Homebound Day #20: Red Sauce

Holy moly. We are heading into our 4th week of sheltering in place. I finally had to risk it and run out for milk for the Spud. I figured I'd pick up a few essentials, as well, since I'd be out. We didn't have any masks available, so I had to improvise.

And I figured maybe I could rob a train on the way home. 

I decided to stay close to home and hit the Dollar General in town. Milk was $3.69 a gallon, which was horrifying. Milk, creamer, cheese, orange juice and a few other staples set me back nearly $75. Granted, the store was mercifully devoid of people and within a mile of my house. With my adventure out of the way, I whipped up a batch of red sauce, and added some meatballs, rib bones, and Italian sausages. We served it up over some ravioli with some home made giardiniera. 

Just like you'd get at Olive Garden, but good!

Whenever we make this sauce, we have plenty of leftovers, which is intentional. The Spud loves the meatballs and the sauce is versatile. The next day we had The Wife's Eggplant Parmesan with the sauce. Today we took the leftover Italian sausage and made grinders with pepper jack cheese and giardiniera. 

Just like Portillo's, but totally not!

During this time, we worked through the last of the turkey pasta we made with our "Thanksgiving" leftovers. We also have been enjoying a tray of chocolate chip peanut butter bars for our treats. I was saddened to see that I'm working through my supply of bottom shelf bourbon faster than I'd like. I will have to console myself with vodka, gin, scotch, and rum. 

I don't know when this will all be done. As I've mentioned before, I think the school year is done for. It will likely be online learning for the rest of the year. I am at least encouraged by the fact that we were able to go nearly four weeks without needing to go to the store, and were it not for milk, we'd probably last another 2-3 weeks. 

Stay Safe!

The Wife's Eggplant Parmigiana and Meatball Casserole

Note: the following post is from The Wife

This past summer, our garden yielded more eggplant than we could reasonably expect to eat.  Apparently, my coworker was having the same problem, and she started bringing in eggplant for me.  I have a hard time turning down free produce – even when I already have an overabundance of it.  Week after week, I made my recipe for Eggplant Parmigiana (omitting step 9) and then bagged and froze it.  The deep freeze was jam-packed.  The same coworker’s husband had a stroke early in the school year, and the staff put together a meal train to assist them.  I figured it was only fitting to return some of the eggplant from whence it came, so I threw this recipe together as my contribution to the meal train.    

The Wife's Eggplant Parmigiana Casserole

Ingredients

• 3 freezer bags (quart size) of pre-made eggplant parmigiana (Vague, I know.  One layer of the casserole uses approximately 12 average-size eggplant slices.  If you were making the eggplant parmigiana on the same day, I would guess you would need 3 medium eggplants.)

• 48 oz. pasta sauce (The first time, I used The Husband’s pasta sauce because we had it on hand.  When I made this recipe for a staff lunch, I purchased Prego’s Italian Sausage and Garlic sauce.)

• 1 bag (18 count) frozen meatballs (whatever style you prefer)

• Grated Parmesan cheese

• 8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1.  Add frozen meatballs to pasta sauce and heat through.  Once meatballs are cooked, halve them.  (I suppose you could also halve them while they are still frozen – whatever works.)

2.  Preheat oven to 375F (190C, Gasmark 5)

.

3.  In a standard 9 x 13 casserole dish, lay your first layer of pre-made eggplant parmigiana.

4.  Place a dozen meatball halves at regular intervals across the first layer.

5.  Spoon pasta sauce over the first layer; spread so all eggplant slices are completely covered.

6.  Lightly sprinkle with grated Parmesan.

7.  Cover with 1/3 of shredded mozzarella.

8.  Repeat steps 3-7 twice more.

It should look something like this before going into the oven

9. Bake for 25 minutes until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling.

10. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Good times!

Braised Eggplant with Bacon and Tomatoes

     I'm forever on the fence about eggplant. On its own, I really want nothing to do with it. I do, however, love The Wife's Eggplant Parmigiana.  The reason I'm going on about eggplant is that our garden is yielding an unprecedented bumper crop of these bad boys. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I consulted my copy of The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook and found an intriguing recipe involving eggplant, bacon and tomato. This recipe was good on a number of different levels. For one thing, it was very easy to make. It called for a few simple ingredients and came together easily. Second, it was packed with flavor. We served it on brown rice and the first thing we both said was that it tasted very much like fried rice you would get in a restaurant. This one is definitely a winner and will grace our table again! As always, notes and changes are in blue.

Braised Eggplant with Bacon and Tomatoes
via The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook

Ingredients

• 6 bacon strips, cut into 2-inch sections
• 4 tomatoes, peeled and quartered (we didn't peel them because we're lazy. We also cut them into eighths because they were really big). 
• 1 eggplant, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes (we also soaked them in water and teaspoon of salt for about half an hour. Then we drained the water. The Wife assures me this is some form of sorcery that removes the "impurities" and "humours" from the eggplant)
• 1 to 2 garlic cloves, crushed (there is no such thing as too much garlic. If you want 12 cloves in there, go crazy. I'm definitely using more garlic next time)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place bacon in a cold pan (we used our enameled cast iron dutch oven), then heat and brown lightly. Do not pour off the fat. Add garlic and stir-fry for a couple minutes.
2. Add eggplant cubes and stir-fry to coat with the bacon fat. Reduce heat to medium and cook, covered about 5 minutes, or until eggplant has softened (we left the lid off, because that's what badasses do). Stir once or twice during this time.
3. Gently stir in tomatoes. Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, until eggplant is done, about 5 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper (we added the salt as soon as we put in the tomatoes, since this helps to break the tomatoes down a bit). 
4. Serve over brown rice. Or white rice. Or noodles. Or Cap'n Crunch. Whatever floats your boat. 

UPDATE: Here's a link to the YouTube video for this recipe! You're welcome!

Good times!

The Wife's Eggplant Parmigiana

Note: the following post is from the wife.

Okay, The Husband has posted several pictures of this, and I promised to type up the recipe…quite some time ago. This is one of my favorite meals to make with eggplant, mostly because it’s one of the only ways I can get my husband to eat said vegetable. I also feel it’s an improvement on Olive Garden’s eggplant parmigiana because the eggplant isn't squishy.

Eggplant Parmigiana
via The Wife

Ingredients

(assuming you’re only serving 2, but this is easily doubled)

• 1 large eggplant (Of course, this is subjective. I grew what I considered to be a pretty large eggplant this summer, but then I saw one at a farmer’s market that put mine to shame…)

  

  This little fellow seems fairly shameless.

• 1 egg
• ½ cup bread crumbs (I use Italian style, but I also supplement with Italian herbs. In a pinch, you can use regular bread crumbs.)
• ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ teaspoon dried basil (You might want to add more of these herbs if you are using regular vs. Italian style bread crumbs.)
• Salt and pepper to taste (I actually use a Tuscany Blend of salt and pepper)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Slice eggplant into ¼ - ½ inch rounds and soak in salted water for at least 30 minutes to remove bitterness. (I tend more towards the ¼ inch slices. Any thicker and my husband won’t eat them.)
2. Preheat oven to 375F.
3. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together egg and a tablespoon of water.
5. In a shallow bowl, combine bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, herbs, and salt and pepper.
6. Dip eggplant slices in egg mixture allowing excess to drip off. Then dip in bread crumb mixture and coat well. (This can get really messy. I highly recommend removing any rings before performing this step – unless you’re a fan of bread crumb-caked jewelry.) Place eggplant slices on baking sheet.
7. Bake slices 20-25 minutes, until golden-brown on the bottom.
8. Flip slices and bake for another 20-25 minutes.
9. Remove cookie sheet and top each slice of eggplant with a sprinkling of shredded mozzarella. Return to the oven for approximately 5 minutes – until cheese is melted and bubbly.

I like to serve this with a side of pasta and top the whole dish with pasta sauce.

Good times!