On the menu: EGGPLANT PARMESAN
&
KHACHAPURI
For information on planting, growing & harvesting Tomatoes, click this link to view the gardening page of my website. Mama Szasz Gardening Tips
I started earlier in the day with the Khachapui. This is a traditional food in The Republic of Georgia (between Russia & Turkey - not South Carolina & Alabama). Depending on what I'm serving it with, I may add other ingredients - like roasted garlic or herbs or stronger cheeses. Since it has to rise a couple times, just mix it in the afternoon & finish preparing it at dinner time. But, honestly, I've made this in a pinch, in about an hour: just mix it, let it rise, cheese it & pop it in the oven for 10 minutes - easy peasy.
KHACHAPURI
1 pkt. dry active yeast
7 tblsp. warm water
1 2/3 cups flour
3/4 tsp. salt
1 egg - slightly beaten
1/2 lb. mozzarella - shredded
2 tblsp. butter - melted
(simple instructions in bold print)
(more detailed instructions in plain print)
1.) Sprinkle yeast & 1 tblsp. of flour over the water, stir & let stand until creamy.
This process activates the dry yeast. The water should be about body temperature but doesn't have to be exact: warmer water will give you a faster rising time, cooler water will slow it down. But it is important to not allow the water to be too hot. This will overheat the yeast & may prevent rising completely.
2.) Place the flour & salt in a bowl, stir in egg & then yeast mixture to form a firm dough. Knead 5 minutes.
I usually take the easy way out & let my stand mixer & dough hook do the kneading for me, but this ball of dough is just too small, so I have to do it by hand. What you're trying to do here is blend the ingredients well & introduce some air pockets into the dough. Just keep your work surface & hands lightly floured.
3.) Rise & punch down 2 or 3 times.
Allow to rise in a deep bowl, covered with a towel, in a warm place. After it doubles in size, flour your hands & press the center of the dough down with your fist. Gather the dough into a ball again, cover & let rise again. Repeat this 1 or 2 more times. This develops the flavor & texture of the finished bread.
During this time you can go on with your day. Don't worry too much about over-rising or timing. I didn't continue with the next steps until the Eggplant Parmesan was in the oven for it's 30 minute bake time.
4.) Place the dough onto a lightly floured, parchment paper lined pizza pan & flatten into an 11" disk. Place the cheese in the middle of this disk (along with any other ingredients you want to add).
Press the knot down & outward from the center, distributing the cheese evenly, into an 11" disk again. Cut slits across the middle & brush with butter.
5.) Bake at 500 for 10 to 12 minutes until slightly golden.
There may seem like a bit of work here, but really, without the rise time, there is only about 10 minutes prep. time & 10 minutes cook time. That's fast for bread, & especially FABULOUS cheesy bread like this!
EGGPLANT PARMESAN
2 eggplants (abt. 8" long, 5" in dia.)
3 1/4 tsp. salt - divided
5 lb. tomatoes
1 1/2 cups olive oil
2 cloves garlic - minced
handful of fresh basil - chopped
3/4 tsp. pepper
1 cup flour
5 eggs
3 cups Panko (a type of bread crumbs)
1 cup parmesan cheese - finely shredded & divided
1 lb. fresh mozzarella - thinly sliced
3 cups block mozzarella - shredded
(simple instructions in bold print)
(more detailed instructions in plain print)
1.) Slice eggplant into 1/4" circles, toss with 2 tsp. of the salt & drain for 15 minutes.
For this dish you can also slice the eggplant length-wise, it's a matter of preference. Sprinkling salt over eggplant slices before cooking them draws out the vegetable's moisture. It's a process known as "degorging". Larger, older eggplants have brown seeds that contain a bitter liquid. Salting eggplants removes some of this liquid and improves their flavor. In general, it's not necessary to salt smaller eggplants since they have fewer seeds than larger eggplants. So toss them with the salt & drain them in a colander placed in your sink to let them drain off any liquids.2.) Blanch the tomatoes. Peel, core & puree.
Bring a big pot of water to a boil & drop the tomatoes in (you may need to do this in batches depending on how big of a pot you have). When some of the tomatoes split their skin:
Use a slotted spoon to scoop out the ones that have split first. by the time you get those out, all the rest can be scooped out too - they don't ALL need to have split their skin. This should only take 2 or 3 minutes total per batch. This makes the skin super easy to slip off. Cut the stem area off (you know, the white-ish part that you don't like in your salad). Put the tomatoes in your blender & run them on puree until you have a kind of tomato juice.
3.) In a medium pot, sauté garlic in 3 tblsp. of the oil, add tomato puree, basil, 1 tsp. of the salt & 1/2 tsp. of the pepper. Reduce by half. (abt. 30 min.)Reducing the sauce is done by simmering it over med./low heat, stirring occasionally, until a lot of the water steams off. I usually use the line the sauce makes on the pan to judge when the sauce is about half the size of what it started out as:
You can also judge by how thick the sauce is when you stir it. When it feels like good thick sauce, it probably is good thick sauce. :) This isn't an exact science, & it's sometime a matter of preference too. Just make the sauce how YOU like it.
4.) Prepare 3 dipping bowls: 1-flour, remaining 1/4 tsp. salt & 1/4 tsp. pepper.
2-beaten eggs.
3-Panko & 1/3 cup of the parmesan.
Dip the eggplant in this order. Fry the dredged eggplant in the remaining oil until golden.
Lay each eggplant piece in the flour 'til the surface is covered with the flour, dip it quickly into the egg, & then press each side into the breadcrumbs. I ran out of the bread crumbs during this process, so I just mixed up a little more. This may happen in your process, depending on how you do each step, you may run out of one bowl or another. No prob., just mix up more.Heat the oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. As you dredge each piece of eggplant, lay it in the heated oil. By the time you do this with enough eggplant pieces to fill the bottom of the pan (one layer), the first piece you put in is golden & ready to be flipped. Just repeat this process until you've cooked all of the eggplant pieces.
5.) Spread 1/2 cup of sauce in a 9x13 cake pan, then 3 layers of: eggplant
sauce
fresh mozzarella
shredded mozzarella
Top with remaining 2/3 cup of parmesan & bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
At this point I go back to step 4 of the bread recipe above. This way, the bread & main dish are done at about the same time & you get to serve the bread all hot & melty.
Enjoy!
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