It’s Nigiri! It’s Maki! No, it’s…Antipasti?!?

It’s almost New Year’s Eve! If you’re hosting a party, this means you’ve got to upgrade your appetizers—your taco dip may be delicious, but it doesn’t quite go with the gallons of champagne you’re bound to pour. Special holidays call for dishes that are unique and presented with some flair!

Try my twist on the traditional antipasti platter, where rich cheese, prosciutto, and roasted red peppers and eggplant are shaped and formed into Roasted Eggplant and Prosciutto "Maki" rolls and Roasted Red Pepper "Nigiri." Perfect for a festive occasion, these delightful nibbles will certainly surprise your guests!

To save time on party day, prepare the cheese blend and roast the peppers and the eggplants in advance.


Cheese Blend for Antipasti “Sushi”

15 oz. / 425 g. whole milk ricotta, drained
8 oz. / 225 g. mozzarella, finely diced (pieces should be about the size of rice grains)
1 small clove garlic, pressed
1 t. salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Pinch dried oregano

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well so that the garlic is evenly blended throughout. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate until ready to use.


Roasted Eggplant

1 t. salt
1 t. dried oregano
½ t. freshly ground black pepper, fine grind
1 small eggplant, sliced lengthwise into ½” slices

Combine the salt, dried oregano, and pepper in a small bowl and set aside. Lay the eggplant on a wire rack, and sprinkle with the seasoning. Rub the seasoning into the eggplant slices.

Preheat the oven’s broiler. In the meantime, line a baking sheet with foil and place the wire rack with the eggplant on top of the foil. When the oven is ready, place the eggplant under the broiler and broil for 5-7 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool until ready to use.


Roasted Red Peppers

2 red bell peppers*, cored and sliced lengthwise at natural rib

Preheat the broiler on high. Arrange the peppers on a baking sheet covered in foil (this makes clean-up much easier). Put the peppers under the broiler for 5-10 minutes, or until the peppers' skins have turned black and charred.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Using tongs, place the roasted peppers in a bowl. Cover the bowl and let the peppers cool.

Once peppers have cooled, gently peel off the charred skin and discard skin. The peppers are now ready to use.

* For this recipe, use the boxiest, most evenly square-shaped peppers you can find


Roasted Eggplant and Prosciutto “Maki”

Roasted eggplant, as prepared above
4 oz. / 115 g. prosciutto, very thinly sliced
Cheese blend, as prepared above

Prepare the eggplant by slicing lengthwise into thin batons, then slicing in half crosswise so that the batons are about as long as the prosciutto’s width. Set aside.

Lay a slice of prosciutto on your work surface. Heap a spoonful or two of the cheese blend onto about half of the prosciutto and spread until it is about ¼” thick. Place 2-3 eggplant batons about an inch in (see photo below), and roll up.

Using a sharp knife, slice each roll in half (see photo below), then trim the ends so that they will lay flat on a serving tray.

Repeat with the remaining eggplant, prosciutto, and cheese.

* Nutritional info per piece: 58 calories, 4 g fat, 2.7 g carbohydrates, 4.7 g protein.


Roasted Red Pepper “Nigiri”

Roasted red peppers, as prepared above
Cheese blend, as prepared above

Slice the roasted red peppers into rectangles, approximately 1 x 2.5 inches.

Place 2 heaping spoonfuls of the cheese blend into your hands and shape into pieces that are about an inch thick, and inch wide, and 2 inches long. Handle the cheese as little as possible, as the warmth of your hands will cause the cheese to soften.

Place a red pepper slice on the shaped cheese piece. Repeat with the remaining peppers and cheese.

* Nutritional info per piece: 97 calories, 7 g fat, 1.7 g carbohydrates, 6 g protein.

Grilled Eggplant Medallions with Sherry and Caper Dipping Sauce

This is the first recipe I created after my recent trip to Boston’s Copley Square Farmers’ Market. I rarely visit farmers’ markets with a recipe in mind; instead, I buy whatever looks best and let the inspiration follow.

When I saw Asian Eggplant at one of the stands, I immediately knew that I wanted to slice it into rounds, coat it with a spice paste, and grill it. Originally, I was going to make the spice paste with Indian flavors, but after asking myself how I could incorporate capers into the dish, I decided to use Spanish flavors in the recipe.

The result? Flavor-packed eggplant with a slightly crisp crust, accompanied by an indulgent dipping sauce. These are ridiculously easy to make and are guaranteed to be a crowd-pleaser; prepare these in advance and grill them up at your next outdoor party!


Grilled Eggplant Medallions with Sherry and Caper Dipping Sauce

Coating the eggplant

For the eggplant:
½ t. / 2.5 g cumin seeds, toasted and ground
2 T./ 30 g smoked paprika
½ t. / 2.5 g finely ground black pepper
½ t. / 2.5 g smoked sea salt
1 t. / 4.5 g dried thyme
Dash cayenne
Dash unsweetened cocoa
4 T. / 60 mL dry sherry
1-2 garlic cloves, pressed
1.5 T. / 23 mL olive oil
1 Asian eggplant, sliced into ½” (1cm) rounds

Combine all ingredients except the eggplant in a shallow baking dish until a paste is formed. Dunk each eggplant round into the spice paste, coating both cut sides of the eggplant. Set aside on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes. 

Next, grill over hot coals for 1-2 minutes per side, or until the paste begins to brown and char a bit on the outside. Alternatively, if you are using your oven’s broiler, line a baking sheet with foil and place the wire rack on top of the foil. Broil about 5 minutes on the first side, turn, and grill for 2-3 minutes on the second side.

Serve piping hot with Sherry and Caper Dipping Sauce.


Nutritional information (eggplant only): serves two. 140 calories, 7 g. fat, 11.6 g. carbohydrates, 2.2 g. protein.


For the dipping sauce:
1 T. / 15 g capers, minced
1 small garlic clove, pressed
2 T. / 30 mL olive oil
1 T. / 15 mL dry sherry

Whisk all ingredients together until completely blended. Place in a dip bowl and serve alongside Grilled Eggplant Medallions.

Nutritional information (dipping sauce only): serves two. 325 calories, 36 g. fat, 0.2 g. carbohydrates, 0.1 g. protein.

Ingredient Spotlight - Thai Eggplant

What is Thai Eggplant?  From what I determined, it's a cuter version of common purple eggplant!

I stumbled across a bag of Thai Eggplant in the produce department of my grocery store. Each no larger than a tangerine, some as small as a golf ball, these shamrock green spheres speckled with white aroused my curiosity. Do they they taste any different from regular eggplant? Is their texture the same? What color is the flesh inside?  I stopped staring at them and threw them into my basket, mentally shuffling my shopping list to include the ingredients for a traditional Thai green curry with beef.

While slicing the Thai Eggplant, I noticed that they contained more seeds than regular purple eggplant. This could be due to their small size. The flavor is exactly the same as purple eggplant, and so is the texture. My conclusion? Unless you want to add visual interest to a dish, there is no need to seek out these eggplants when you could simply use the easier to locate and easier to prepare common purple eggplant. That being said, here is the recipe I created with my Thai Eggplant.

Thai Eggplants in Beef Curry

1 T. coconut oil (can substitute vegetable oil)
1 lb. beef sirloin, sliced into 1/4" strips (also known as "stir-fry beef")
1 shallot or small onion, minced
2 lb. Thai eggplants, quartered or cut into eighths (or substitute diced purple eggplant)
1 can coconut milk
1t - 2T. Thai green curry paste (depends on how spicy you like it)
1t. grated fresh ginger
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. fish sauce
black pepper to taste
generous handful shredded basil leaves
red chile flakes (optional)

cooked rice noodles

Heat the coconut oil over medium-high heat in a large, heavy-bottomed pan. When heated through, add the beef strips and brown for 2-3 minutes. Add the shallot or onion and saute for another minute or so, or until the shallot is translucent. Now, add the eggplant and stir a few times to combine.

Add the coconut milk, curry paste, ginger, soy sauce, fish sauce, and pepper. Stir to combine, reduce heat to low, and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the eggplant has softened and the sauce has thickened up a bit.

Spoon the curry over cooked rice noodles, and garnish each dish with shredded basil, and chile flakes if you prefer a little extra heat.

Linguine Carbonara with Bacon, Butter and Booze

Before I begin the discussion of my latest recipe, let me explain why I’m not profiling Italy in my Around the World in Eighty Bites project – definitely not because I don’t want to honor my Italian readers, but it seems redundant, considering that 90% of my culinary knowledge centers around Italian food and 80% of my recipes are either Italian or Italian-inspired.  I wouldn’t even know where to begin!  Making me choose one recipe to represent Italy would be like making me choose between The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, so instead of cooking one representative dish, I’ll just give one big grazie to my Italian readers and express my envy that they get to live where pecorino and prosciutto are made! 

This weekend, I made biscotti, which requires egg whites.  In turn, I had egg yolks left over.  Not one to waste food, I needed to come up with a recipe using those egg yolks, and I decided on Linguine Carbonara.    

Carbonara is a very popular, very rich dish characterized by the presence of cured pork, eggs, cheese, and lots and lots of black pepper.  It is traditionally made with spaghetti, but any long pasta can be used.  Some versions use cream, some do not.  The type of pork used varies; some cooks use pancetta, some use guanciale, and some use plain old all-purpose bacon.  Americanized versions of the dish tend to feature other ingredients, such as grilled chicken, mushrooms, or peas, but these are not used in the Italian version.  My version stays closer to the traditional Italian recipe, and it includes Italian bacon (pancetta), butter, and booze!  Where I stray is in the addition of the egg at the end – in the traditional version, the raw egg is added at the last minute and cooked no further, letting the heat from the pasta cook the egg.  In my version, the egg and wine are added together, which requires an extra minute of cooking to guarantee that the egg cooks through.  You do not have to use only the eggs’ yolks for this recipe; I did so because I had them.  Whole eggs also work fine, and using whole eggs will result in a lighter texture than using mainly yolks.  Because this dish is extremely rich, a small serving goes a long way. 

Linguine Carbonara

1 pound linguine

½ stick butter

4 oz. pancetta, sliced into small strips

1 small onion, minced

1 whole egg + 2 egg yolks (you can substitute two whole eggs)

2 T. dry white wine

2 T. coarsely ground black pepper

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Salt to taste

Cook the pasta.  In the meantime, melt the butter over medium-high heat in a large, heavy bottomed pan large enough to accommodate all the cooked pasta.  Once the butter has melted, add the pancetta and cook, stirring frequently, for about 2-4 minutes.  Once the edges begin to crisp, lower the heat, and add the onion and cook for another minute or so until the onion turns translucent. 

While the pancetta and onion cook, place the egg and yolk in a small bowl.  Add the wine and pepper, and beat with a fork or a small whisk until the ingredients are completely blended.  Set aside. 

Once the pasta has cooked, drain it and add it to the pan with the pancetta and onion.  Add the cheese and salt, and stir until the cheese is melted.  Now, slowly add the egg/wine mixture, constantly tossing the pasta, until each strand is coated with the mixture.  Cook for 1-2 minutes, or until the egg begins to firm up and adhere to the pasta.  Serve immediately.