Posted on 10/01/2015 8:22:58 AM PDT by Jamestown1630
We haven’t dried tomatoes yet; but a quick search brought this up:
http://www.food.com/recipe/olive-oil-packed-sun-dried-tomatoes-with-basil-497980
I’m surprised there are people that love Eggplant. For me they taste kind of rubbery. LOL Doesn’t have that nice tender feel like other vegies when cooking it.
I actually like the taste of it, and especially like eggplant parmigiana and eggplant fritters. One of its benefits in cooking is the way it soaks-up other flavors.
Baba Ghannouj is a wonderful dip:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baba-ghannouj-recipe.html
-JT
LOL! If I made it from home-made vanilla wafers, my crew would probably say, ‘it doesn’t taste right’; which usually means it doesn’t taste like Mom’s or Aunt Sally’s...
I guess it’s what you grew up on. I see lots of recipes trying to fancy-up the traditional green bean casserole that’s made from canned soup and French’s fried onions; and I’ve tried a couple of them. It just doesn’t hit the same spot ;-)
-JT
How have I not heard of these Magic Rolls before?
I'm definitely gonna try these this weekend.
And it looks like I'm gonna have to buy that cookbook.
Thanks!
Eggplant?
Moussaka!
Yum yum!
I agree with you. I think that we have atavistic taste buds - we like the food our ancestors ate and if it involves canned green beans and French’s fried onions that’s the way it has got to be. I know I feel this way. And since my mother was a strange health-nut who thought nothing of serving carob fake-chocolate and Brewer’s Yeast at meals, I never had a Nilla Wafer until I tried it about two years ago in a banana pudding. (My husband ate it up.)
It can be rubbery if not cooked properly - and it’s basically bland. It needs to be cooked with strong flavors that it can absorb. I posted a very simple eggplant chutney a few weeks ago.
We need a Freeper cookbook!
Looks good, Liz.
I’m going out now - sigh - to store up for the hurricane that our tubby NJ governor is touting like there’s no tomorrow.
o Ok thank you
Perhaps that was the problem. I did not cook it correctly. I guess I will give it another try and see.
Those zucchini pancakes sounds delicious! I’ve never tried any with feta before.. just parmesan cheese.
My grandmother in Italy used to dry them on the rooftop and then pack them in jars filled with olive oil.
Here’s a recipe I found that is similar, although she didn’t use thyme.
Homemade Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Makes an 8-ounce jar, easily doubled, tripled, etc., so long as you have oven space.
Update: a couple of notes, as apparently botulism can rear its head in the fridge, too! If you want to keep these in oil for more than 4 days, you should either freeze them or avoid flavoring the oil with garlic and leave it plain instead. Tomatoes in oil and garlic stored in home fridges can still be dangerous, so best not to test the fates.
Ingredients
1 pound plum tomatoes (5-6)
a few pinches coarse salt
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 cup olive oil (optional)
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
Preheat oven to 200°F. Place a metal rack on a baking sheet.
Cut each tomato in thirds lengthwise. Each slice should be about 1/3-inch thick.
Sprinkle salt on the cut sides of the tomatoes–not more than you’d want to eat though! Line a cutting board with a dish towel or paper towels and place the tomatoes on top. Top with another dish towel and another cutting board. Weight with a heavy cookbook or two. Leave for 20 minutes. This helps get some of the tomato’s juices out early, before they go in the oven.
Remove the tomatoes from the cutting board sandwich, dusting off any salt that hasn’t dissolved, and place them on the rack, with at least 1 inch in between. Sprinkle with the fresh thyme.
Bake for about 5 hours, until the tomatoes are dry to the touch and have wrinkled around the edges. You can really decide how dry you want them–as dry as raisins? or do you want to leave a little plumpness? Watch them (and try them) as they cook, and decide for yourself. When done, remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature.
If you’re going to be storing your tomatoes in olive oil, place the olive oil and garlic in a small jar while the tomatoes are cooking, and let the garlic steep to flavor the oil.
When the tomatoes are cool, add them to the oil. Store in the fridge for 4 days. If not using oil, store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a few weeks.
http://www.biggirlssmallkitchen.com/2012/08/homemade-sun-dried-tomatoes.html
My favorite ways to have eggplant are either stuffed eggplant or stuffed eggplant rolls. Both are filled with the same mixture of ground beef, parmesan, breadcrumbs, eggs, parsley, salt and garlic. Both topped with marinara sauce and baked in the oven. For the rolls you have to remove the skin, slice thin and fry. I always throw away the skin because of it’s bitter taste.
I do think eggplant is an acquired taste so don’t go to too much trouble. You may just not like it.
Thanks very much !
ah perhaps that is the problem with me, its the skin. I’ll try experimenting a little with it.
My husband has that book somewhere, but all I recall from it is the Magic Roll recipe. When he comes home, I’ll ask him if there were any other recipes that he especially liked.
-JT
For most recipes using eggplant, you usually salt it and let it sweat for awhile, which helps to break it down. Don’t skip that part, if it’s in your recipe; it makes a big difference.
-JT
I have always associated cream cheese with super high caloric stuff, never though of it in low carb settings.
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