Eggplant Rollatini

Tis the season of eggplant.

My Eggplant Rollatini is a great main dish for vegetarians or if you just feel like going meatless for a night.

I prefer this over Eggplant Parm - not that there's anything wrong with a little Eggplant Parm now and again. But in this recipe, because the veg is grilled not fried. And there is no need for dipping and dabbling in eggs and breadcrumbs.

Nonetheless, preparing the rollatini is a bit time consuming. This isn't a 30-minute meal. So crack open some wine and put on some tunes. Enjoy the process.

You of course could take a shortcut and use jarred marinara, but The Jersey Girl just so happened to have a batch of homemade sauce chilling out in the freezer. This is a great time of year to rock out some marinara with the abundance of fresh basil everywhere. And jarred sauces don't exist in my house. Once a snob, always a snob. Here's my marinara recipe, in case you are inspired to rock some out.

And onto the main event: Eggplant.

Eggplant Rollatini
Makes 8 to 10 rolls

2 large eggplants, sliced lengthwise 1/2 inchwide. Each eggplant should yield 4 to 5 slices
Salt
16 ounces ricotta cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup fresh mozzarella, diced
3 Tbsp.grated parmigiano
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
2 cups marinara
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Lay eggplant slices on two baking sheets. Sprinkle each with a pinch of salt on both sides. Let rest for 15 minutes. This process will extract extra water.

Once the 15 minutes is up, rinse each piece under water and dry on kitchen towels.

Line up eggplant on baking sheets, and brush each side with olive oil.

Heat a grill pan over medium high heat. Working in batches, grill eggplant for about five minutes per side. Eggplant should have gorgeous grill marks and should be pliable, as we see here:

Remove from pan and let cool on baking sheets. Repeat until all are cooked.

Meanwhile, in a bowl combine ricotta cheese and egg gently with a whisk. Using a rubber spatula, fold in mozzarella, parmigiano and basil. Set aside.

One the eggplant slices are cooled, sprinkle each with salt and fresh pepper. Lightly oil a 13 by 9 inch glass baking dish.

Evenly divide ricotta filling among the 8 to 10 slices of eggplant starting on the narrow end of each slice. The filling should not go up about 1/4 of the length of each slice.

 Gently wrap each eggplant into a roll over the filling and line up each roll in the prepared baking dish. So orderly!

Top each roll with a generous spoonful of marinara sauce. Now we're talking.

Bake for 15 minutes uncovered in a preheated 375 degree oven. And enjoy, all you wild and crazy vegetarians!

Zucchini and Goat Cheese Tart

On the outside, it's a winter wonderland - or nightmare - depending on your perspective. But in my kitchen, spring has sprung, baby.

This Zucchini and Goat Cheese Tart  by Ina Garten should lift you from the doldrums of winter. Plus, it gives you a purpose while trapped inside the confines of your home.

This is actually the first winter since becoming a baby momma that I have not turned to The Husband on a Saturday night and declared, "We are the lamest people I have ever met. Take me out immediately."

This recipe involves multiple steps with some waiting in between. So you should give it a whirl when time is on your side. Layering the zucchini slices is quite relaxing. I sliced mine with the slicer attachment of my Cuisinart food processor. Layer them on top of the dough very very closely because they shrink in the oven.

Be sure to roll out the dough when it is really cold. Keep flouring your surface and the dough as needed while turning the dough 90 degrees after a few rolls so that the dough does not stick to your surface. Do it patiently, but with a purpose. You don't want your dough to go all room temp and sticky on you. That will ruin your baking zen, trust me.

I baked mine on a rockin' circular baking sheet that my Mommom hooked me up with from one of her friends who owned a pizza shop waaaaay back in the day. But Ina Garten says you can bake this on a good old rectangular baking sheet.

Zucchini and Goat Cheese Tart
Serves 6
From "Make it Ahead"
By Ina Garten

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
10 Tbsp. (1 1/4 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, 1/2-inch dice
1/2 tsp. white wine vinegar
5 Tbsp. ice water
1 1/2 pounds zucchini, unpeeled and sliced 1/8-inch thick
2 Tbsp. good olive oil, divided
8 ounces plain creamy goat cheese at room temperature
1 tsp. minced fresh thyme leaves
1/4 tsp. grated lemon zest

Place the flour, 3/4 tsp. of salt and butter in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse 12 to 14 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the processor running, pour the vinegar and ice water through the feed and continue to process and pulse until the dough just comes together. Dump out on a floured board, form into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the zucchini in a colander set over a plate. Toss it with 2 teaspoons of salt and set aside for 30 minutes. Spread the zucchini out on a clean dish towel, roll it up, and squeeze gently to remove some of the liquid. Put the zucchini slices into a bowl and toss with 1 Tbsp. olive oil. With a fork, mash together the goat cheese, thyme, lemon zest and 1/2 tsp. of salt and 1/4 tsp. of pepper and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Roll the dough out on a floured board to an 11 inch circle and place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Spread the dough with the goat cheese mixture, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Lay the zucchini slices in tightly overlapping circles, start at the very edge of the pastry (the zucchini will shrink when it bakes). Continue overlapping circles of zucchini until the whole tart is covered. Drizzle with remaining Tbsp. of olive oil and sprinkle with pepper. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until the dough is golden brown. Cut in wedges and serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Potato Gratin: Go for it!

We live in a world in which carbs are made of evil. Especially the lowly potato. Layered in cream and cheese.

Soooooooo, if you are one to live in sin, you MUST rock out the fabulous fabulous fabulous Scalloped Potatoes Gratin. The recipe comes from Tyler Florence. It is perfection!

When I tell you that there was not a sliver left behind this past New Year's Eve, I kid you not.

Sure, New Year's is supposed to be all about how to be a better you. And more often than not, a delusional well-meaning person vows to take on a life of health and exercise and do-gooding.

Whatever. Who you kidding?

OK. OK. I did kinda fast for like the entire month of January. Don't the holidays just make you feel disgusting?

I digress.

Perhaps, you can whip this up for Valentine's Day din dins for your lovies. It is decadent and divine, and really, isn't that what this holiday is all about?

If you have a food processor with a slicing attachment, the prep on this dish is super easy. And, of course a mandoline slicer will work just fine if you are not a piano teacher who fears such gadgets.

I think what really gives the dish that touch of deliciousness that pushes it over the edge is the simmering saucepan of cream, nutmeg, garlic and thyme:

Can't you just smell the amazingness while gazing at this gorgeous concoction?!

The potatoes go perfectly with a roast or a steak. I'm sure the dish would complement salmon quite well, too.

I highly recommend whipping up the gratin for your next fancy pancy dinner party in which you are trying to woo the crowd without stressing out. And, this one can be made way ahead of time, which is always a plus when planning a party! So they say.

Scalloped Potato Gratin
By Tyler Florence
Serves 4 to 6

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 sprig fresh thyme
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Butter
2 pounds, russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch thick slices
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for broiling

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a saucepan, heat up the cream with a sprig of thyme, chopped garlic and nutmeg.

While cream is heating up, butter a casserole dish. Place a layer of potato in an overlapping pattern and season with salt and pepper. Remove cream from heat, then pour a little over the potatoes. Top with some grated Parmesan. Make 2 more layers. Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Sprinkle some more Parmesan and broil until cheese browns, about 5 minutes.

One Woman Show

The Husband travels for work, which does have some perks for moi: Trash TV-watching in solitude without judgement; a maj stash of wine that he lovingly sets up for me; sleeping in my big-ass fluffy king-size bed in complete silence (The Husband is a notorious snorer. And I am a notorious insomniac); and of course the opportunity to cook up some eats that The Husband doesn't really groove on.

For example, a soba noodle extravaganza starring spinach and mushrooms.

Ooooh. I love this bowl of deliciousness. It's officially called Soba Soup with Spinach and it comes from marthastewart.com. 

The Husband would no doubt taste my big ole pot of Asian-flavored vegtastic yum-yums, but he would probably dig it more with a fish or meat of sorts. Me, when I'm single girling it, I could eat pasta and a salad all day, every day.

I got this one off Pinterest. I used just a basic box of Barilla whole wheat linguine since my Sur La Table in Marlton stopped carrying my most fave soba noodles eva and because my lowgrade Shop Rite doesn't even carry soba noodles. The whole wheat pasta works just as well.

This is also a fab dish to make when you are short on time and sanity. It all comes together in less than 30 minutes. For reals. And the lime juice, spinach and mushrooms. Just divine!

Have at it!

Soba Soup with Spinach
From marthastewart.com

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
12 ounces shiitake mushrooms (stems removed), caps thinly sliced
4 scallions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger
Coarse salt
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 package (4.4 ounces) soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles)
1 bunch flat-leaf spinach, torn
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium. Add mushrooms, scallion whites, garlic, and ginger; season with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are tender, 6 minutes.

Add broth and 3 cups water; bring to a boil. Add soba; reduce to a simmer, and cook 5 minutes. Add spinach; cook just until tender, about 1 minute. Add lime juice and soy sauce. Serve topped with scallion greens.

Hot and Sour Soup

One of the side effects of being a food snob is that takeout eats make a rare appearance on my kitchen table. This is also the result of being a control freak, a lova of cooking and a gal who rocks some killer food allergies.

But, a hankering for Chinese food hits the best and worst of us at any given time. And so, a pot of Hot and Sour Soup just NEEDED to be concocted. To hell with deChristmasing, decluttering and decompressing!!

I absolutely LOVE this soup. It tasted so much lighter and refreshing than what I get in a restaurant. And that is exactly what I was looking for after weeks of holiday eats and parties and drinking. (Well, I'm still drinking. Let's just keep it real.)

One of the highlights of the soup is that my little man Evan James, HOUSED it. Two bowls! And he declared a love for tofu and mushrooms that warmed my foodie heart.

This was fairly easy to make. I suppose the hardest part was dealing with the fresh ginger, which you need to peel, then grate and then press through a sieve to get the ginger juice all up in your pot of warm delicious goodness. I grated my ginger with my Microplane, but a box grater will work just fine.

And just to warn you, be sure to discard the stems from the shiitake mushrooms you use. The stems are very tough. You just want to use the caps in this.

I used low sodium chicken broth and low sodium soy sauce.

Hot and Sour Soup
From Martha Stewart Living, April 2004

• 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce

• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

• 8 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms (about 4 cups), stemmed, caps thinly sliced

• 3 to 4 tablespoons rice vinegar

• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

• 1/2 package (7 ounces) soft or firm tofu, cut into 1/4-inch cubes, drained

• 2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger

• 3 scallions, thinly sliced

• In a large (5-quart) pot, combine broth, soy sauce, crushed red pepper, and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Add mushrooms; reduce heat, and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes.

• In a small bowl, whisk together 3 tablespoons vinegar and cornstarch. Add to pot; simmer, stirring, until soup is thickened, about 1 minute.

• Add egg through a slotted spoon, and stir to form ribbons. Stir in tofu. Remove from heat; let stand, covered, 1 minute. Put ginger in a small sieve, and squeeze to release juice into soup (discard solids). Taste; add remaining tablespoon vinegar, if desired. Serve sprinkled with scallions.

Time to Make the Doughnuts

Amid my Christmas prep frenzy, I found the time, focus and where-with-all to rock out some festive baked buttermilk mini doughnuts topped with chocolate glaze and holiday sprinkles. I did this for 4-year-olds.

Yeah. There's an element of crazy in my actions, but hopefully the kiddos dug the treat while hopped up on juice, candy canes and a visit from the Big Man from the North Pole himself during my son's pre-school holiday festivities.

I purchased the Wilton mini doughnut pans within the past year. A complete frivolous purchase, yes. But they are getting more use than my fondue pot, blowtorch or crepe pan. (Note to self: Must collect less kitchen gadgetry.)

This was my second go-around at making baked doughnuts, and I thought this time was a better turnout than when I did it in the spring. I used the doughnut recipe from a really fab Web site called www.justataste.com. But the glaze on that site used Nutella, which would kill me and violate all sorts of nut-free-zone policies at my son's school, so I went with the basic chocolate glaze on  www.wilton.com.

My first attempt at the doughnuts last spring involved nutmeg. Now, I got nothing against nutmeg, but I think that was the ingredient that didn't do it for me. This doughnut recipe is sans nutmeg. The buttermilk adds a really nice tang to the doughnuts. But, the ginormous bottle is taking up prime real estate in my refrigerator mocking me every time I open the door because it knows that I do not have any immediate plans to use the 3 1/2 cups that remain in the bottle. The Jersey Girl was SO going to rock out buttermilk cheddar biscuits tonight to go with our din dins, but alas, I did not. My rationale is that the Feast of the Seven Fishes AND Christmas brunch are mere days away, and really do we need to feel like total fat-asses this soon in the game?

As is usually the case with doughnuts - particularly the fried ones - these baked doughnuts taste best on the day they are made. I served mine a good 24 hours after making them because girlfriend was not waking up at 5 a.m. to make doughnuts for a bunch of 4-year-olds. I'm not a complete lunatic. They still totally rocked, but on the first night they had that je ne sais quoi that certain food has when served at just the perfect time: Biscuits straight out the oven, bacon right out of the pan, a frittata at an easy breezy warm room temp, gazpacho chilled to perfection coming at you directly from the coolness of a refrigerator. You catch me?

That said you could make these a day ahead and still leave a room full of judgmental judgies with your reputation intact. But I would advise you baking fiends to perhaps bring these to a holiday brunch or party just an hour or so after cooling. They are fab!

Baked Mini Buttermilk Doughnuts
From www.justataste.com

Makes 24

For the doughnuts:
Vegetable cooking spray
1 1/4 cups cake flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

To make the doughnuts:
Preheat the oven to 425°F and spray the mini-doughnut pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Whisk in the buttermilk, vanilla, eggs and melted butter just until combined.

Fill each pan cavity approximately 1/3 full (about 1/2 Tablespoon per cavity). Tap the pan on the counter to release any air bubbles and level out the batter.

Bake the doughnuts for 4 to 6 minutes, or until the tops of the doughnuts spring back when touched. Let the doughnuts cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer them to a cooling wrack to cool completely while you make the chocolate glaze.

Chocolate Glaze

• From www.wilton.com
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1-2 teaspoons hot water

In medium bowl, melt chocolate chips, butter, and corn syrup on 50% power for 1 minute, stirring frequently until completely melted. Stir in 1 teaspoon of hot water, stirring until the glaze is thick and smooth. Add another teaspoon if glaze is too thick. Use immediately to glaze doughnuts.

Confessions of a Pizzelle Guru

Forget gift shopping, house decorating, feeble attempts at wrapping boxes while stalking the front door on an hourly basis hoping that the UPS man or FedEx man or some man has arrived with all of the freaking items I ordered three weeks ago. And don't even get me started on that crazy-ass Elf on the Shelf/Big Brother who I forget to move EVERY NIGHT. And Christmas cards. I mean really, America. Are we just effing insane?!?

Truth: Baking and cooking are the only holiday chores that do not make my blood pressure rise. So it is with great joy that I have entered the week of creating cookie deliciousness.

Elvis on the stereo, leopard ho-ho-ho hat slightly askew, wine on the side and the kid tucked snug in his bed, visions of trains and Legos dancing in his head. Now, this. This the Jersey Girl can deal with.

So here goes with my pizzelles. If you don't know what a pizzelle is, you've obviously never rocked out Christmas in Jersey. It's a traditional Italian waffle cookie, or as my big boy Evan calls them, snowflake cookies.

According to legend, I mean my very opinionated family, the best pizzelles are thin as paper and are so delicate and crispy that you must handle them with the utmost level of care.

The original recipe can be found on a vanilla-stained, time-worn faded light blue index card that was always stowed away in my Mom's index-card recipe box on the top shelf of her corner kitchen cabinet. The one with the lazy-Susan, above the coffee pot.

As is the case in many of the gems you will find in the box, now located in Florida, the "recipe" is merely a list of ingredients in no particularly important order. But as we know, nothing can be left to chance when baking. It's all about instinct. Precision. A feeling.

Of course, I will share with you my process. But, I must warn you dear readers, your pizzelles won't ever match mine. Not because of my fine baking prowess or stellar kitchen skills. No, sir. You see, when my parents left our childhood home for sunnier skies down south, my Mom would sneak into my house many of her "treasures." Pink Santa Claus circa 1985, harvest gold Tupperware circa 1972 and a pizzelle iron circa older than dirt. It is magical. Truly. I am completely convinced that the only reason my pizzelles are anything to write home about is because they are made on the gadget that I have treasured for my entire life.

Pizzelles
6 extra large eggs at room temperature
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 lb. margarine melted and cooled (2 sticks)
4 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. vanilla extract or anise

Preheat pizzelle iron.

In a large bowl, sift together flour and baking powder.

In a large mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat sugar and melted margarine until smooth. One at a time, add eggs and continue beating on medium-low speed. Add vanilla or anise (I use vanilla). Add flour mixture a cup at a time while mixer is beating slowly. Stop occasionally to scrape sides. Continue until flour is all completely added.

When ready to bake, place one teaspoon on each side of pizzelle iron. Press down iron for about 60 seconds. Remove from iron with the help of a fork. Lie flat on paper towels to cool. Once cool, the pizzelles can be piled up to make space for more.