook in the soup, soaking up the various flavors and the broth. The result is an extremely tender and juicy meatball. Let the soup simmer uncovered for about two hours to allow the meatballs to cook and for the various flavors to blend.
Tips on choosing and cleaning escarole:

Choosing escarole is much like choosing any other green leafy vegetable. You want to look for crisp leaves, rich dark green color and a well formed bunch with leaves tight around the stem and spreading out slightly from the center outward. Because the leaves are rather delicate, it is not unusual to see some bruising around on the outer portions . Especially the lower portion close to the stem area and the top edges of the larger, outer leaves. these pieces can be torn off and discarded. What you do not want to see is extensive bruising or discoloration, softness around the lower outside leaves near the stem.
The way best to clean escarole for cooking is to break off the leaves from the stem and place them into a large bowl full of cold water. Move them around for a few minutes to loosen any grit from the base of the leaves. The grit and soil will sink to the bottom of the bowl.
Remove the leaves using your hands, so as to leave the grit and soil undisturbed at the bottom of the bowl. Place the escarole into a colander and rinse with cold water. Empty and rinse the bowl, fill once again with cold water and repeat the process one more time.

Arancini

Wednesday was hot dog and rice day in the cafeteria of Saint Anthony School.

The boiled hot dog on a stale roll wasn't so bad if you loaded lots of mustard on it, but the rice was another story. It was a more than adequate helping of boiled white rice that had butter mixed in to moisten it. It tasted terrible and nobody wanted to eat it.

My first Wednesday at Saint Anthony, I ate the shriveled, over boiled hotdog and strolled casually to the end of the cafeteria to scrape the white, tasteless mound of rice into the garbage can.

“What do you think you are doing, mister?”

It was Sister Mary Gemma, the meanest nun at Saint Anthony. Sister Mary Gemma was constantly armed with a five foot wooden rod that she handled the way a Samurai Warrior handles his sword.

“I don’t like rice,” I said. “So, I’m throwing it away.”

Sister Mary Gemma stuck the end of her wooden rod against my chest, barring me from getting any closer to the garbage can. “Are you aware that there are children in China who are starving and would love to have that rice,” she asked.

“I think they have lots of rice in China, Sister.” 

A few minutes later, while the other kids were out in the school yard for recess, I sat in the empty cafeteria with the plat of rice in front of me, my hands still stinging after being hit with Sister Mary Gemma’s rod. Finally, Mrs. Manzione, one of the cafeteria workers, took pity on me. As she wiped down the tables, she stealthily grabbed my plate and emptied it in the trash can she dragged around with her.

Week two, I had come up with the plan of placing my napkin over the rice before taking my plate to the back of the cafeteria. I thought surely Sister Mary Gemma would be fooled by the ingenious deception. As I sat nursing my red, swollen hands, Mrs. Manzione, again, emptied my plate.

“You know,” she whispered to me, “you could just do like the other kids and force yourself to eat the rice.”

Being too stubborn to give in, I finally developed the perfect plan. The next Wednesday I was out in the schoolyard with the other children, leaving Sister Mary Gemma smiling smugly in the cafeteria, believing she broken yet another willful child.  

When I got home that afternoon, my grandmother was perplexed as to why the pockets of my uniform jacket were filled with rice. I explained that rice was the most disgusting food ever invented and that if there really were starving children in China, as the nuns always reminded us, it’s because they would rather starve than eat that foul creation. 

I swore I would never eat rice.  My grandmother took this as a challenge and assured me that she could make a rice dish that I would love.

I realized she was right when I tasted my first arancini.

Arancini is a simple rice ball comprised of boiled rice, ham, peas and cheese, coated with breadcrumb and fried.

These can be made as an appetizer, a side dish or a snack. They can eaten as is or covered with tomato sauce. They do freeze well and can be reheated in an oven. Microwave reheating breaks down the texture, substance and flavor, leaving them bland and rubbery.

There are many variations on the recipe. This is how my grandmother made them.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, minced

1 clove minced garlic

1 cup rice

1/2 cup frozen peas

2 ounces of ham diced

1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

1 egg, beaten

1 egg

3 tablespoons of milk

4 ounces mozzarella cheese, cut into small cubes

1/2 cup flour

1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1 cup vegetable or canola oil

Directions

Cook the rice according to directions. You can use chicken broth in place of water to cook the rice for some extra flavor. While the rice is cooking, you can start the onion and garlic.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and cook, stirring frequently until onion is soft. You do not want to brown the onion and garlic.

Mix the cooked onion, garlic into the rice along with the peas and ham.

Allow the mixture to cool enough to add the egg without cooking it and to be able to handle the mixture. Do not let it sit long enough for the rice to dry.

Stir in the beaten egg

Form the rice mixture into balls. These can be small, appetizer size or larger, depending on how they will be served and how big you prefer your balls. Some people like large ones and some people like smaller ones that fit easily into the mouth.

As you form each one, press a chunk of the mozzarella into the center.

Put the milk and the bread crumbs into two separate shallow bowls.

Dip the rice ball into the bowl of milk, coat lightly with flour and then roll it in breadcrumbs and coat well.

Heat the frying oil in a deep saucepan or deep fryer and fry your balls a few at a time, turning frequently. When done, your balls should be a golden brown color.

Set them on a paper towel or dish cloth to drain. Eat as is or cover with tomato sauce.

Pizza di Scarola

This is something my grandmother made frequently and would keep on hand in the freezer because it was always a favorite. It can be made with escarole or, if you prefer, spinach works just as well.  It was one of the sneaky ways my grandmother had of getting me to eat the nutritious foods that children normally avoid. Presenting it the form of a calzone or pizza could make leafy greens very appealing.

Ingredients:

6-8 ounces of uncooked, fresh spinach

1/3 cup parmesan cheese

1/3 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/2 cup sliced white mushrooms

1/2 cup sliced onion

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Saute the onion until it becomes tender and translucent. Just a few minutes before that point, add the mushrooms to the pan and saute until they start to turn a golden color. 

Spread the dough out onto a pizza stone or aluminum foil that has been oiled with cooking spray and covered with a dusting of flour or cornmeal.

Spread the spinach over half dough leaving a quarter of an inch at the edge.

Sprinkle on the mozzarella and parmesan.

Spoon the mushrooms and onion over the spinach.

 

Take the other half of the dough and fold it over the spinach and mushroom mixture to form a half moon shaped pie.

Go around the edges pressing the dough together to form a seal. Place a few small slices in the top to vent steam.

Bake at 325 degrees until the dough has turned a deep golden brown.

Allow to set 5-10 minutes before slicing.

This is delicious hot or cold. It can also be served with a bit of tomato sauce spread over the top.

Sausage Soup

This is another hearty, filling soup that goes along way. Again, this is a recipe I have simplified from the way my grandmother made it and certainly from the way my great grandmother would have. My grandmother, Vincenza, bought dried beans and soaked them for 24 hours them simmered the for half a day. My great grandmother Lucia, picked the beans from the garden.
It can be made with either sweet or hot Italian sausage. Although I love hot, spicy foods, I prefer this soup with the sweet sausage. It tends to blend better with the other flavors rather than trying to compete with them.

Ingredients:

1 pound Italian sausage
2 clove garlic, minced
2 cans beef broth (14 ounces)
1 can crushed tomatoes (14 ounces)
1 cup sliced carrots
1 can of great northern beans or cannellini beans, undrained
2 small zucchini, cubed
1 medium onion sliced
Directions
Brown the sausage and saute the garlic and onion with it. Do not brown the garlic and onion, just cook until the onion is soft and translucent.
Slice the sausage into 1/4 inch slices.
In a large soup pot mix together the broth and tomatoes. heat on high until the liquid gets just about to the boiling point. Reduce heat and add the sausage, carrots, onions and garlic.
Allow this simmer 15-20 minutes.
Add the zucchini and beans along with liquid from the can.
Continue to simmer, on low heat, for another 20 minutes until sausage is completely cooked and the vegetables are tender.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Simple Polenta

I was shocked the first time I saw polenta show up on the menu of a fancy restaurant as a side dish. Polenta has it's origins on the farmlands of Italy as a means to feed and fill a family when there is little food with which to work.

Polenta is basically a cornmeal mush that has been baked with tomato sauce and cheese. It is relatively simple to prepare. The way my grandmother prepared it was to mix tomato sauce directly into the polenta before baking. Most recipes call for it to be poured over the top only.
Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups cornmeal
6 cups water
1 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella

Bring water to a full boil. Reduce heat and add cornmeal, whisking in a little at a time.
Cook about 10-15 minutes until the mixture it is the consistency of cream of wheat, stirring frequently.
Pour into a large mixing bowl and stir in 1/2 of the tomato sauce and the grated Parmesan cheese.
Once the ingredients are well mixed, pour into a baking pan or casserole dish that has been well greased or sprayed with cooking spray.

Spread a layer of tomato sauce over the top and sprinkle on the mozzarella.

bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes or until the polenta has firmed and the mozzarella has melted.

Allow to set for 5-10 minute before serving.

Cut into squares to serve.

Veal Stew (Stufato del Vitello)

This was a favorite of mine as a child. My grandmother made this frequently and served it with large chunks of crusty, rustic bread for sopping up the soup at the end.

This is a light, savory stew that is perfect for a cold day. It can be made in a hour or can be left to simmer longer than that. Once this starts to simmer, your whole kitchen will fill with a rich aroma that will draw the family (and possibly some neighbors) to the kitchen.

My grandmother and great grandmother would buy fresh peas still in the pod and spend hours shucking them. In this version, frozen peas will suffice. If you plan to use canned peas, not only will you end up with that aluminum taste overpowering the stew and ruining it, you will also end up with peas that are pretty much pureed.

Sorry, I think canned vegetables are the work of the devil. Fresh is, of course, always the first preference. Frozen is second.

Ingredients:

1 pound of stewing veal
2 white potatoes cut into chunks
1 large onion sliced
2 cloves of garlic crushed
3 cups of water
1 cup of crushed canned tomatoes
1 teaspoon of parsley
1/2 cup of diced sun dried tomatoes
1 box of frozen peas
1/3 cup cooking oil

Heat the oil in a good sized skillet. Once the oil is hot (it will start to pop and sizzle) place the onion, garlic and veal into the skillet and cook until the meat has browned and the onion and garlic has become soft.

Do not over cook the garlic and onions. You are not browning them nor are you cooking the veal all the way through. You simply want to lock in the flavor and juices of the veal and release the flavor of the garlic and onion.

In a large soup pot, add water and tomatoes together, put in the parsley and sun dried tomato and stir to mix all ingredients.

Put the veal garlic and onion into the pot and add the potatoes. Set on the stove at a low to medium heat, cover and allow to simmer.

This should be left to simmer for an hour.

Do not put the peas into the pot until 5-8 minutes before cooking time ends. This allows them to maintain their color and texture without overcooking.

Serve this steaming hot with a big loaf of rustic bread.

Braciole (Herb Stuffed Steak)

Braciole is a stuffed flank steak. Many of the braciole recipes are a bit more complicated than this one. The way it was made in my family was to keep it simple and prepare it so that it could be put into the Sunday Gravy to simmer all day. The reason for keeping it simple was that, as well as the gravy itself, the meatballs, sausages, pork and braciole  were all going into the pot.

Another way to enjoy this dish, if you are not making a large pasta sauce,  is to serve the braciole topped with a bit of sauce and a sprinkling of a nice Parmesan reggiano cheese.

Ingredients:

1 pound or more of flank steak
1/2 cup of diced sun dried tomato
1/2 cup diced onion
2-3 cloves garlic crushed
1 teaspoon of parsley
1 teaspoon of dried basil or 4 leaves of fresh basil diced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan

Lay the flank steaks out flat and tenderize with a mallet.

In a bowl, mix all the other ingredients. Spoon out this mixture onto the lower portion of each steak, about a tablespoon full for each. Pull the sides of the steak inward over the stuffing and proceed to roll the steak up into a tube shape.

Quick meal method:
Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce onto the bottom of  a shallow baking dish. Lay the stuffed braciole inside the baking dish. Do not layer on top of one another. Cover with tomato sauce and any left over stuffing you may have. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for one hour.

Cooking in a gravy:
If the braciole is going to be cooked in a sauce, you will need to tie each one with twine wrapped end to end. this will keep the steak from unrolling in the sauce. Place into your pot of sauce and allow it to simmer for a few hours.

These can also be cooked in a slow cooker. Provide enough sauce to keep the meat completely covered during the cooking time.

An alternative is to use a slightly thicker steak, such as a top round thinly sliced. using all of the ingredients above and adding a cup of seasoned bread crumbs to the stuffing mix. This will result in a larger, stuffed steak that is better for slow cookers or cooking slowly in an oven than it would be for a gravey.

Summer Salad with Peaches and Figs (Insalata di estate con le pesche ed i fichi)

This is a very simple salad that incorporates some of the flavors of an Italian summer. My great grandmother, Lucia, would put together this salad with fruits and vegetables picked fresh that morning. Some cured meats, a wedge of cheese and some fresh baked bread would accompany the salad and  for a lighter meal during those hot days in the Italian summer. My grandmother a sable to serve the same meal with everything chilled, something my great grandmother could not do until coming to the United States.
The dressing for this salad calls for an apple cider or red wine vinegar. Apple cider and red wine vinegars are light and fresh tasting. They blend well with the fruits and vegetables in a salad without overpowering them. For the same reason, a lighter tasting oil than an extra virgin should be used. This can be light to or pure olive oil or even a vegetable or canola oil.
The idea of this salad is to use the garden fresh flavors, mixing sweet, savory and a bit of tang.
Ingredients:
1 bunch of romaine lettuce
1 bunch of radicchio
2-3 fresh ripe tomatoes
1 large cucumber
2 ripe peaches
4 fresh figs quartered
1/2 cup oil
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Wash the romaine and radicchio well and let dry.
Cut tomatoes, figs and peaches into quarters. The peaches should be ripe but not too soft.
Tear the romaine and radicchio into  a large salad bowl.
Add the quartered figs, peaches tomatoes and sliced cucumber.
Mix together the vinegar, oil and lemon juice, pour onto salad and gently toss.
Other fruits that go well in this salad and hold up with their own flavors are pears (either the Bosch or Bartlett variety) apples (Cortland, Empire or Granny Smith) and green or red grapes.
If you have never picked out fresh figs before, here are a few tips. Italian black figs or Mission Figs can be used. Mission Figs are often easier to find in most stores.
Choose fruit that has a mostly dark purple skin that is free of blemishes and has some firmness to it. After being washed, the entire fig, including the outer skin, is edible. If you find the outer skin to have a little bitterness, you can peel away the first layer.
The inside of a fig should be a rich purple  or magenta color and should look succulent and juicy, not dried out.