Eggplant Parmesan

Ingredients

1 ½ pound Italian eggplant

1 egg beaten

½ cup water

¾ cup breadcrumbs

3 cups Zesty Garlicky Basil Tomato Sauce

1 ½ cups Italian cheese blend

Step 1:

Heat your oven to 425F. Peal the eggplant and cut it into ¼ inch rounds. Cut the rounds in half to form equal sized crescents and reserve.  In a small bowl whip the egg with the water to make an eggwash.  Pour the bread crumb onto a shallow dish or a plate.   Dip the eggplant pieces in the eggwash and then dredge them through the breadcrumbs.  Place the breaded eggplant pieces on to a baking sheet in a single layer.  Place the baking sheet in the oven for 20 minutes, turn the eggplant pieces over after ten minutes.

Step 2:

Remove the eggplant crescents  from the baking sheet and place them in a baking dish or pan in single layer. Reduce the oven temperature to 350F.  Spoon  the sauce over the roasted egg plant and then cover with cheese. Bake for 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and is slightly golden.

Zesty Garlicky Basil Tomato Sauce

         

Ingredient:

8 cups of boiling water

8 cups ice cold water

6 pounds fresh tomatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil

7 cloves garlic

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 cup basil leaves

Step One:

Bring 8 cups of water to a boil in a medium sized pot. Once the water in the pot boils, reduce the heat to a simmer. In a large bowl add cups of ice cold water.  Place a third of he tomatoes to the pot for 2 minutes. Remove the tomatoes from the hot water and place them into the cold water.  
 
The skin of the tomatoes will slightly separate from their flesh and can then be easily be slipped away. Remove the tomatoes’ skins and place them in a bowl. Repeat for the remaining tomatoes.

Step Two:

Slice the skinned tomatoes into wedges by eights.   Remove the seeds from each wedge.  Discard the seeds and membrane. Place the flesh into a clean bowl. Complete this process for all tomatoes.  Peel and dice garlic.

Step Three:

Dry the pot. Add the oil to the pot and heat over medium heat. Add tomatoes to the pot and cook for five minutes.  Mash the tomatoes, and then stir in the garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.

Step Four:

Dice the basil. Add a cup of the sauce to a small bowl. Add basil to the bowl and blend using an immersion blender. As an alternative the process can be undertaken with a blender.  Combine the mixture into the tomatoes sauce.  Bring the sauce to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer, uncovered for 2 hours.  Stir the sauce occasionally.

Homemade Hot Sauce

Hot sauce can accompany a broad range of foods, everything from fried foods to ice cream.  The exact roots of a hot spiced sauce vary, but one thing that we know for sure there is no shortage of them on the market now. Some restaurants even have walls of hot sauces, many with creative and colorful names. Fire and hell and ripping are often themes on the labels.  This preparation uses some very hot peppers balanced with some very flavorful peppers.  The goal here is a hot, a very hot, sauce that has complex flavors in addition to the heat.

Ingredients:

12 Habanero Peppers

10 Red Hot Peppers 

7 Jalapeño Peppers

5 Hot Banana Peppers

4 Cayenne Peppers

1/2 cup Kosher Salt

2 cups white vinegar

5 Habanero Peppers

3 Jalapeño Peppers

Step One:

Wearing protective gloves, cut the tops off of the the peppers discarding the green stems. Quarter the Red Hot Peppers. Place the peppers in a quart sized jar.  Cover the peppers with kosher salt.  Lid the jar and shake it to ensure each pepper piece has engaged the salt. Place the jar in a cool dry place, and wait 3 days to a week; shake the jar daily. 

Step Two:

Add the vinegar to the jar  and shake vigorously. Lid place the jar in a cool dry place and wait 3 days.

Step Three:

Pour the contents of the jar into a blender. Add the fresh Habanero and Jalapeño peppers and puree the mixture until smooth.  Strain the mixture through cheese cloth.   This will separate out the pepper pieces from the liquid. This can take up to one hour. Hot sauce can be both fine and chunky. The straining allows the cook the control choosing the degree of chunkiness desired. 

Step 4: 

Mix back in the amount of the strained bits that you desire then bottle and enjoy. 

Asian Style Rubbed Grilled Loin Pork Chops

Loin pork chops are very accessible and lend themselves to a myriad of preparations.  Loin chops are relatively lean, very flavorful, and very tender.  Ofen they can be purchased boneless, however if your local supermarket only carries them bone in you should be able to ask them to debone them for you. It is also very easy to remove the bone yourself at home, but why pay for the extra weight, that is unless you're planning to make a pork stock. More on that later. Loin pork chops can be baked, stuffed, fried, smothered, roasted, barbecued,  grilled, and smoked. The list goes on and on.  This preparation barrows from the barbecue technique of dry rubbing.  The dry rub employed here, however, is not the typical dry rubs found in most barbecue and smoking cookbooks.  Some of the basic principles of salty and savory are present, but the flavor profile is decidedly pan asian in nature. The pork chops are moist, tender, sweet and savory, and best of all delicious.

Ingredients:

1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1 tablespoon Korean red pepper powder
(or substitute 1/2 tablespoon cayenne red pepper powder)
1/4 teaspoons Chinese five spice powder
1 1/2 teaspoons light brown sugar
2 half pound 1 inch butterflied loin pork chops




Step One:  Add the first five ingredients to a bowl and mix well.   Place the pork chops on a cutting board. Fold open the butterflied pork chops as if you were opting a book. Rub and press the mixture on to both sides of the meat.  Place rubbed pork chops into a zip top bag. Refrigerate them in the bag for 1 -2 hours.





Step Two:  Oil and heat the grill, or grill pan to medium high. Grill the pork chops for 5-7 minutes on each side.  Remove the pork chops from the grill and let them rest for 5 minutes.