I always forget how much I love eggplant until I eat it. Then I wonder why I don’t eat it more often.
There are a few good reasons: eggplant is best in the summer; from the farmers market or your own garden. It’s uber-delicate, and gets bruised at the slightest bump, or even a harsh word directed its way. And cooking it’s usually a complicated, messy pain in the keister.
This week marks the final week of the Local Dish series with two delicious recipes made from NC products.
First up is a delicious soup with a deceptively fancy name. The eggplant dish, we’ll get back to.
Le’CHOP Soup
Servings: 4
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
2 Tbsp. avocado oil
1 leek, light green and white parts, finely chopped
1 cup swiss chard stems, finely chopped
1 habanero pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 sweet yellow onion, finely chopped
4 cups chicken stock, divided
1 potato, diced
1 cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp. onion powder
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
In Dutch oven, heat avocado oil on medium-high heat, then add leek and swiss chard. Cook for 3 minutes until softened. Add habanero and onion and cook until onion’s translucent. Move contents to a bowl.
With Dutch oven still hot, deglaze with ½ cup chicken stock. Add remaining chicken stock and bring to light boil and add potatoes. Cook for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to low and stir in onion and garlic powder. Add cooked vegetable mixture back into Dutch oven and simmer for one minute. Remove from heat.
Pour half of mixture into a food processor, blend and pour into bowl. Add remaining vegetable mixture to food processor and blend slowly, while adding buttermilk. Pour back into Dutch oven, add salt and pepper, stir then heat on low to warm back up. Or use submersible blender.
Garnish with chives and small dollop of sour cream.
Lisa’s Notes: This is a great way to use leeks and chard. If you aren’t a fan of the heat, leave out the habanero or try a jalapeno. The stems can be a little bitter so try using the leaves instead. We liked leaving some potatoes chunky when blending. Domino Ireland won first place with this delicious soup in the NC Vegetable Growers Contest at the NC State Fair.
And, finally, the eggplant. This is the easiest to make eggplant recipe I’ve had the pleasure to eat. It’s also the most forgiving. It’s cut into cubes and roasted, so it doesn’t need to be perfect, blemish-free, straight from the garden eggplant. You could make this in the middle of February and the dish would be just as tasty as mid-August.
Debbie’s notes: If you enjoy them, capers are a terrific addition. The briny Mediterranean flavor is perfect with this recipe. And when cold, the dish makes for a perfect bruschetta.
Roasted Eggplant
1 Eggplant, diced ¼”-1/2” thick with skin on
1 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. kalamata olives, sliced
2 Tbsp. green olives sliced
2 Tbsp. Feta, crumbled
1 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. In medium size bowl, combine eggplant, olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour onto baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes.
Once done, return to bowl and toss with remaining ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Lisa’s Notes: The dish can be enjoyed hot or room temperature.
I hope you enjoyed my adventures with television.
I’ll be back next week with the best dish I’ve invented in years. And it’s made with only things I had on-hand.
Thanks for your time.
Contact debbie at d@bullcity.mom.
Flavor NC production observation, day two:
Here’s something that will give what follows some context; a generous portion of my blood is composed of caffeine. Whether it’s an expensive fancy coffee beverage, a glass of my homemade sun-tea that’s so strong Petey and The Kid call it jet fuel, or chocolate so dark it absorbs surrounding light, my engine runs on that stimulant of the jacked up, jittery gods. Without it, I am a cranky toy, with failing batteries, and a belligerent headache.
The attached building contains two of my favorite summer items—air conditioning and homemade ice cream. Charity loves to use freshly harvested produce for it. We’ve just missed the blueberry sweet corn, but the fresh watermelon ice cream becomes part of the shoot.
After visiting the okra field, we drive to the farm annex where the fields went on as far as we could see. One portion was full of countless plants heavy with different varieties of ripe tomatoes. Purely as research I ate a couple; sweet, and warm from the sun.
Next was summer squash of different shapes and colors. Then were pumpkins, a few for cooking, but most were purely ornamental, including ones that were pale green and covered with what looked like warts. Our host Ashley said they were perfectly suited for jack-o-lanterns and Halloween decoration.
We concluded our visit back at the farm stand. Lisa and Charity did a shot that culminated in biting into a raw piece of okra.
And nope, it didn’t taste like chicken.
bull city mom 