Eggplant Mac and Cheese

Yet another way to use eggplant. The white sauce calls for an extraordinary amount of garlic, but it mellows as it simmers in the milk and is not at all intense.

1 large eggplant
Olive oil
1/2 pound macaroni
3 Tbs butter
3 Tbs flour
2 cups of milk
3 sprigs of thyme
2 Tbs fresh chopped basil
1/2 head of garlic, peeled and crushed or minced (that's half a HEAD, not half a clove)

1 cup parmesan, asiago, romano or other aged hard cheese (you can even use jack cheese, it won't hurt my feelings)

Peel the eggplant and cut it into 1/2 inch cubes. Salt it and leave it set for half an hour if you are afraid it might be bitter. I never bother with this, but different strokes.

Put the eggplant cubes to saute slowly in olive oil.

Get the macaroni boiling and cook until just tender. Drain.

While the eggplant is slowly sauteing and the macaroni is boiling, make a roux of the butter and flour. Add the milk, garlic and herbs. let simmer slowly until thickened. Add the cheese.

Then combine the white sauce, the eggplant and the macaroni and put into a buttered baking dish. Top it with buttered crumbs, if you like, or additional cheese and bake it at 375 fahrenheit for 25 minutes.

Comments

Chicos and Beans!

Chicos and Beans, Ese! They go together like Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. But what ARE they, and why are they so good? Chicos are as far as I know an ingredient peculiar to northeastern New Mexico. Chicos are sweet corn which is roasted in an outdoor wood-fired adobe oven called an Horno (pronounced or-no, as rhyming with “porno,” but don't make that association with the older generation.) The result is that the corn is preserved, but it keeps its sweetness and the sugars in the corn are caramelized, resulting in a wonderful, distinctive flavor. It is best to buy them from someone who has roasted them, as one never really knows how old the ones in the stores may be. Just like beans, if they are more than a year old, you have to cook them forever to make them tender. The classic winter repast of chicos and beans is about the sweetness of the ingredients and how they harmonize with each other. The chicos provide the sweetness of roasted corn, the smoked ham hocks provide the swe

Oregano de la Sierra

One of the culinary herbs peculiar to this region is Oregano de la Sierra. It is used in place of oregano in the local cuisine. It is not oregano. The latin name for this plant is Monarda Menthefolium, and it is a variety of bee balm. It does have a flavor reminiscent of oregano with a bit of mint. It is a beautiful plant. It is normally foraged in the mountainous areas, hence its name, which translates as "oregano of the mountains."Those who enjoy word play will note that the word "oregano" itself derives from the Greek "ganos" meaning brightness or ornament, and "oros" meaning mountains. So cross-culturally, "oregano de la sierra" means "ornament of the mountains of the mountains." The photo at right is of oregano de la sierra growing in my back yard. It is drought-hardy and likes filtered shade. As you may guess, being a bee balm, bees love it, so it doesn't just feed you, it feeds our little friends as well. If you wan

Juniper Salt!

The one-seed juniper, juniperus monospermum, grows in abundance around my community here in northern New Mexico. You may have had commercial dried juniper berries, used in brines and similar, and you may know they provide the dominant, resinous flavor in gin. But the ripe berries of the one-seed juniper, fresh, are sweet, juicy, as well as having that familiar gin flavor and aroma. Yes, sweet! The favored food of the bluebird in this habitat. The little fellows gorge on juniper berries and then perch on fencelines and poop out the seeds, which is why you see so many young junipers growing along fencelines here. "Yeah, thanks for the botany lesson but why should I care?" Because they're yummy and abundant and we can DO things with them. I have a mason jar of juniper berry syrup in the works and I'll let you dear readers know how that turns out when it is finished, but this type of syrup takes a month or two. But for now, the juniper salt. Imagine a juniper-infused sa

Norteño eating

Search This Blog