I am sorry for not posting more. It has been a while and there's been a lot going on. I've been cooking a lot, just not posting so often.
Over the weekend, I was in the mood for a good spaghetti dinner. I picked up an eggplant and some Pecorino Romano cheese. This is a very simple meal, of fried eggplant and spaghetti, but it really hits the spot. Two tips for making this sauce, use San Marzano tomatoes, and don’t cover the saucepan. Also use your very best olive oil. The few simple ingredients really shine in this meal. Here is how I prepared it.
A medium eggplant
1 cup of flour
Onion salt
Extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced
Half teaspoon of red pepper flakes
28 oz. can of San Marzano tomatoes
12 basil leaves
1 cup of shredded Pecorino Romano cheese
Spaghetti, cooked and drained
Preparation
About an hour before you start cooking, Wash the eggplant and slice it in quarter inch slices, lengthwise. Salt both sides of each slice and set the slices in a colander. Place a lid on the slices, and set a couple tomato cans on the lid. Let the eggplant drain for about an hour.
When the eggplant is about 45 minutes into its rest, empty the tomatoes into a bowl, and use your hand to break them up. Heat a medium saucepan, and add enough olive oil to give a heavy coating. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Let that sizzle, but don’t brown the garlic. After about a minute add the tomatoes and stir. Let that gently simmer, uncovered, while you cook the eggplant.
Place the flour in a zip lock bag, and sprinkle in some onion salt. Rinse each eggplant slice, and pat it dry. Heat a medium cast iron pan and add about a quarter inch deep of extra virgin olive oil. Shake an eggplant slice in the flour and add it to the hot oil. Add enough slices to fill the pan in a single layer. Brown the eggplant on both sides, and drain them on a paper towel. Repeat with the remaining eggplant slices.
Chop and add the basil leaves to the tomato sauce. Put your spaghetti on to cook. While the spaghetti is cooking, turn the heat off the sauce, and sprinkle on half of the Pecorino Romano cheese. When the spaghetti is al dente, you are ready to serve.
Serving
Place a mound of spaghetti on your plate. Add eggplant around the spaghetti. Cover the spaghetti with lots of sauce, and sprinkle on the remaining shredded Pecorino Romano cheese. I just had this with some olives and a nice Rosso wine.
