Focaccia

Hi all. Sorry the photo's aren't that great quality, It's been a while since I picked up a camera and there was so much going on at the party, it was hard to concentrate on taking good photos.

I'm here with the highlights from Meshy's birthday party. It was so much fun to get everyone together and all the food was a success. I want to focus on the focaccia's I made for the party. They are the easiest dishes to make and are also fun to eat for a casual get-together. The trick it to buy a ball of pizza dough from your local grocery store (near the baked bread section). It tastes great and saves you a ton of time rather than making dough from scratch. I made two focaccia's for the party – one topped with goat cheese and zucchini and the other pesto and eggplant. It was delicious, I think I like the zucchini one a little bit better because I looovee goat cheese but both were superb and eaten right up. I just rolled it out the dough as thin as I could (which didn't end up mattering because the dough puffed up so much anyways) topped it with the toppings and baked both at the same time for 12-15 minutes. It's the perfect party food because it doesn't take much time if you already have your ingredients prepped. I sliced and roasted the eggplant the night before, and sliced the zucchini before as well. Some other party foods on the menu was pea pesto, stuffed mushrooms, and kataifi wrapped shrimp and fennel and orange salad. What are some of your party food favorites?

Eggplant, Olive & Pesto Pizza

This doesn't look like just any pizza, does it? Let me tell you that it's not. For one thing, it is jam packed with all things yummy — silky roasted eggplant, garlic spiked roasted tomatoes, salty kalamata olives, buttery pesto (seriously, I licked the spoon and said, out loud, 'omg, that is like butter!'), tangy feta cheese and lots of grated white cheddar (it's all I had left in the fridge). The next thing about this pizza that makes it special is the crust. It is made of puff pastry. Of course I didn't make it from scratch, I defrosted a frozen puff pastry sheet and there was my crust — light, airy and crispy. This crust can work with any toppings you want, how simply and easy!

Eggplant, Olive & Pesto Pizza

1 puff pastry sheet - yields 6 square pieces

3 korean eggplants (they are smaller and narrower than regular american eggplants, but those will work as

well)

1 tablespoon butter, melted

Pinch of cumin

olive oil

1/2 lb grape tomatoes, sliced lengthwise

1 garlic, chopped finely

spoonful of pesto (mine is from tj's and is awesome)

shredded cheese, any will work

kalamata olives, pitted

feta cheese

1 Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Take out 1 puff pastry sheet and defrost on the counter, this will take about

40 minutes.

2 Slice the eggplant in half lengthwise and brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle with cumin.

Do this with all 6 halves. Broil for about 10 minutes on each side until soft and bruised. (I did this the night before using the

toaster oven and kept the roasted eggplants in the fridge overnight but you can do this the day of as well).

Cube up the eggplant and set aside.

3 Slice up the tomatoes and chopped garlic and mix. Broil for about 5-7 minutes until softened and starting

to break down. (you can broil the eggplant and tomatoes at the same time)

4 Once the puff pastry is defrosted, roll it out a bit thinner and prick with a fork all over. Brush the

outer edge (what will end up the crust) with olive oil and cover the interior with pesto, smoothing with the

back of a large spoon.

5 Next, top with shredded cheese then the eggplant, tomato/garlic mixture, then the olives then the feta and

then top with more shredded cheese!

6 Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Easy Eggplant & Olive Tomato Sauce

I know that I've said my favorite way to eat pasta is plain with olive oil and feta, but this is one of the few sauces I will tolerate in my pasta, other than this one. It is a wonderful sauce that takes less than 30 minutes to make. It is especially excellent over rigatoni, a wide tube-shaped pasta, where the chunks of tomato and eggplant nestle inside the pasta tube for the perfect bite — yumm! It has greek flavors because of the olives which provide the perfect amount of salt to balance the sweetness of the tomatoes. I can't remember if I used capers or not in this sauce, but if you happen to have it in the fridge, pop 'em in!

I know I just posted an eggplant recipe but I just found this deep in my photo folder and had to share it asap!

Eggplant & Olive Tomato Sauce

1 medium sized eggplant, cubed

1 yellow onion, diced

2 cans fire roasted tomatoes with garlic (be sure to look for the one with garlic, it adds tons of flavor)

Green or black olives, kalamata work great too

salt 'n' peppa

1 Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cube up the eggplant and season with salt and pepper. Roast for about 25 minutes until tender.

2 While the eggplant is roasting, prepare a saucepan over medium heat and saute the diced onions until translucent.

3 Dump the two cans of tomatoes, sauce and all, and stir. Add in the olives and simmer until heated through.

4 When the eggplant is tender, put them in the sauce pan and give a good stir.

Serve on pasta with grated parmesan cheese.

Bite-sized Eggplant & Goat Cheese Appetizers

These baby Indian eggplants are so cute! And even better, bite sized! Ok, maybe two-bite sized but nonetheless a great size for an appetizer. I washed and cut the eggplants lengthwise, leaving the stem so that it is easy to pick up and bite. I brushed them with an olive oil, garlic and paprika marinade and roasted them in the oven for about 30-40 minutes. Afterwards, I spooned some goat cheese on top. I didn't do anything fancy with how I put it on, I felt that it looks more natural and homestyle just slapped on.  Just pick it up by the stem and take a bite of the warm roasted garlicky eggplant paired with the cool soft goat cheese...mmmmm. Enjoy!

Indian Eggplant & Goat Cheese appetizers

6-8 indian eggplants

5 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons olive oil

1-2 tsp paprika

goat cheese

salt 

1 Wash eggplants and cut lengthwise. Salt and let sit for 15 minutes.

2 Prepare a bowl with some olive oil, garlic and paprika. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and brush the garlic olive oil onto the open face of the eggplants. Roast in the oven for about 30 minutes and don't let the garlic burn.

3 Once the eggplants are soft, prepare a platter and scoop some refrigerated goat cheese onto the eggplants. Sprinkle with salt, pick up by the stem and bite!

Honey Balsamic Garlic Grilled Eggplant

I've missed cooking and posting so much! Tonight I finally put my foot down and told myself that I'm going to cook, photograph and post everything I make tonight for dinner. Its sort of a mish mash of stuff, but oh so good together. First up was this honey balsamic garlic grilled eggplant. I picked up an eggplant at the market today and didn't feel like making eggplant parmesan like I usually do. After searching the internet for inspiration, I found this eggplant recipe. I liked how the flavors sounded together and I had everything for it already at home.  I used my amazing george foreman grill to cook the eggplant slices. It worked great as a side dish and was delicious. Tune in tomorrow to find out what else I cooked up!

Honey Balsamic Garlic Grilled Eggplant

1 eggplant

1 tbsp honey

2 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

salt 'n' peppa

1 Preheat grill. Slice eggplant into 1/2 inch slices.

2 Lay out a sheet of paper towels and arrange the eggplant slices in one layer and sprinkle with salt on both sides to release the bitter liquid. Let sit for 15 minutes  and dry both sides.

3 In a bowl, mix honey, olive oil, garlic, and balsamic and salt and pepper.

4 Dip both sides of the eggplant slices into the marinade and place on the grill until grill marks appear and the eggplant is soft and broken down.

5 Arrange grilled eggplant on a plate and sprinkle with sea salt. Enjoy!

Grilled Eggplant, Fried Artichoke & Sun Dried Tomato Stacks

I love the taste of grilled veggies - red peppers, onions, and of course eggplant. I love grilled eggplant better than it sauteed because it gains a smoky silky texture that is so amazing. The other night I felt like grilling, george foreman style of course, so I sliced up an eggplant I got at the market, brushed some olive oil and garlic on 'em and grilled away. Perfectly grill marked if, I say so myself. I didn't really have a plan before I started grilling (most of the time I don't) so I poked around the fridge and pantry and made up this "eggplant stack." I fried up some artichoke hearts (from the can), layered some sun-dried tomatoes, and topped with fresh feta. It was sooooo good! The flavors all melded together very nicely and was something different as a side dish/appetizer.  Grilled eggplant, fried artichoke & Sun-dried tomato stack 1 eggplant olive oil 1 garlic, minced 1 can artichoke hearts Sun-dried tomato, julienned 1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs salt 'n' peppa Feta 1 Slice up the eggplant into 1/4 inch thick rounds. Lay the slices on a paper towel without overlapping and salt them, leaving them for 15 minutes to remove the brown yucky bitter taste. 2 Prepare a mixture of olive oil and minced garlic and brush both sides of the eggplant slices. Fire up the grill and cook until soft and smoky. Do in batches if needed. 3 While the eggplants are grilling, prepare a bowl with seasoned breadcrumbs, or season your own. Heat up a pan over medium heat with some vegetable oil. Roll the artichoke hearts in the breadcrumbs, then brown them in the pan for a minute. They fry up really quickly so it doesn't take long. 4 Once the artichokes are fried, start your stack with a slice of grilled eggplant as the base, a few fried artichokes, next the julienned sun-dried tomatoes, and top with feta.  You can get creative with your stack and use whatever ingredients you have on hand. That's what I did! :)