Recipe for Eggplant Clafoutis (Κλαφουτί με Μελιτζάνες)

(From Greece)

Eggplant Clafoutis: I saw the reference in my blog reader and quickly went to find the recipe. Alas, while TS and JS at Eating Club Vancouver came up with the idea, they deemed their recipe “A. Weird. Failure.”

Though Eating Club hated their recipe, the more I thought about Eggplant Clafoutis, the more I wanted it. My craving was timely; I had an embarrassment of eggplant riches. A sack of eggplant sat in a cool corner of the kitchen (eggplant shouldn't be refrigerated) and the plants in our garden remain productive.

After two nights of falling asleep to thoughts of Eggplant Clafoutis, I broke down and made it.

Clafoutis (klah-foo-TEE) is a simple-to-make, country dessert from France, in which fruit is baked in a custardy batter. There are a million and one different clafoutis recipes. I’ve tried many of them, some wonderfully delicious and others only pretty darn good. The best clafoutis is light-textured and not too sweet, allowing the flavor of the fruit to shine.

I’ve never made or tasted savory clafoutis before, and couldn’t find an actual Eggplant Clafoutis recipe. Instead of a recipe, I used basic principles of sweet clafoutis-making for my savory version. The first step was deciding how best to pre-cook the eggplant (Eating Club used uncooked eggplant, which they deemed a mistake). Because I planned on serving this dish as a light lunch, I didn’t want it to be oily.

As eggplant cooks know all too well, it soaks up oil like a sponge. This is because eggplant flesh has many tiny air pockets just waiting to fill up with oil. According to Harold McGee, America’s preeminent food scientist, “the absorptiveness of eggplant can be reduced by collapsing its spongy structure before frying. This is accomplished by precooking it – microwave works well – or by salting slices to draw out moisture from the cells and into the air pockets.” On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen (2nd Rev. Ed.), Harold McGee, 2004. Based on personal experience, I agree with McGee that salting reduces, but doesn’t eliminate, eggplant’s sponge-like qualities.

While we’re on the subject of salting, some people recommend pre-salting eggplant to draw out its juices before cooking to remove alleged bitterness. Over the years, I’ve done repeated side-by-side tastings of salted and unsalted eggplant and have never detected bitterness in either version. It may be the bitterness meme is a holdover from days when eggplant was more bitter than it is today (McGee: “Farmers and plant breeders have worked for thousands of years to reduce the bitterness of … eggplants…”).

McGee says modern eggplants can turn bitter when they’re grown in dry conditions, which North American supermarket eggplants are not. Interestingly, McGee says salting doesn’t actually eliminate bitterness, but may reduce “our perception of the alkaloids” thus “suppress[ing] the sensation of bitterness.”

In any case, I rarely bother with pre-salting eggplant. The best ways to avoid oily eggplant are to “steam-fry,” oven-roast, or grill it. I use steam-frying for eggplant chunks, oven-roasting at high temperature for slices, and grilling whenever we have a fire going. To steam-fry, eggplant is briefly sautéed, which helps develop its flavor, and then steamed in a covered pan until the eggplant is fully cooked. I like letting steam-fried eggplant char a little as it cooks, the smokiness adds wonderful flavor to the finished dish.

Since I wanted chunked eggplant in the clafoutis, I steam-fried it. This worked well; it brought out eggplant’s subtle flavors that are sometimes masked by too much oil or tomato sauce. After spreading the cooked eggplant over the bottom of a springform pan, I topped it with cheese, sautéed onions, and a batter flavored with basil and garlic.

The finished dish was full of flavor, and slices of it, paired with a tomato and onion salad, made a delicious, warm from the oven, lunch. The next day I served Eggplant Clafoutis cold, cut into diamonds, as part of an appetizer table (mezedes – μεζέδες) and it disappeared quickly. Like its sweet siblings, savory clafoutis is equally good served warm or at room temperature.

This recipe for Eggplant Clafoutis was “A. Great. Success.” Many thanks to Eating Club Vancouver for the inspiration.

Eggplant Clafoutis (Κλαφουτί με Μελιτζάνες)
Serves 4 – 6 as a main course or 12 – 16 as an appetizer

Eggplant:
1 pound eggplant, peel left on and cut into 1” chunks
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Water

Clafoutis:
1 cup grated graviera, kasseri, or asiago cheese
2 cups diced onion, 1/2” dice
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup strained yogurt
3 tbsp. minced fresh basil or mint
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 eggs

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Steam-Fry the Eggplant: Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the eggplant chunks, lightly season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and quickly stir the eggplant to brown it. When the eggplant starts sticking to the pan add 1/4 cup of water, stir to distribute, cover the pan, and reduce the heat to medium high. Let the eggplant steam until you can hear it sizzling (which means all the water has cooked off). Add 2 Tbsp. of water, stir to distribute, and cover the pan. Repeat until the eggplant is just cooked through. If the eggplant chars a little in between doses of water, all the better; the char adds good flavor to the finished dish.

Make the Clafoutis: Grease the bottom and sides of a 9” round springform pan or 9”x9” square pan (if you want to serve the clafoutis upside down, in addition to greasing the pan, line the bottom with greased waxed or parchment paper. Arrange the cooked eggplant on the bottom. Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over the eggplant.

Sauté the onion, lightly seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper, in olive oil until the onions soften and start to turn golden. Stir in the red pepper flakes, if using, and cook for one minute. Evenly distribute the onion over the grated cheese.

Sift the flour and whisk in 1/4 tsp. salt. Whisk in 1 cup milk, yogurt, basil, garlic, and freshly ground black pepper. Taste and add salt or freshly ground black pepper, as needed. Whisk in the eggs and remaining milk, and continue to whisk until the batter is smooth. Pour the batter over the ingredients in the pan.

Put the clafoutis on the preheated oven’s center rack. Bake 20 – 25 minutes, or until the clafoutis is puffed up and golden on top. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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This is my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Zorra from Kochtopf.

Recipe: Fennel and Saffron Bread (Ψωμί με Μάραθο και Ζαφορά)

I fell in love with food writer and teacher Patricia Wells during the pre-internet, pre-satellite-TV era.

We were living in Greece, and I barely spoke the language. Virtually no one on the island spoke English. We’d find BBC or Voice of America shortwave broadcasts when we were lucky; otherwise I didn’t have daily news of the world beyond the island.

On most Fridays, we’d drive 20 kilometers to the island’s main town for shopping. Buying the International Herald Tribune (IHT), an English-language newspaper flown in from Athens on the morning flight, was always on my list.

I preferred shopping on Fridays because that was the day IHT published Patricia Wells’ restaurant reviews. Her witty writing transported me to the best restaurants in France. She regularly inspired me to try new and interesting food combinations.

I’ve kept up with Wells ever since. She’s written numerous cookbooks, focusing primarily on the foods of France. Wells won the James Beard Award for Patricia Wells at Home in Provence. She still writes an occasional IHT article.

My favorite of Patricia Wells’ many books is her first cookbook, Bistro Cooking. The recipes are simple, straightforward, and unpretentious, yet are consistently full of flavor. Over the years, I’ve made many recipes from Bistro Cooking and never had a dud.

I was recently reminded of Wells’ Fennel and Saffron Bread, a Bistro Cooking recipe I used to make regularly. Years ago, I’d gone through a phase of serving several different flavored breads when I made company meals. Fennel and Saffron Bread was one of my favorites for that purpose.

When I read about a day for cooking yellow foods to support Livestrong Foundation’s cancer awareness fight, I knew immediately I’d have to make Fennel and Saffron Bread. In addition to its wonderful flavor, this bread turns a beautiful shade of yellow from the saffron and semolina flour included in its ingredients.

A Taste of Yellow is a Livestrong Day event (May 13, 2008) and is designed to raise cancer awareness. Winoandfoodies is the originator and host of A Taste of Yellow.

Fennel and Saffron Bread (Ψωμί με Μάραθο και Ζαφορά)
Makes 1 loaf
Adapted from Bistro Cooking by Patricia Wells (Workman Publishing 1989)
Patricia Wells said this recipe came from Jacques Collet, an Aix-en-Provence baker. Collet designed the bread to be the perfect accompaniment for bouillabaisse. She writes, “The addition of hard durum wheat flour, or semolina, helps give the bread a hard, crispy, buttery flavor, perfect for dipping in the rich fish soup.”

1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
1 Tbsp. dry yeast
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. freshly ground fennel seed
1/8 tsp. ground saffron
1 cup semolina flour
1 3/4 - 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Mix the water, dry yeast, and sugar in a large bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes, or until the yeast starts to bubble. Stir in the salt, fennel seed, and saffron. Add the semolina flour and let the dough sit for 10 minutes to fully hydrate the flour. Stir in 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour. Place the dough on a well-floured surface and knead in as much additional flour as necessary to form a stiff dough. Knead for 10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and satiny.

Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl. Cover and let rise at room temperature until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour. Punch down the dough, shape it into a round loaf, place on a parchment-paper-lined rimless baking sheet, and let rise until the loaf has almost doubled in size. (If you are using a baking stone, you can rise the bread directly on a wooden peel sprinkled with semolina flour or corn meal.)

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Cut an asterisk in the center of the loaf with a razor blade or extremely sharp knife. (If you have a baking stone, slide the bread - and parchment paper if using - from the baking sheet or wooden peel onto the stone.) Turn the heat down to 375°F and bake for 40 – 45 minutes, or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Cool, cut, and serve.

NOTE: I prefer using a baking stone when I make bread as it helps my home oven maintain an even temperature and gives bread a crisper crust. I also have an old baking sheet with edges that I use when I make this bread. I preheat the baking sheet and baking stone for at least 30 minutes at 450°F (the stone on the shelf above the baking sheet. I turn the heat down to 375°F when I put the bread in to bake. Just before I close the oven, I dump a cup of water into the hot baking sheet and quickly shut the door. (Do not throw water directly on the oven floor or it will warp. Trust me, I know this from experience.) The water creates steam which prevents the bread from quickly forming a hard surface, thus allowing the bread to rise to its fullest extent. The water cooks off quickly, and leaves a hot, dry oven which, together with the baking stone, helps ensure a crispy crust.
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This post is dedicated to our good friend, Ron Zobel, who died way too young from esophageal cancer.

Recipe: Red Cabbage with Mushrooms and Blueberries – Chou Rouge Forestière (Λάχανο Κόκκινο με Μανιτάρια και βακκίνιο το Μύρτιλλο)

“Sing,” she said. “It will improve your cooking.” Josephine Araldo

Josephine Araldo inspired a generation of cooks. She was a legend: an elf-like woman who spoke rapid-fire English with a French accent.

Araldo was born in Brittany in 1896. She went to Paris in the early 1920s and was one of the first women to graduate from Cordon Bleu. In 1924, she moved to San Francisco as a cook for a wealthy family and stayed there the rest of her long life.

After World War II, Araldo retired as a cook and began teaching her skills to others. Marion Cunningham (of Fannie Farmer fame) and Alice Waters both studied under Araldo. Fran Bigelow, who started Fran’s Chocolates and popularized grey salt caramels in the US, was also a student of Araldo.

Chef Robert Reynolds, now of Trou Food, started as one of Araldo’s students, but later became a close friend. Reynolds collaborated with Araldo in writing From a Breton Garden: The Vegetable Cookery of Josephine Araldo.

From a Breton Garden is a brilliant book. Araldo taught that “vegetables are the jewel in the crown; they make the plate” and her book reflects that philosophy on every page.

The recipes use common, everyday vegetables. The most exotic is artichokes, a favorite of Araldo’s judging from the thirty-one artichoke recipes in the book. Some recipes in From a Breton Garden are traditional and others creative, but all are delicious. I’ve owned the book for 17 years, and have thoroughly enjoyed every recipe I’ve made from it.

From a Breton Garden was published in 1990, one year after Araldo’s death. The biographical information in it gives readers a glimpse into her interesting life, and leaves one wanting to know more about Araldo. Reynolds is now discussing an Araldo biography with her grandson; I’m looking forward to reading it.

The book opens with country recipes from Brittany, where Josephine was born and raised. The Paris chapter reflects the classical cuisine that Araldo learned in cooking school. The San Francisco section is filled with Reynolds’ recipes, which demonstrate the sensibilities he learned from Araldo as she passed her knowledge on to the next generation.

La Mère Jacquette was Josephine Araldo’s grandmother. According to Reynolds, La Mère Jacquette learned to cook before Napoleon III came to power. Her cuisine, as passed down through Araldo to us via From a Breton Garden, includes many unusual recipes combining fruits and vegetables.

One of my favorite recipes in the book came from La Mère Jacquette: Red Cabbage with Mushrooms and Blueberries. The cabbage is braised in red wine and onions, and then tossed with perfectly cooked mushrooms and fresh blueberries.

In Alaska, this dish is a natural; when it’s time to harvest red cabbage, our woods are filled with wild mushrooms and the blueberries are ready to pick. It’s best made with fresh wild Boletus edulis (aka porcini or cèpes) and wild blueberries, but it still tastes great when made with supermarket ingredients.

Last night I used red cabbage and mushrooms from my Full Circle Farm CSA box with supermarket blueberries. Even my husband, who is dubious on the subject of cooked cabbage, agreed it was wonderful.

Red Cabbage with Mushrooms and Blueberries – Chou Rouge Forestière (Λάχανο Κόκκινο με Μανιτάρια και βακκίνιο το Μύρτιλλο)
Serves 4 - 6
Adapted from From a Breton Garden: The Vegetable Cookery of Josephine Araldo by Josephine Araldo and Robert Reynolds
I’ve always made this recipe with blueberries, but Araldo says La Mère Jacquette would have used whatever berries she found in the woods. Araldo emphasizes that tossing the mushrooms with garlic and parsley is essential: “without these elements, ‘Cela na vaut pas le pet de lapin’ (it’s not worth the fart of a rabbit).” Araldo recommends using bacon fat to flavor the onions and cabbage; I substitute olive oil without a problem. I’ve served Red Cabbage with Mushrooms and Blueberries as an accompaniment to pork, roast chicken, grilled lamb, and sausages, and enjoyed it every time.

2 cups thinly sliced yellow onion
4 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil (or bacon fat)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pound (6 cups) thinly sliced red cabbage (1/2 a medium head)
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp. minced garlic
3 Tbsp. minced parsley
1 cup fresh blueberries

Sauté the onions in 2 Tbsp. butter and the olive oil (or bacon fat), lightly seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper, until the onions are golden. Stir in the cabbage and red wine, lightly season again with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and toss to evenly distribute the ingredients. Cover and cook over low heat for 20 to 30 minutes, until the cabbage is tender.

While the cabbage is cooking, sauté the mushrooms, lightly seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper, in 2 Tbsp. butter in a hot pan. Cook the mushrooms in 2 batches to ensure they brown nicely and retain their liquid (if you put too many mushrooms in the pan at one time, they release their juices and stew rather than brown). When the mushrooms are done, toss them with garlic and parsley.

When the cabbage is done to your liking, stir in the mushrooms and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the blueberries. Taste and add salt or freshly ground black pepper, as needed. Serve.
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This is my entry for Weekend Cookbook Challenge – Veggin’ Out hosted by Sara of I Like to Cook. Red Cabbage with Mushrooms and Blueberries is full of antioxidants, so I am also sending it to Sweetnicks for Antioxidant Rich Foods/5-a-Day Tuesdays.

Recipe: Old-Fashioned Baguettes (Παραδοσιακό Γαλλικό Ψωμί)

This is one of the best breads I remember making. Although most fresh-from-the-oven loaves taste wonderful, this bread is unusually good.

It tastes faintly of sourdough, the off-white crumb is chewy and elastic, the top golden and lightly caramelized, and the crust thick and crisp. I made three loaves; they came out of the oven around seven in the evening. By the time we went to bed, one loaf had been entirely devoured.

My sister gave me a cookbook from the Belgian-based bakery/restaurant franchise, Le Pain Quotidien, for Christmas. The recipe for its signature loaf, Sourdough Wheat Bread, requires a sourdough starter (levain) that takes 10 days to make. Le Pain Quotidien’s website says the starter only takes 5 days but, ever the glutton for punishment, I’m sticking with the directions in the book. I’m now on Day 9, and will post the recipe after I make Sourdough Wheat Bread.

The recipe for “Le Pain Quotidien’s sourdough starter” requires you to mix a flour and water sponge and leave it at room temperature to ferment. Every morning and every evening you discard half the sponge and feed the remainder with flour and water. The sponge gradually develops a pleasantly sour taste and the capacity to leaven bread.

A few days ago I balked at the direction to throw away half the sponge. Instead, I split it in two and, before going to bed, fed both halves with flour and water. The next morning, when I split the sponge, I continued feeding half of it and mixed the remaining half with the second sponge I’d created the night before.

I used this second sponge as the foundation for an adaptation of the recipe for “Baguette a l’ancienne (old-fashioned style)” in Le Pain Quotidien's cookbook. The result was so good, I made another three loaves (and a pizza crust) the next day.

I’ve taken liberties with the original recipe: simplifying it for American kitchens and leaving out directions that didn’t make sense. For example, the recipe directs you to cover the rising baguettes “with a plastic sheet (not food film).” What's that supposed to mean? Food film (plastic wrap) works just fine for this purpose. If you have problems with the recipe, blame me, not Le Pain Quotidien.

The Old-Fashioned Baguettes came out of the oven thirty minutes ago. Every corner of our log home is filled with the aroma of freshly baked bread. A fire roars in the fireplace. The sun is sparkling off snow in the trees. Life is good.

Old-Fashioned Baguettes (Παραδοσιακό Γαλλικό Ψωμί)
Makes 3 - 4 loaves
Adapted from Le Pain Quotidien: cook + book memories and recipes by Alain Coumont and Jean-Pierre Gabriel

Sourdough Starter for Old-Fashioned Baguettes:
These are directions for making baguette starter; if you want to also make starter for Sourdough Wheat Bread (or to keep some on hand in your refrigerator), see the notes at the end of this section.The starter used in this recipe is based on “Le Pain Quotidien’s sourdough starter” (not the starter for Le Pain Quotidien’s “Baguette a l’ancienne”). I used King Arthur Flour’s white whole wheat flour, but the starter may also be made with regular whole wheat flour, bread flour, or all-purpose flour. The starter may be used for baguettes as soon as it develops a light sourdough flavor, which takes two or three days.

White whole wheat flour
Water

Day 1 morning: Mix 2/3 cup flour and 1/3 cup water in a stainless steel, glass, or pottery bowl. Cover with a plate and leave at room temperature.

Day 1 evening: Add 2/3 cup flour and 1/3 cup water to the starter, and stir just until the ingredients are combined. Cover with a plate and leave at room temperature.

Day 2 through Baking Day, morning and evening: Discard half the starter. To the remaining starter, add 2/3 cup flour and 1/3 cup water, and and stir just until the ingredients are combined. Cover with a plate and leave at room temperature.

As soon as the starter is ready, you can use all of it in the Old-Fashioned Baguette recipe.

NOTES: If you want to keep some starter (a) to store for the future or (b) to make Sourdough Wheat Bread, instead of discarding half the main starter (Starter 1) in the evening, use it to create a second starter (Starter 2). Mix Starter 1 as usual, but instead of discarding half, put the discard half in a stainless steel, glass, or pottery bowl and mix in 2/3 cup flour, 1/3 cup water, and a pinch of salt and cover it with a plate (this is Starter 2). You will now have two identical starters: Starter 1 and Starter 2. The next morning, instead of discarding half of Starter 1, add it to Starter 2 and begin making the Old-Fashioned Baguette with Starter 2.

To store sourdough starter for the future, put the starter you want to save in a jar and refrigerate it. It will keep indefinitely, so long as you feed it with flour and water every other week or so. To make starter for Sourdough Wheat Bread, continue feeding and watering Starter 1 in the morning and evening.

Old-Fashioned Baguettes:
I prefer using a baking stone when I make bread as it helps my home oven maintain an even temperature and gives the baguettes a crisper crust. I also have an old baking sheet with edges that I preheat and throw water on to create a steamy environment for the bread. Don’t throw water directly on the oven floor or it will warp. A good baking sheet will also warp, which is why I have an old baking sheet, rusty and warped, that I use only for baking bread.

Starter for Old-Fashioned Baguettes (see above)
2 cups warm water
2 tsp. yeast
1 Tbsp. coarse salt
5 – 6 cups “type 65”, bread, or all-purpose flour

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or by hand), mix the starter, water, and yeast. Add the salt and 4 cups of flour, and mix until thoroughly combined. Start mixing in the remaining flour. When the dough starts clumping together, switch to the dough hook (or to kneading by hand), and keep adding flour until you have a moist, but not quite sticky, dough. Knead for 4 minutes with the dough hook (or 10 minutes by hand).

Leave the dough to rest in the bowl, with the dough hook, for 80 minutes. Every 20 minutes (4 times total), turn on the machine and knead the dough with the dough hook (or by hand) for 20 seconds. The Le Pain Quotidien cookbook says the purpose of doing this “is to stir and compress the dough, to give it more body.”

Flour a large smooth piece of cotton (I use flour-sacking dish towels) and put it on a thin metal baking sheet. Dump the dough onto the well-floured cloth and divide it into three or four 1 to 1 1/4 pound pieces (the weight of the dough will differ depending on the type of flour you use). Let rest for five minutes.

Preheat a rimmed baking sheet and baking stone, if using, for at least 30 minutes at 500°F. The rimmed baking sheet goes on the oven’s lowest shelf, and the baking stone goes on the shelf just above it.

Pull, stretch, and roll the dough pieces into 16” baguettes, being careful not to tear the dough. Return the baguettes to the floured cloth, adding more flour as necessary, and pushing folds of cloth up between the baguettes. Lightly flour the tops of the baguettes, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for 30 minutes.

Carefully lift the edges of the floured cloth and roll the baguettes directly onto the thin metal baking sheet. Slash each baguette 5 times diagonally with a razor blade.

Put the bread and baking sheet in the oven, directly on the baking stone, if using. Just before closing the oven, dump a cup of water onto the rimmed baking sheet (which is on the shelf just below the bread), quickly shut the door, and turn the heat down to 450°F. Bake for 20 minutes, turn the heat down to 325°F and bake for 15 minutes.

Cool, cut, and serve.

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Crusty baguettes, eaten hot with fresh creamery butter while sitting in front of a crackling fire, are the ultimate comfort food. This is my entry for The Garden of Eating's Comfort Food Cook-Off.