Simply Tomato - Simple Spaghetti

After spending the last 24 hours in a self-diagnosed food coma from my recent visit to Atlanta (have a peek into the gastronomic affair we had at The Optimist on Friday night in my next post), I was inclined not to eat anything for a few days.  However, I had boot camp in the morning and I was absolutely famished.   I wanted something light, but tasty.

Since I was out of town all weekend, the garden needed a little attention.  I usually end up picking a few tomatoes just so they don't rot on the vine.  We have a ton of sun gold tomatoes this year, and I think the neighbors don't realize they are ripe, so they often get left.  I picked a few, and also found a couple of "missed" Black Prince Tomatoes which are an heirloom, rich in flavor and very tasty.

When I was done watering, I had gathered a handful of tomatoes, some basil, oregano, a little thyme and a teeny tiny eggplant (about the size of a baseball) in my basket.  What to do with all these little gems?  How about a tasty tomato sauce over some linguini and lightly breaded sliced eggplant?  And so, off to the kitchen I went ...

My favorite way to prepare tomato sauce is quite simple - lots of garlic and spice.  You can customize this recipe how ever you'd like, but, for me, the amount of garlic and the amount of peppers I use is just perfect.  If you're not fond of this, get your own blog - I bet www.idontlikeasmuchgarlicaschris.com is still available (besides, garlic wards off evil - and probably any male suitors as well).


INGREDIENTS:

For the Tomato Sauce
1 lb mixed tomatoes - whatever you have handy - Sun Gold, a couple small Black Prince tomatoes, a Stupichka tomato, some grape tomatoes - all of which have fabulous flavor (I actually used all of those in the top picture you see here - and just those.  Not very many - just a handful.)
Olive Oil
1 large shallot, minced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
About a Tbsp each of basil, thyme and oregano

For the Eggplant
1 small eggplant
1 egg, beaten
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 cup flour
½ cup grated parmesan

S&P

DIRECTIONS:


TOMATO SAUCE:

1.  Cut the tomatoes - halve the babies, quarter the rest.  You want them to have some surface area when they start cooking.  This will speed the next step up.

2.  Drizzle a little olive oil in the bottom of a saucepan and pile the tomatoes on top.  Turn the stove to medium, and let the tomatoes get soft and juicy.  Photos below indicate the progress of the tomatoes cooking down to a sauce.  

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3.  Run the tomatoes through a food mill (I like the OXO brand).  If you don't have one, don't worry, you can skip this step, or if you are insistent upon a smooth sauce, you can either go here and purchase one or puree the tomatoes in a blender.

4.  Return the sauce to the saucepan and heat through.  Add the minced shallot, minced garlic and herbs.  Stir to combine and keep on low until you are ready to plate.

EGGPLANT:

1.  Rinse the eggplant well and trim off the green stem.  Slice the eggplant into 1/4" slices.  Eggplant tends to be rather moist, and you will need to dry it out (so to speak).  Place the slices in a colander (one with wire mesh works very well) and sprinkle with a good amount of salt.  Place a plate on top of the eggplant ant let it sweat for about :30m.  Pat the eggplant with a paper bowl.

2.  Prepare the breading table:
(a) Mix the flour with a little salt and pepper in one dish
(b) Whisk the egg into a 2nd dish
(c) Place the panko and parmesan in a 3rd dish.

3.  Heat about 1/2" of canola oil in a sauté pan.    Salt (not too much, as the parmesan is rather salty, itself) and pepper the eggplant slices.  Dredge the eggplant in the flour, tap the excess off, then dredge in the egg, and then the panko/parmesan mixture.

4.  Once the oil has heated to about 375, carefully lay the eggplant slices in the oil to crisp.  Generally, it takes about 3m per side to get them to a nice texture.

5.  Drain on paper towels.  I added a little mozzarella cheese to the top of mine and put them in a warm oven to melt.

I used Fresh Market's Linguini for this dish - but feel free to use whichever pasta you like best.  Just cook the pasta al dente, and spoon the sauce on top then place one or two - or three :-) - slices of fried eggplant on top of the sauce.  

WINE PAIRING:
I opted for a Ridge Zinfandel for this particular dish.  My favorite is the Ridge Geyserville, which is actually a Zinfandel blend, but still spicy (64% zinfandel, 20% carignane, 12% petite sirah, 2% alicante bouschet, 2% mataro).  This dish calls for something fruit forward but still a bit spicy.

SALUD!

BBQ RIBS

It's summertime in the South, and that means we're grilling AT LEAST twice a week!  There is nothing more comforting to me than smoking something on the grill all Sunday afternoon to end a good weekend.  And RIBS are one of my favorites.

A couple of summers ago, I really got into smoking Baby Back Ribs.  So much so that I thought I was going to get a Big Green Egg for Mother's Day.  You read it right - a grill for Mother's Day ... Because in THIS house, the mama is the GrillMaster (if you can consider 2 pups for children, I would be the "mama")!   But, alas, no Green Egg here.  What I have learned is that, while some of my favorite Grillin' Dudes think this piece of culinary toolset is a must for your backyard, I can do exactly what I need to on my charcoal grill that they can do in their expensive Egg.  Would I like one?  Certainly, if someone was to purchase it, deliver it, build a snazzy table-stand for it and set it up.  Do I need one?   Not necessarily so.

For me, the science of it all is best explained in the Summer 2010 issue of Cook's Illustrated - A very good cooking pub, by the way.  If you haven't had the chance to glance at one on the news stand, I recommend it.  Always chock full of recipes, equipment reviews, techniques and not a single advertisement, this magazine is a treasure.  The key to a perfect smoking environment is building a well measured charcoal fire - in this case, a "modified two-level" fire, where you pile about 75 lit coals on one side of the grill and leave the other side empty - open the bottom vents, and then open the vent where your piggy pieces will be placed to draw the smoke through the grill.  Cooking times and procedures will be described in the following recipe instructions.

INGREDIENTS

RIBS
2 racks of 2 lb baby back ribs

BRINE
1/2c table salt
1/2c sugar
Water

Wood chunks / chips

SPICE RUB
1Tbsp & 1tsp smoked sweet paprika
1 1/2 tsp dark brown sugar
1 tsp ground white pepper

3/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 3/4 tsp ground cumin

3/4 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
3/4 tsp table salt
2 Tbsp chipotle powder
1 Tbsp fine ground coffee






DIRECTIONS:

Dissolve the salt and sugar in about 4 qts of cold water.  Add the ribs.  Make sure your container lets you submerge the ribs in the brine.  Let the ribs sit in the brine, in the refrigerator for about an hour.

Soak the wood chips for about 15m, while you mix the spice rub.

Remove the ribs from the brine and dry completely with a paper towel.  Rub the spice mixture all over the ribs and let stand in the refrigerator for about an hour.

Once you have heated your coals (I use a chimney starter), and put them on your grill in the "modified 2 level" design as described above, place your wood chips on the coals, open your grates and place your cooking grill on top of the coals.  Let it heat up for about 5 minutes and scrape it clean with a grill brush.

Dip a paper towel in canola oil and rub the hot grates.  Place the ribs on the cooler side of the grill and pull the cover down.  Your grill temp should be about 350 to start, but it will drop down to about 250.  This is good because "low and slow" is the name of the game for super melt-in-your-mouth, tender ribs!  Cook for about 2 hours, flipping the ribs and changing their position on the grill to be sure they are cooked on all sides, every 30 minutes.  Check them for doneness.  If your grill has dropped in temperature, they should cook a little longer.  Continue to cook the ribs in this manner another hour and a half - or until you can easily pull meat away from the bone.  One way to test the doneness, besides taking "samples for the chef", is to check the ends of the ribs.  If you can see the bone tips, they should be getting close to done.

Once they are done, pull them off the grill and transfer to a cutting board.  Let rest a few minutes, then cut between the ribs and serve them to your special friends (only "special friends" - this is too much work for just the "ordinary friends"!).

Accoutrements:
Spicy Black Bean Salad
Cole Slaw
Potatoes au Gratin (with cheese)
Mac & Cheese
Pinto Beans

Wine Accompaniment: Chase Cellars' 2008 Hayne Vineyard Zinfandel - $45 - This wine has an amazingly concentrated fruit flavor because it came from the smallest crop ever noted at Chase.  The zinfandel vines at Chase are "old vines" (read: great flavor depth), whcih have been growing on the property since 1903!  This great fruit-forward wine has a creamy balance that makes it an excellent pair to these spicy ribs.

ENJOY!