Baba Ghanoush

As near-eastern dishes go, baba ghanoush is the quiet sibling to the more popular hummus. Both recipes revolve around a similar mix of ingredients, and both dishes are all-but ubiquitous in your pita-bread establishments. And yet, for whatever reason, hummus always seems to get top-billing. It practically co-starred with Adam Sandler in You Don't Mess with the Zohan.

It needn't be this way any longer.

I prefer grilling the eggplants, but I've noticed that some recipes bake them. I've made this recipe a few times now, and I've found the best flavor seems to come from picking small, firm eggplants, and really letting them get nice and charred on the grill. I go about 20 to 25 minutes, rotating every so often.

WHAT TO GRAB:
3 medium size, firm eggplants
3 to 5 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons tahini sauce (available in most grocery stores)
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 to 3 tablespoons of lemon juice (1 and 1/2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons, diced flat-leaf parsley


HOW YOU DO IT:

1. With a knife, make thin slits in the skin of the eggplant, about a 1/2 inch deep. I make about three slits in four or five spots around the eggplant.

2. Wedge the slices of garlic into the slits in the eggplant. You may have to thin the garlic a little bit as you go, but don't get frustrated. In the end, you'll be glad you added the garlic.

3. Grill the eggplants until the skin is well-charred all around. Like I said, I go about 20 to 25 minutes at around 450 to 500 degrees.

4. Let the eggplants cool and let the liquid drain. Remove the skins. I also like removing some of the chunks of seeds, but I'm not too fastidious about it.

5. Give the eggplant flesh a good whirl in the food processor. Add the tahini sauce, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Whirl again. Taste and see what you think. You may have to experiment with these four ingredients to see what combination works best.

6. Add the diced parsley and pulse for a second!*
*If you pulse for too long, you'll turn your baba ghanoush green.

7. Toast some pita or baguette slices and serve!

Graveyard Brownies

Last night I had a Halloween party, and in keeping with spirit of the party, I decided to try a themed dessert: Graveyard Brownies. I thought about laying some Lego men around the tombstones for added effect, but ultimately decided to stick with an all-edible item. Then I thought about trying to make marshmallow spider webs or adding gummy worms, but there's something to be said for simplicity - especially with a first effort.

Next year I might try and make something more intricate or build further on this idea. But that's a little while away. In the meantime, I'd welcome comments or ideas for building a better (graveyard) brownie, or other spooky dessert.

WHAT TO GRAB:
2 sticks of butter, plus a tablespoon for greasing
8 ounces of bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts (optional)

FOR THE GRAVEYARD:
1/2 cup of shredded coconut
Green food coloring
Large block of white chocolate
Black icing.


HOW YOU DO IT:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Step 1.5 (optional). If you're using the walnuts, I find cooking them for about 10 minutes helps accentuate their natural flavor.

2. In a double-boiler, melt the butter and chocolate together, then let it cool.*
*When working with chocolate, make sure you don't get any water in the chocolate. It will freeze up and be unworkable!

3. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, then whisk in the salt, sugars, and vanilla. Finally, whisk in the chocolate mixture.

4. Fold in the flour in batches, and stir until just combined. If using the walnuts, stir them in now.

5. Butter a 13 by 9 inch baking pan, and line it with buttered parchment paper. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 35 to 40 minutes - or until the top is shiny and beginning to crack. Let it cool.

6. Soften the white chocolate in the microwave - but only just a bit. Carefully carve out small 2 by 4 inch rectangular pieces. Then make angled cuts to the top, and round it out as best you can. Repeat, fifteen times.*
*This step really takes a lot of patience and practice. The chocolate tends not to cooperate.

7. Make a small cut into the brownie, and insert the tombstones, in five rows of three.

8. In a small mixing bowl, combine the shredded coconut with one drop of food coloring.* Mix well, and then sprinkle the coconut around the tombstones.
*Food coloring is mighty stuff. Any more than two drops and you could be eating green brownies - save that for St. Patrick's Day!

9. Squeeze the icing on a fingertip and dot the tombstones. (At first, I thought I'd be writing out "R.I.P." on these tombstones. But that just wasn't going to happen in a one or two inch space of chocolate).

10. Cut 'em up and serve!

Grilled Quesadillas

Of late, grilling has become one of my favorite cooking methods. Unfortunately, as the sun is quickly setting on this warm St. Louis weather, so too are my grilling days. So before I have to shut the propane off for good, I decided it was time to grill some quesadillas. These are so fast, so easy to make - and just so good. They're bound to be a hit.

Quesadilla literally means "little cheesy thing," in Spanish. So some form of cheese is required. But after that, the beauty of quesadillas is in their elegant simplicity. They're a blank slate on which to experiment. Throw whatever you want at them -- and just see what sticks.

Speaking of sticking, I've discovered that the soft, sticky quality of goat cheese acts as a perfect seal for the tortilla. So here's my approach.

WHAT TO GRAB:
2 or 3 flour or corn tortillas (again, see what works for you).
Sliced cheddar cheese (preferably from a block)
Goat cheese
Black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon fresh italian-leaf parsley, chopped
Sliced tomatoes
2 tablespoons softened butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
slices of cooked chicken (optional)


HOW TO DO IT:

1. Working from the bottom half of the tortilla, simply spread a thin layer of the goat cheese around the edge of the tortilla, running your finger from 3:00 to 9:00.

2. Throw all your ingredients in the middle of the tortilla - but try and thin them out to prevent bulging, which could pierce the tortilla.

3. Close the tortilla, pressing the sides together, as you would a Ziploc bag. Here is where the goat cheese does its magic.

4. Fire up the grill. As you wait, brush the side of the tortilla going grill side down with the softened butter. As it's grilling, brush the other side.

5. For those presentation points, angle the tortillas at 45 degree angles to the grills. After about a minute, rotate them 90 degrees, to create a beautiful grill pattern.

6. Slice 'em up in thirds and serve!

WORD TO THE WISE:

*Depending on the heat of the grill, these burn very quickly! When I make them, it's a minute, rotate 45 degrees, another minute, and then flip over for another minute to ninety seconds! You have to watch them!

Strawberry-Banana Smoothie

This is my pick-me-up drink. In law school, I used to reward myself with one of these at the end of every final exam. Now that I'm working, I don't make this drink nearly enough. But when I am feeling, lethargic, grumpy, or just plain sick, this does the trick. There's just a certain comfort that comes with drinking a cold smoothie out of a tall glass.

Keep this recipe in mind the next time you're having one of those days!

WHAT TO GRAB:
1 cup of plain, non-fat yogurt
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice (1 orange)
2 to 3 tablespoons of honey
2 bananas, broken into quarters
1 pint of fresh strawberries (about a cup full)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 to 3 cups crushed ice



HOW YOU DO IT:

1. Before you get started, put two glasses in the freezer - you'll thank me later.

2. Crush your ice. I have one of those Hawaii Ice machines. It's invaluable and I use it all the time.

3. Throw everything in your blender, mix it up, and serve in your chilled glasses! For extra presentation points, you can garnish with a left-over strawberry.

HOW MUCH YOU GET:
This recipe will make about 48 ounces, or four to six servings.

Italian Lemon Ice

This recipe is quite possibly my all-time favorite. Any time I have friends over for dinner, I make sure this figures into dessert plans. Often times, no dinner is necessary -- I just tell guests who happen to be over that they've got to try this! And now that they've tried my lemon ice, I make sure to always have a pint stockpiled in the freezer - just in case I have an unannounced guest.

The real secret here is to freeze the ice a second time. For that reason, the ice has to be made two days in advance. There's really no way around it. Here's how you do it.

WHAT TO GRAB:
1 and 1/2 cups of sugar
2 cups of water
1 piece of ginger (like 3 inches long, peeled and chopped into four pieces)
Zest of 2 lemons, chopped
1 cup of lemon juice
Crushed Ice (I use one full ice-cube tray)

HOW YOU DO IT:

1. First things first. Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan, over medium heat, until the sugar dissolves. Like five or ten minutes, but don't let it boil.

2. Dump the ginger into the sugar water, and give it two minutes over the heat. After two minutes, remove the saucepan from the heat, and just let the ginger seep in the hot water. (I like to chop the pieces into four long thin slices to increase the surface area -- I think it helps increase the flavor).

Step 2.5 (Optional). If you really want to impress folks -- and who doesn't? -- you can hollow out the lemons, freeze them, and then present the ice in the frozen lemon shells. This takes some time and some patience, but it does add to the presentation. Cut the lemons at the top 1/3, reserving the tops for later. You should also cut a thin slice from the bottom, so that the lemons will lay flat. Using a tablespoon, hollow out the lemons as best you can, while being sure not to pierce the lemons themselves. Then go ahead and freeze the shells and bring them out as necessary!

3. In the meantime, squeeze your lemons (or the removed pulp). Until you have about 1 cup of strained lemon juice. No seeds or pulp please. This could be about six lemons.

4. Now you're ready to go! Combine the crushed ice, lemon juice, and ginger syrup (minus the ginger!) in a large blender. Give it a whirl. Add the chopped lemon zest, and give it one more whirl.

5. Pour the mixture (essentially lemonade at this point) into three plastic cups. Cover the cups and freeze them overnight.

6. The following day, dump the frozen lemonade cups into the blender again, and mix well. This step really softens the ice and prevents any sort of layering. Pour the softened lemon ice slushy into a large yogurt container (for instance) and place back in the freezer. After a few hours, it's ready when you are!

7. You can serve in the lemon cups (as shown), for great presentation. Or you can serve in cold ramekins, for those who want a larger portion. It's great either way.