Seared Eggplant with Macedonian Feta and Za'atar

Eggplants are a wildly underestimated vegetable.  

Here’s the thing of it: I love eggplants.

Here’s the other thing of it: I’m one of the few.

Here’s why: There are a lot of bad eggplants out there.

There are a lot of hothouse eggplants, a lot of flavourless eggplants, a lot of eggplants that pretty much just taste like soggy bitterness.

Here’s the other reason why: There are a lot of people who don’t know how to cook eggplants properly. They cook them until they get stoggy, or they don’t cook them enough. Or they cook them with water so they lose any hope of a nice texture.

And all of this may have led you to thinking that you don’t like eggplants and that it’s hard to cook, and the thing of it is, it’s super easy, the trick is lots of olive oil, high heat, and a healthy pinch of salt.

I’ve known this all for a while, but it took Jordan eating eggplant at our favourite Palestinian restaurant to convert him. There it comes grilled with halloumi, and the most puckeringly perfect lemon and za’atar dressing that you soak up with loads of extra pita. (Za’atar is a middle eastern spice mix with dried savary, thyme, sumac and sesame seeds.) It’s perfect in every way.

This is my version of that dish. I sear the eggplant instead of grilling it, because I don’t have a grill. Knock you’re socks off and use the BBQ if you have one. I also use Macedonian feta instead of halloumi, because I am royally obsessed with the Macedonian feta at my local cheese shop, and I want to put it on everything. But if you can’t find it (it’s a thousand times creamier than regular feta) feel free to use the halloumi.

Eggplant with Macadonian Feta and Za’Atar

6 Small Eggplants, ot 1 Large, sliced into inch thick slices.

250g Macedonian Feta, or Halloumi

1 Lemon

¾ cup Olive Oil

¼ cup Canola or Avacado Oil

1tbsp Za’atar

1 small clove of Garlic, minced or pureed.

Salt and Pepper

Heat a cast iron pan over medium heat .

Mix together the canola oil with ¼ cup of the olive oil.

Pour a good splash of that into the pan, and put in a layer of the eggplant, salt it generously.

Let it cook until the eggplant browns then flip it and let it brown on the other side salting it too, adding more of the oil mixture if neccessary. The eggplant should now be very soft.

Remove it, add more oil into the pan and cook the remaining eggplant.

Slice the feta and layer it with the eggplant on a dish.

Make the dressing: mix the juice of half the lemon, garlic, and a good pinch of salt.  Slowly add in the remaining olive oil. Check for seasoning, and add a bit more olive oil, salt or lemon as needed.

Pour that generously over the eggplant, sprinkle the za’atar over top and serve!

Olive Oil Banana Bread with Pecans and Chocolate

When you work at a high end restaurant you have to have everything available at all times. I once worked at a restaurant that required me to make ceasar dressing from scratch every 3 days in case someone came in and ordered a caesar salad, a dish that was assuredly not on the menu. This always struck me as a bit wasteful, but that’s the way it is in fine dining. You have to be prepared.

A couple of years ago, when I worked at a high end resort, it was the exact same, but much trickier because, as we were on a remote island, you had to order everything in advance and usually in huge quantities. One such thing was bananas. They weren’t on the menu, but if someone wanted a banana with their yoghurt in the morning we had to be prepared. I think we were asked twice in 6 months for a banana.

The real problem with this was that we could only order them in in 20kL boxes.

So every two weeks 20 kilos would come in, and somehow I was in charge of dealing with them. Lord knows why.

Fact: I hate bananas. Like, seriously, truly hate bananas. I hate their texture, I hate their taste, and I hate the way they smell. They are, indesputably,the worst fruit.

My theory on this hatred is that I got strep throat to often as a kid, and as such had to take too much banana flavoured liquid penicilin. But that is just a theory, and I know people who loved that medicine when they were little. I was not one of those people.

So when I realized that part of my job description was to cook up something with that many bananas every, well, let’s just say I was less than pleased.

But here’s another fact. I love cooked bananas. Everything I hate about them raw becomes a totally different thing when they are cooked up. When they are mixed with sugar and flour and scented with cinnamon they are just about the best things ever.

I have made a lot of banana breads in my life, so many when I was at the resort in fact, that at the end of the season everyone on staff (all 60 people!) got to go home with a banana loaf that I had frozen. It was a bit nuts.

I’ve made ones with chocolate, ones with nuts, ones with icing, ones with crispy bits of brown sugar in the center. But I had never tried making it without butter, until now. I’m never going back guys. Olive oil is the perfect tamer for banana bread.

This is my new standard banana bread recipe, it is the moistest, softest, most beautifully flavoured banana bread I have ever made.

Olive Oil Banana Bread with Chocolate and Pecans

2 cups AP Flour

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

3/4 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1 cup coarsely chopped dark chocolate

3/4 cup Toasted pecans, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 large Eggs

1 1/2 cups mashed very ripe bananas

1/3 cup Yoghurt, or buttermilk

1 tbsp Vanilla Extract. 

Preheat your oven to 350F

Butter and flour a baking pan, I used a bundt pan, but you could easily use a loaf pan. 

In a large bowl mix together the oil and sugar.

Stir in the eggs one at a time until they are totally incorporated.

Add in the bananas, vanilla, and yoghurt. 

Sift in the flour, when it is nearly combined add in the nuts and chocolate. Stir to comine being careful not to over stir. 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and baked until an inserted skewer comes out with only a few moist crumbs, about 30-45 minutes. 

Allow to cool at least 10 minutes before eating. 

BLT Salad

This summer, as anyone who has spent 10 minutes talking to me in the last year knows, is the year everyone I know got married out of town. We were invited to weddings from Brazil, to Rhode Island, to Vancouver island and seemingly everywhere in between. It’s been an extremely fun, love filled summer.

With great disappointment I had to turn down the invitation to Brazil, but I did head out to the other side of the country to go to my cousins immaculate wedding in Goat Island, RI. I will post pictures of that event soon, (and some of the cake I made in the hotel room- holy stress batman) but I made the trip a proper vacation and spend the week beforehand in Toronto hanging out with my mom.

Something you may not know about me; I am a huge Mama’s girl. Huge.

My Mom is woman of extraordinary strength and will, in the most understated way. She is tenacious, she is dedicated and she is almost unbearably kind. I could not adore her more if I tried.

My mom lives in this amazing old house in Kensington Market, a funky old neighbourhood right downtown in Toronto, surrounded on one side by Little Italy, on another by Little Portugal, and on the other by Chinatown. There are the most wonderful produce shops, my new favourite butcher, and my Mom knows everyone by name.

Which is to say we ate in and made dinner nearly every night. Which was perfect.

My mom let’s me lead in the kitchen, which is cute because she easily knows as much about food as I do. This is one of her favourite summer dinners, and now it’s mine. It’s the perfect way to use up the last of summers tomatoes, and it takes only a few minutes of cooking, which means more time sitting in the backyard, having a glass of rose, and talking to your mom.

BLT Salad

*we had burrata, the most glorious of cheeses, in the fridge so we used that, but goats cheese, or shavings of parm, or no cheese at all will be fine here.

2 cups cubed bread

2 cups cherry tomatoes

150g thick cut bacon, cut into lardons

1 cup arugula

1 cup fresh basil

100g cheese (see note)

1/2 lemon

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

In a frying pan on medium heat fry up the bacon until crispy. Drain.

Clean the frying pan, then put back over medium-low heat.

Pour in a large glug of oil and fry the bread until nice and crispy, season with salt and pepper. Put into a large bowl.

Half cherry tomatoes, tear the basil, wash the arugula and mix it all in with the bread and the bacon. Add the juice of the lemon and a bit more olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle the cheese on top if using.   

Olive Oil

 

Sometimes I worry that, despite never gaining weight, Jordan will die at 35 from eating to much butter and salt. I have low blood pressure, so I am okay in the salt department but, I do eat an alarming amount of butter. But it’s better with butter! It is. But sometimes I think maybe I should eat more vegetables and exercise more. I was thinking this the other day as I struggled into my skinny jeans. So I decided to make olive oil cake. Practically health food right? I mean olive oil helps prevent heart disease. Genius.

So instead of spending 17 dollars to go to hot yoga I spent 14 on good fruity olive oil and baked a cake. Yes friends, I am not only healthy but also frugal.

Then I made a really amazing icing with some kumquats because I am the sort of person who keeps kumquats handy, just in case. But if you are not similarly obsessive regular old oranges would be lovely too. I didn’t plan on it being a burnt orange frosting but, well, I burnt it, and it smelled so good burnt I just decided to go with it. And I’m glad I did.

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brandy
3 extra-large eggs
6 extra-large egg yolks
2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F

Butter and flour a bundt pan or a 8 inch round cake pan

Sift together dry ingredients.

In an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment mix eggs and yolks and beat on high speed until light and fluffy, about 7 minutes.

Slowly pour in sugar and continue to beat for another minute

Very slowly pour the olive oil and brandy and vanilla into the the bowl, letting it drip against the side of the bowl to prevent it deflating as much as possible.

Remove bowl from mixer and fold in dry ingredients by hand.

Pour into prepared pan and bake until an inserted skewer comes out with only a few moist crumbs, about 35 minutes.

Let cool for about 5 minutes in the pan, the carefully invert it onto a wire rack and allow to fully cool before icing

Burnt orange frosting

1 cup sugar

2 cups water

5 Kumquats, sliced, or the zest of 2 Oranges peeled with a vegetable peeler into thick strips.

1 cup Icing sugar

3-4 tbsp Whipping Cream

1 vanilla bean split in half and seeds scraped.

Bring sugar and 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil. Add in kumquats or oranges and vanilla bean and seeds and cook on high heat.

Let oranges begin to soften and become translucent.

After about 20 minutes the mixture will begin to caramelize.

Don’t stir it! Let it get a deep amber and the oranges start to get dark

Take off the heat and immediately add in the remaining half cup of water. Be careful, it will boil up!

Strain and allow to cool.

Mix in the icing sugar and as much cream as needed to get to the right consistency.

Drizzle over cake and serve it up!