Eggplant Marinara

To make Eggplant Marinara ala Craig’s style (which means quick and easy), all you really need is some eggplant and marinara sauce in a jar. Any other ingredients are left up to you.

The last time I made this dish, I had bought some fresh Japanese eggplant (the long and skinny kind) at a local farmer’s market. But if you can’t find those, look for some beautiful, shiny eggplants at your local supermarkets.

If you can, get the male fruit. It has fewer seeds and the skin is slightly less bitter. How can you tell if the eggplant is male or female? Look at the blossom end opposite the stem end. If the marking is elongated, it’s female. If it’s small and rounded, it’s male.

For the marinara sauce, I’d gotten some 24-ounce jars of Safeway Select Sundried Tomato and Olive pasta sauce. You can make your own if you like, or substitute any other brand or style. Get whatever’s on sale.

Ingredients

·         ROTINI PASTA, about ½ cup uncooked

·         OLIVE OIL, 2 tablespoons

·         SAUSAGE, 2 in casings, cut into ¾-inch rounds

·         ONIONS, 2 small, wedged into eighths

·         MUSHROOMS, 8 ounces, cut in half

·         GRAPE TOMATOES, about ¾ cup, halved lengthwise

·         BUTTER, 2 tablespoons

·         MARINARA or SPAGHETTI SAUCE, about 1½ cups

·         GARLIC, 2 cloves finely minced

·         EGGPLANT, Japanese, 4 medium, cut into 1-inch chunks

·         GARLIC SALT and PEPPER, freshly ground, to taste

Directions

1.       Boil a pot of water; add garlic salt to flavor, then cook the rotini pasta until just al dente. Set aside.

2.       Brown the sausage slightly in the olive oil, set aside.

3.       Sweat the onions in the sausage oil slightly, set aside.

4.       Sauté the mushrooms slightly, set aside.

5.       Melt the butter in the pan and add the tomatoes, sauté slightly, and set aside.

6.       Put the sausage, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes (plus the melted butter from the pan) in a large pot over medium-high heat.

7.       Stir to combine, and add the marinara sauce and garlic.

8.       Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for about 15 minutes covered.

9.       Add in the eggplant, cover, and increase the heat to medium for another 15 minutes, stirring often.

10.   Add in the pasta, stirring to combine all the ingredients well.

11.   Serve with garlic bread and steamed white rice.

Chicken with Winter Melon

Togan, or Japanese winter melon (sometimes referred to as "squash"), is excellent when cooked with poultry or meat in a teriyaki-flavored broth. You can find the recipe for teriyaki sauce in an earlier post on this website.

The resultant dish goes well with steamed white rice and sides of tsukemono or takuan (recipe also on this website). It’s a good, slurpy meal on a cold winter’s day.

Ingredients

·         JAPANESE WINTER MELON, 2 medium (10”), or 3 small

·         CHICKEN THIGHS, 4 boneless, skinless

·         ONIONS, 1 medium or 2 small

·         WHITE WINE, ¼ cup

·         TERIYAKI SAUCE (recipe elsewhere in this blog), ¾ cup

·         WATER, ¼ cup

·         GARLIC SALT, to taste

·         BLACK PEPPER, freshly ground, to taste

Directions

1.       Peel the melon with a vegetable peeler, cut in half lengthwise, then into ¾-inch half-moons. If the seeds are a bit on the tough side, remove the seeds with a spoon first.

2.       Cut the chicken thighs into 1-inch strips.

3.       French-cut the onions.

4.       In a large pot, sauté the chicken until the surface is lightly browned. Remove and reserve.

5.       Deglaze the pot with the white wine.

6.       Add in the onions and sauté until slightly tender.

7.       Replace the chicken in the pot.

8.       Add in the teriyaki sauce and water, and bring to a boil.

9.       Add in the winter melon.

10.   Add salt and pepper to taste.

11.   Stir all the ingredients, lower the heat to medium, cover and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often, until the melon is tender but not limp and mushy.

12.   Serve alongside or over steamed rice.