The Case for Eggplant Lasagna

Plus: Jimmy Nardello Feta Dip, Peach Panzanella, and Two-Day Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Hey everyone,

Craig is back after two months away in Vancouver directing School Spirits. I greeted him on Saturday night with a big pot of Cavatappi with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Cannellini Beans (his favorite thing that I make), which I accidentally over-salted. (I dumped salt from the box into the boiling pasta water and it came out a big aggressively.) Nothing a little red wine can’t fix (not in the pasta, just in your mouth after you eat a salty bite).

Here’s Craig reuniting with Winston, who was so giddy every time I said “daddy Craig is coming home!” he practically went nuts by the time Craig buzzed the buzzer.

Sunday morning, we went as a family to the farmer’s market and bought a bunch of peaches and tomatoes and basil and plums. (Now’s the time to do that, FYI.)

Then I got to cooking: we had our friends Lucci, Ryan, and Jonathan over for dinner as a little welcome-home party for Craig.

And when I decided on an entree, I went with this eggplant lasagna recently featured in the NYT. It’s kind of a genius recipe. You roast vertically sliced eggplant and use those slices as noodles:

Unlike noodles, the eggplant gets caramelized and seasoned so you get a whole extra layer of flavor. And because you roast it, instead of frying it, it’s not at all greasy.

As for the other layers, you can use a jarred tomato sauce (I used Carbone which was great) and make a ricotta layer with frozen spinach (I squeezed all the liquid out with a kitchen towel), basil, lemon zest, and Parmesan.

There’s also a layer of mozzarella which gets all melty and burnished on top. Honestly, this may be my new go-to lasagna recipe and everybody loved it.

As a first course, I decided to harken back to the roasted Jimmy Nardello pepper pesto that was such a hit last week and make a roasted Jimmy Nardello Feta dip.

To do that, I just charred Jimmy Nardello’s on a foil-lined sheet under the broiler. You broil them until they’re black all over:

As soon as they are, pop them into a blwol and cover with plastic or foil so they steam a bit. Then scrape out the seeds and throw them into a food processor with some Labneh (or Greek yogurt), a big block of Feta, grated garlic, a little smoked paprika, and some olive oil.

I’d give you better specifications but I honestly just made this up based on a few recipes I read online. Look how pretty the dip came out… I served with mass market pita chips from a box (b/c that’s all Dumbo Market had) and cucumber pieces because sometimes you need to eat an entire cucumber.

(I garnished with Aleppo pepper on top in case you’re wondering.)

As a side dish, I made an incredible panzanella using toasted cubes of ACQ sourdough (I just tossed large cubes with olive oil, salt, and pepper and roasted on a cookie sheet in a 425 oven until golden brown all over), heirloom tomatoes, peaches, red onion, lots of olive oil, balsamic, salt, pepper, and lots of basil.

Frankly I think panzanella is my favorite summer tomato preparation because if you get the balance right you get all of those fresh, fruity, summery juices extracted with the salt and then they get absorbed in those big, dried-out but flavorful pieces of toasted bread, and the combo is sublime.

Finally, I made chocolate chip cookies for dessert using this Very Good Chocolate Chip cookie recipe.

The key was doing the NYT thing where I made the dough the day before, scooped it, covered it in plastic, and let it refrigerate overnight. Apparently that works all kinds of magic, but mostly I think it helps the texture: by firming up in the fridge (and by allowing the flour to absorb the moisture), you don’t get super flat too-crispy cookies. These guys have some texture and are super chewy in the middle.

Hey, let’s look at some links:

• Could Roberta’s at Penn Station be the city’s best new Italian spot? (Eater NY);

• Cape Cod offers a harbinger of America’s economic future by Rob Anderson, owner of The Canteen in PTown (The Atlantic);

• Ali Slagle’s School for Zucchini Skeptics (NYT).

That’s all for today, folks!

See you back here on Thursday….

Your pal,

Adam