Proscuitto Caprese with Toasty Brussels Sprouts and Parmesan Chips

 I have a terrible time leaving caprese alone.  I just keep messing with it.  Adding this and that.  Changing it up. Or Down.  In part, I've just been overrun with tomatoes, so why not eat them fresh while they're heavy, fragrant, juicy, and ripe?  Make hay while the sun shines.

38 Power Foods, Week 7 -- Brussels Sprouts --Pan-Roasted Brussels Sprouts with New Potatoes and Parmesan

.
When brussels sprouts (note spelling) first came back in vogue (they were vegetable non grata for a long time, right?), I put off making them.  It seemed everything was being thrown into the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper. Was there anything you couldn't cook that way? Brussels sprouts joined in the olive oil-oven fun all over the food world.  I waited. 

(above) This is one of Madeline L Pots' award winning songs from her CD "Gonna Plant A Garden".

Women Game-Changers in Food- #33-Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer-Meatballs with Mint and Parsley

What if you wanted beautifully written recipes, tastefully conceived, and perfectly photographed--all from home cooks--for home cooks?

What if you wanted those cooks to have worked professionally (catering, restaurants, magazines) and to have traveled the world so they could bring the best dishes back to you?

Order book here

Enter Canal House Cooking, La Dolce Vita,  #7  in a series of self-published  volumes from a multi-talented duo who have worked at food, cooking, and food writing/photography most of their lives.  After leaving behind the corporate publishing/food world in order to spend more time at or near their homes in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Melissa Hamilton (above, right) and Christopher Hirsheimer (above, left; she's a she) began cooking together daily in a warehouse and keeping a record of it.   Out of that commitment comes this lovely, popular series of books that is their gift to those of us in the home-cooking "business."   An article from WSJ tells the story more thoroughly here.

To really get to know these women a little more, watch an enchanting tiny video about them and their food in Italy (basis for the most recent book)....Here.
 

Pesto, Pistou -- Presto!

Whirr, whirr, done.  Talk about no cook.  It's done PRESTO!

If it's mid - late summer, I'm gunning for basil.  (If it's earlier, I'm planting it and watering it.)  I've got pots full myself, but I also have to hit the farmer's market for more.  At a buck for a big bunch, I get arm fulls.

My piano teacher and I hit the farmer's market.

Here it is taking a bath in my kitchen sink with the Japanese eggplant and yellow zucchini I'm cleaning for the ratatouille I blogged on the  Dinner Place blog (The Solo Cook.)  They really like to get in the tub together.  I loved looking at this gorgeous mix of veg.  Could the colors get any better?

What is pesto?  Lots of you DO know.  But!  If you don't:
Take the basil, whirr it in the food processor (traditionally mortar and pestle) with lots of garlic, pine nuts and/or walnuts, olive oil, Parmesan, and you have saucy green love.  In Italy, it's pesto.  In France, pistou.  And it's Presto! (Very quick, indeed, in the language of music) wherever you make it.

When I decided to blog pesto, I almost didn't.  Pesto isn't something new.  It may be four hundred years old in Europe and it's certainly no culinary upstart in the United States.

The first time I ran across pesto was in the late '70s in THE SILVER PALATE COOKBOOK (by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins with Michael McLaughlin.  Workman, 1979; 362p).  This was a life-changing cookbook not only for me, but for women everywhere who cooked.  If you want to know why, check out the cookbooks that were written and printed before this one.  It's so important in my life that I have nearly worn out my paperback copy and, while I still use it, bought a hardback copy for a back-up and for my kids later on.

The more I thought about it, the more I decided to just go ahead and put pesto on my roster of blog posts.  How could something I love so much not be here?

I still basically make pesto from that recipe, though I use others, too--the one from THE GOURMET COOKBOOK (edited by Ruth Reichl and published in 2004 by Houghlin Mifflin) comes to mind.  By this time, I've adjusted any and all of them to my own tastes (as should you) and am purely and simply summer-happy whenever it's time to use all that basil. 

Pasta with Pesto....the most popular use, I'll guess:

Here with 365 (Whole Foods brand) whole wheat pasta

  Other ways to use pesto:

•  on/in an omelet
• as a veggie dip
• on grilled chops
• as a sauce for fish or chicken
• on pizza
• with crackers
• on grilled vegetables
• topping lamb chops
• gracing grilled baguette
• dribbled on sliced tomatoes or sliced tomatoes and sliced mozzerella in place of basil leaves.

 Or...  well, you go next.  How about in a spoon in your mouth-- or mine?

Grilled Eggplant-Sausage Pasta with Fresh Mozzerella or What to Cook off the Plane

Italian sausage, red peppers, grilled eggplant, onions, garlic...a little fresh mozzerella.  Throw in some pasta and--

Note to readers:  for an updated, totally done on the grill version, please click here

    Coming off a plane, I'm often greeting thoughts like, "Did I leave anything at home that'll work for dinner?"  I usually stop by the store anyway for fresh produce or something to fix quickly.  Yesterday, as I traveled home from Minneapolis, I remembered a couple of eggplants wilting in the crisper.  Odd phrase, eh?  In other words, they needed to be used.  What else?  Italian sausage in the freezer that I had put in at Christmas, but hadn't yet cooked.  Sounded like a grilled pasta sauce night to me.  Mid-winter, I often am jonesing for something grilled.  I have two grill pans:  one is a square Calphalon and the other is a large, rectangular cast-iron grill that is flat on one side and ribbed on the other to siphon grease off the food or to provide the ubiquitous grill marks.

  I did run in for veggies for a chopped salad...bibb lettuce, radicchio, cilantro, parsley, red pepper, tomatoes...  I already had a little blue cheese.

Right now, the eggplant is sliced, salted and dribbling its dew (weeping copiously? bawling like a baby?) into a towel.  I'm about to start the pasta water, heat the grill, and start grilling cut pieces of sausage.  Oh, and a Seghesio Barbera's waiting on the table.  (If you don't know Seghesio, grab one of their zinfandels next time you're in the wine shop and try that with grilled sausage and peppers, pizza or anything grilled.)  The recipe isn't written, but will come together as I cook...and I'll place it below the pics....  Enjoy!

Slice the eggplant thickly, salt and let drain on toweling.

Ah, California wine.

Ah, Italian tomatoes!

Indoor grilling of cut Italian sausage and eggplant

Sauteed red peppers, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes...a little wine didn't hurt.

Cook some pasta.

The sauce comes together with the addition of the grilled eggplant and sausage

Adding the mozzerella and fresh basil to the hot pasta.  Mix this with the sauce and...

Vieni a mangiare! (Come and eat!)

 

Grilled Eggplant-Sausage Pasta with Fresh Mozzerella serves 6  (8-10 for a first course)

• 1# pasta such as penne, mostaccioli, tortiglione or rigatoni
• 2 T olive oil, divided
• 1# Italian sausage (sweet or hot), cut into 2" pieces
• 1 large eggplant, peeled, and sliced into 1/2-1" pieces (salted and drained on toweling)
• 1 large onion, chopped coarsely
• 1 red pepper, chopped coarsely
• 8 oz fresh, whole mushrooms, wiped, trimmed and cut into halves
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 28 oz can tomatoes (I like Italian-canned tomatoes)  or 4 chopped fresh tomatoes-in summer only
• 1/4 c red wine or water
• sprinkle ea of salt, pepper and crushed red pepper
• 1 T honey
• 1 pint container of fresh mozzerella
• 1/2 c fresh chiffonade (julienned) basil (or 2t dried basil); save out a little for garnish
• 1/2 c Parmesan, grated (opt)

1. Bring pot of well- salted and peppered water (10 qts) to boil, reduce heat and hold.  (Bring it back to boil soon as you get part-way through making sauce.) I like 1 T dried or fresh basil in my water, too.
2. Heat oven to 250 F and place oven-safe bowls or plates in to warm.
3. Heat grill to medium (10 min) and wipe with an oiled paper towel.  Add sausage and eggplant.
4. Meantime, heat saute pan with rest of oil and add onion, red peppers and mushrooms.  Cook until nearly tender and add garlic.  Saute together for 1-2 minutes and add tomatoes, wine, salt, pepper, red pepper and honey.  Stir, bring to a boil, and reduce heat.  Taste and adjust seasonings.  (More salt and/or honey will cut the acidity of the wine and tomatoes.)
5. Bring water back to boil and add pasta.  Cook 11-13 minutes or til al dente. Drain and place back in pot.    Add mozzerella and most of the basil, saving some for garnish. Cover and hold.
6. When sausage and eggplant are done, chop eggplant coarsely and add both to sauce. Simmer 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings again.  Add sauce to the pasta mixture and stir gently, breaking up large hunks of mozzerella.  
7. Serve in warmed pasta bowls.  Garnish with reserved basil.  Pass Parmesan, if using.

Cook's Note:  If you're making this in the summertime, why not grill all of the ingredients and just use fresh tomatoes (skip wine/water, honey)  for a very light al fresco meal?  You could cook the pasta in the morning before the temperature rises, store it in the frig, and bring it out in time to let it warm to room temp.

Two-Dog Kitchen or What's Goin' on in the 'Hood:

Back from Minnesota trip where we almost froze literally; my skin is still peeling.  The day I left Colorado, it was -20 in St. Paul.  We're not talking wind-chill.  I was so glad Dave wasn't coming that day.  A 6 hour delay in our airport first....  Hey, I had a wonderful time reading the NYT cover to cover, getting a good start on a novel, enjoying a long lunch, and--not so fun--listening to my fellow travelers talking on the phone all day.  (There are so many private spots in the airport; why?)

House hunted for the third time! and this time made an offer on a house:

The view from what might be my new kitchen window.  Lots of birds!!!

Still job-seeking...like a million? other Americans.  I'm grateful to our president for his positive, healing speech last night. 

More travel soon....family birthdays, inspections on new houses... and so on.
Sunny and warm here.  Ah, Colorado!

Happy 80th Birthday to Gene Morgan!

Here's Dave's Dad, Gene, and his Mom, Lorna, at Emily's college graduation--all smiles.

  

 

Sing a new song,

Alyce