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.

Seafood en Espanol

In my travels two weeks ago, I found a Spanish cookbook on sale for $7.99.  Since that purchase, I've wanted to give my cooking a little sabor espanol.  Unfortunately, I haven't had time to sleep lately, much less cook and write, but when I found out that A) my weekend plans were pretty low-key and I'd actually have some time on my hands, and B) Mercato del Mare had razor clams (which I've never tried before), I put my mind to creating the feast of all feasts and seasoning each dish with a sprinkling of sunny Spain. 
 

live razor clams

While most of the ingredients in these recipes are fairly common, you can make simple substitutions for the ingredients you cannot locate.  For example, if you cannot find Manchego cheese, use an aged monterey jack.  Any kind of firm sprouts can be used in place of the pea shoots, just don't use alfalfa sprouts - they're too flimsy.  Any live clam can be used in place of the razor clam, and if you can't locate monkfish, use small (approx 2 oz) pieces of tuna, swordfish, or shark steaks. 

Quinoa and Roasted Red Pepper Timbales

2 c. chicken broth or vegetable stock
1 c. uncooked quinoa, rinsed and drained
1/2 t. cumin seeds
1/2 t. smoked sea salt
1 T. smoked paprika
1/3 cup shredded Manchego cheese
1 fresh red chile, minced (optional)
2 roasted red bell peppers, minced (for instructions, click here)
olive oil

Bring the chicken broth to a boil, then add the quinoa and cumin.  Stir, reduce heat, and let simmer for approximately 15 minutes, or until the liquid has completely evaporated.  Stir in all remaining ingredients except the minced roasted red bell pepper and remove from heat. 

Next, take a small drinking glass or measuring cup, pour in a little olive oil and cover the inside of the glass entirely.  It should be very slippery.  Add a layer of the cooked quinoa and pack in, but not too tightly or it could stick (you might want to practice this a few times - my first try was a disaster, but you develop a feel for it!).  Next, add a layer of the minced roasted red bell pepper.  Add more layers, alternating between quinoa and red pepper, as shown in photo to the left.  Repeat until the cup is filled. 

To serve, invert the molds on a plate (as shown in photo below), and garnish with any additional red pepper. 




Steamed Razor Clams with Pimenton Gremolata

For the gremolata:
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 c. chopped parsley
1 large garlic clove, very finely minced
1 t. smoked paprika
1/2 t. smoked sea salt

For the clams:
1/4 c. olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 t. fresh red chile, minced
1/4 c. dry white wine
juice of 1 lemon
1 lb. razor clams

First, make the gremolata by combining all gremolata ingredients in a small bowl.  Set aside.

In a large frying pan with a lid, heat the olive oil, then add the garlic and chile.  Saute for a few minutes until the garlic becomes fragrant, but do not let the garlic burn.  Now, add the wine and lemon juice.  Stir to blend, then add the clams.  Cover, then simmer for 3-5 minutes or until the shells have opened.  Remove from heat, but keep warm.

Razor clams require a little more work than regular clams, so be sure to follow this step after steaming if using razor clams rather than regular clams.  You'll see that the clam kind of splits into a "Y" shape - grab the arm of the "Y" that connects to the dark organs, and pull - this should separate the muscle part of the clam from the dark bits.  Just pull and discard the dark bits, and if there is any dark matter remaining, squeeze or slice it away.  Repeat with all the clams. 

To serve, place the cleaned clams back into their shells, sprinkle with a pinch of the gremolata, and arrange on a plate, as shown in the picture above. 



Pea Shoots with Garlic Dressing

1 bunch pea shoots
Reserved cooking liquid from steamed clams

Separate the pea shoots into small parcels, and find the longest shoot in each bunch.  Use the long shoot to tie the others together.  Spoon a few teaspoons of the clam cooking oil over each parcel, making sure to include some of the garlic and chile bits. 



Monkfish Medallions with Sherried Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

For the sauce:
1 roasted red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 c. Amontillado sherry
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 t. smoked paprika
2 T. heavy cream
2 T. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

For the monkfish:
1 monkfish tail, cut into 1.5 inch thick medallions
flour seasoned with salt and pepper, for dredging
olive oil, for frying

First, make the sauce.  Combine all the ingredients in a blender, puree until liquefied, and set aside. 

Take each of the monkfish medallions and dredge in the seasoned flour, making sure to shake off any excess flour.  Set aside.  Heat a large, heavy bottomed frying pan.  When it is hot, add a generous splash of olive oil.  Once the olive oil is heated and covers the entire surface of the pan, add the monkfish medallions and cook for 2-3 minutes per side until slightly golden.  Remove from heat when they are done. 

To serve, place 2-3 medallions on a plate and drizzle with the Sherried Roasted Red Pepper Sauce. 

Around the World in Eighty Bites - Portugal

When I discovered that Bacon, Butter & Booze has readers in Portugal, I could not have been more thrilled - not only did one of my co-workers just turn me on to Portugal’s wondrous Vinho Verde, which Bon Appetit featured several months ago, but I also got the excuse I needed to try Cataplana, a Portuguese recipe I’ve always paused on while reading one of my favorite cookbooks, Jeff Smith‘s “The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors: Recipes You Should Have Gotten From Your Grandmother.”

I am not very familiar with Portuguese cuisine, which is surprising, considering that Coastal New England, especially Massachusetts’ South Shore, is home to a large concentration of Portuguese Americans. Here’s what I know about Portuguese food: Linguica sausage, seafood, and kale. Thanks to Wikipedia, I learned that salt cod (bacalhao), olive oil, garlic, and chiles are very popular. Portuguese cuisine is very similar to Italian cooking, especially southern Italian. Apparently, great minds really do think alike.

I’ll start with the wine, which I’m drinking while I write. The other day at work, one of my co-workers raved about Vinho Verde. Never having tried this variety before, she brought in a bottle for me, and did I ever enjoy it! My friends and I killed the bottle the other night, and I bought a new one of the same variety tonight. I’d try to give you some information about the winery, but their website is in Portuguese! The wine is very fresh, slightly effervescent, not very aromatic, acidic, and light (thank you, Wine 101!).

Onto the recipe - Cataplana is a dish of pork shoulder and clams cooked in a spicy wine broth. I picked up the pork from DiPaolo & Rossi and my clams from Mercato del Mare. Originally, I was going to buy cockles, but Liz and Keri, the shop’s owners, were familiar with my recipe and suggested that I use littlenecks. Their tip was right on the money - had I used cockles, the delicate clams would have gotten lost among the other flavors and textures, but littlenecks are larger, meatier and more substantial, so they worked wonderfully. And the pork - superb! It seems like it’s getting more and more difficult to find pork with a lot of flavor, but the meat they sold me actually tasted like pork! The recipe called for dry white wine, so I used Vinho Verde, and instead of the plain paprika called for in the recipe, I used smoked paprika from Penzey’s spices, a spice company that ships all over the country and sells some amazing spice blends. My final alteration was a sprinkling of crushed red pepper flakes.

While researching, I discovered that some versions of this recipe use several other ingredients, including tomatoes and red and green peppers. While I’d like to try those additions in the future, I’m glad I stuck with the basic version, because I got a great sense of the flavor of the sauce without it being overwhelmed by other flavors. I’d also like to make my own piri piri sauce, which I did not do for this recipe - instead, I used some red chile and garlic paste, thinned down with a bit of olive oil. I’ll reprint Jeff Smith’s recipe for Piri Piri, taken from the cookbook referenced above. I’d love to try this recipe with the real thing!!!


Cataplana (Portuguese Pork & Clams)

Based on Jeff Smith’s recipe in “The Frugal Gourmet on our Immigrant Ancestors”
1 lb. Boneless pork shoulder, cut into chunks
1 ¼ cup Vinho Verde
2 small cloves garlic, minced
2 t. Piri Piri (or another non-vinegar red chile sauce thinned with olive oil)
½ t. each salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
Olive oil
2 t. smoked paprika
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 lb. Littleneck clams, in their shells (scrubbed)

In a large bowl, combine the pork, Vinho Verde, garlic, Piri Piri, salt, pepper, and bay leaves. Marinate for two hours.  

After the meat has marinated, remove the cubes and reserve the marinade. Heat a heavy-bottomed dutch oven or frying pan with high sides over high heat, add a generous splash of olive oil, and cook the pork until it begins to brown.

Once the pork has browned, reduce the heat to low. After about a minute, add the reserved marinade and the smoked paprika. Simmer the meat in the marinade, uncovered, until the liquid has almost evaporated (approx 45 minutes).

In the meantime, heat another heavy frying pan with a lid (preferably a transparent lid) over high heat, and add another generous splash of olive oil, and then add the onions. Cook the onions until they are soft but have not changed colors. Now, add the clams and cover with the lid. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the clams have opened. You may want to shake the pan a few times during the cooking process, but do not remove the lid until the clams have opened.

Finally, once the clams are cooked, add the clams and the onions to the pork mixture, stirring well. Serve over cooked potato cubes or boiled rice.
　

 

Piri Piri

By Jeff Smith, “The Frugal Gourmet on our Immigrant Ancestors”

2/3 cup hot red peppers (tiny Thai peppers work well)
½ cup whiskey
1 cup olive oil

Combine in a jar and shake well. Cap the jar and let sit for a month before using, shaking frequently during the curing process.