I made Tomato Soup and Cheddar Chipotle Biscuits!

This meal was a fancified tomato soup and grilled cheese. I made it on Monday when it was freaky cold and I wanted a cozy meal and a way to use up the buttermilk in the fridge. I bought buttermilk a few weeks ago for something (I can't remember what right now) and only used half a cup, and the remainder has sat there ever since, reminding me of my New Year's resolution to waste less food. The soup recipe is from Not Eating Out in New York and the biscuit recipe is from the Baked cookbook but I found it on Serious Eats.

Tomato Soup to Write Home About
(makes about 6 servings - maybe if you were having multiple courses. 3-4 servings otherwise)
1 large can peeled Italian plum tomatoes
1 small onion, chopped
1 small celery rib, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
2-3 fresh cayenne or serrano peppers, seeded and chopped (or substitute with dried red chile flakes to taste) (I used on jalapeno, seeded. It was kicky but not overpowering).
1 bunch fresh basil leaves (She leaves them whole, but I decided to chop them)
salt and freshly ground pepper
3-4 TBS olive oil (plus more for drizzling as garnish)

Sweat the onions, carrots, celery and chiles in olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and cook, stirring over low heat for about 8 minutes or until softened and lightly browned (this took about 15 minutes for me). Add the tomatoes and all their juices. Transfer mixture to a blender (or use your immersion blender) and pulse until mixture is completely smooth. Return to the pot and bring just to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, covered, for at least 40 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the basil leaves and serve. Garnish each bowl with a drizzle of olive oil, if desired.

Chipotle Cheddar Biscuits from Baked
makes about 20 small biscuits (I ended up with 16)

• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (it’s a lot of grinding, but it’s worth it!)
• 1 tablespoon chipotle powder (I have chipotle chile powder and it’s really versatile and awesome. I wonder if you could use the adobo from canned chipotles if you don’t have the powder on hand?)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 cups grated and tightly packed sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• Kosher salt for topping

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, pepper, chipotle powder, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and the 1 teaspoon of salt.
3. Add the butter and, using your hands or the back of a wooden spoon, work the butter into the dough. (If you use your hands to do this, don’t touch your eyes - they will burn!) The mixture should look like coarse sand. Add the cheese and stir to thoroughly incorporate it into the dough.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg. Add to the flour mixture and stir until just incorporated. Do not overmix.
5. Use a small ice cream scoop or a 1/4-cup measuring cup to scoop the dough and drop it in mounds onto the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with kosher salt and bake in the center of the oven for about 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through the baking time, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of a biscuit comes out clean.
6. Transfer the biscuits to a cooling rack. The biscuits can be served slightly warm or at room temperature (we like them slightly warm).
7. Store the biscuits in an airtight container for up to 2 days. (A toaster oven is great for re-heating)
   

We made eggplant parmigiana in LA!

Last week, Joey, Lauren and I went to LA to visit our dear friend, W. Hunter McClamrock. We drove to San Francisco and back, got picked up by a limo on New Years Eve, were forced to take a crazy detour through the mountains because of high winds and snow in "The Grapevine" (don't ask me California is crazy), rolled around in the fake grass at the Getty Center, ate delicious tacos and sushi and Umami (veggie) burgers, and generally had a lot of awesome adventures. On our last night, we wanted to make dinner and Hunter requested Joey's signature dish, eggplant parmigiana. Joey learned how to make this dish from his mama and has since perfected it on his own.

Most of us associate eggplant parm with the kind you get at most Italian restaurants: one cutlet of thickly breaded or deep fried eggplant drowning in sauce and mozzarella cheese. But the authentic and much more delicious way is to lightly fry thin slices of eggplant and then layer them like a lasagna with sauce and scattered chunks of mozzarella cheese.


But when it came time to start cooking, things got crazy. Let's just say Joey and Lauren had eaten a certain baked good. And let's just say the consumption of said baked good left them somewhat... indisposed (see the pic of Joey below--he was in no condition to cook.) So that left me to make the parm. I was a little intimidated, since it's always been Joey's thing and it's a pretty labor intensive dish, but I'd watched him enough times that I was pretty sure I knew all the steps.



First, of course, I made Mama Vallese's Vegetable Sauce.

Then we skinned three medium-sized eggplants and sliced them longways.

Then we prepared two bowls for the coating: one with flour, one with beaten eggs and parmesan.

Now here comes the labor-intensive part. Get a good inch of vegetable oil going on the pan, dip each slice of eggplant first in the flour, then the egg mixture, and fry those babies a few minutes on each side until the coating turns golden. You will have to do this in many, many batches. Unless you have an enormous pan. As you finish each batch, lay the fried slices on paper towels to absorb some of the oil.

When you're done with all that frying, the rest is easy. Get out your 10 x 15 baking dish and cover the bottom with sauce. Then place pieces of eggplant in one layer, minimizing any spaces between them. Then another THIN layer of more sauce. I would even call it more of a DRIZZLE than an actual layer. Otherwise the whole thing will get soupy and the eggplant won't stay as crisp. Then evenly scatter chunks of mozzarella. Then sprinkle some parm. Repeat until you've used all your eggplant, or until the baking dish can't hold anymore. On the top layer, scatter the mozz (not too much), and then throw on lotsa parmesan.

Cover the whole thing in aluminum foil, and bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake 10 minutes more. It should be all bubbly and brown and delicious looking.

And that's it! Joey ended up recovering in time to help me fry some of the eggplant, which it would have taken hours for me to do on my own. This dish is not difficult to make, but it's way easier if you have a few helpers. Also, you can halve this menu and make it in a smaller pan if you're not serving 10 people like we were. And I guess you don't HAVE to use Mama Vallese's Vegetable Sauce, but the quality of sauce can make or break this dish, so if you're going to buy one, spring for the fancy gourmet stuff.

Here is what our beautiful table looked like in Irma's beautiful apartment in Los Feliz ("The Happiness"--what a nice name for a hood!):


And here is all of us, so psyched to finally eat that parm!