Test recipe: eggplant, meet de Nola

[bunnyjadwiga]

Ok, here's my first test cook: eggplant glop a la de Nola.

The recipe, from de Nola

52. MOORISH EGGPLANT
BERENJENAS A LA MORISCA
Peel the eggplants and quarter them, and their skins having been peeled, set them to cook; and when they are well-cooked, remove them from the fire, and then squeeze them between two wooden chopping blocks, so they do not retain water. And then chop them with a knife. And let them go to the pot and let them be gently fried, very well, with good bacon or with sweet oil, because the Moors do not eat bacon. And when they are gently fried, set them to cook in a pot and cast in good fatty broth, and the fat of meat, and grated cheese which is fine, and above all, ground coriander; and then stir it with a haravillo like gourds; and when they are nearly cooked, put in egg yolks beaten with verjuice, as if they were gourds.

Typical de Nola features: boil, then fry, then cook in broth with cheese...

My procedure:

7-9 small eggplants (each 4-6" long), peeled & chopped into quarters.
Combine with an equal volume of water in a heavy bottomed pot and bring to a boil.
When brown and limp, dump into a colander to drain.
When somewhat cool, take a cupful at a time and squish between two sturdy cutting boards to remove liquid.
Chop up (half inch to one inch dice).
Cover the bottom of a heavy skillet with oil and heat.
Fry chopped eggplant. about 5 minutes
In a pot, combine fried eggplant, 2 cups vegetable broth, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, cook together. *At this point one should add the ground coriander but I forgot.
combine 1 egg with about 1/4 c. lime juice (sub. for verjuice)
Add 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella to pot. Stir until melted.
Add egg and stir in carefully so the egg doesn't immediately cook.
Cook about 3-4 minutes, stirring.
Add 2-3 tsp ground coriander.
Serve warm.

It was quite good. Not bitter at all, very rich and filling. Ok, that goes on the menu.

Comments

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

The initial boil/drain/squish should leach out all the bitter tasting stuff, so I'd expect it not to be bitter. As for the rest? One word: Yummmm.

[montuos]

Hmmmmm... With that labor-intensive squishing phase, is this really going to scale up gracefully to feast proportions?

[bunnyjadwiga.livejournal.com]

Yup, the squishing is easy. Fortunately, since de Nola can do you bacon and squishing or cheese and squishing or all three consecutively or concurrently, but not bacon and cheese without the squishing; it's all squishing you see.