eggplant parmesan

[solarbird]

Last weekend after my stage gig in Magnolia, I received a lot - by which I mean damn - of produce from people at the market, and I've been trying to get through all of it before it goes bad. This has involved new foods! Today's was eggplant parmesan, made with this recipe. I made one mistake in that apparently the intent was that I should cut the eggplants transversely (resulting in medallion-shaped slices) rather than longitudinally and latitudinally (resulting in french-fry-shaped slices).

Anyway, it took forever - the recipe says and hour and a half, it took me a little longer because I've never made it before - and it came out well, if a bit saltier than I expected. Everybody liked it. If I make it again, it'll definitely be without the salt. Hopefully that won't explode anything.

Oh, talking of, tereshkova2001 gave me a recipe that includes making your own pesto, but it has pine nuts and I hate nuts of all kinds, so I was thinking sunflower seeds instead. They have similar texture, have oil like nuts, and I don't hate them. Is this crazytalk or viable?

Comments

[blues-kun.livejournal.com]

I have heard of sunflower seed pesto. Also, corn nuts, what. I use pine nuts for my pesto, but they're kind of pricey.

[solarbird]

Maybe it was pine nuts? I forget. It was a nut which means I don't eat it. (Except cashews. I like cashews. I think those are actually nuts.)

[avram]

Corn nuts aren't any kind of nut; they're deep-fried corn kernels.

[solarbird]

It was pine nuts, I checked.

[blues-kun.livejournal.com]

Cashews are fruits I believe.

Fucking delicious fruits, at that.

[solarbird]

...no way.

Wikipedia says the cashew is the single seed inside the fruit of the cashew tree. So it's a seed and not a nut. For whatever Wikipedia's worth.

[avram]

Cashews are commonly believed to be fish, but are actually aquatic mammals that have to surface to breathe air.

The peanut is neither a pea, nor a nut, nor holy, nor Roman, nor an empire, nor federal, nor a reserve.

While the tomato is considered a fruit from a botanical point of view, a court decision declared them "nonhuman creatures" for the purpose of toy import duties.

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

Ha ha ha ha ha (I love any and all reference to the glorious capyabara!)

[blues-kun.livejournal.com]

And that's what I get for learning something from television.

[solarbird]

I just needed to use this icon.

[zeightyfiv.livejournal.com]

Hm. You've tried pine nuts and hate them? To me, at least, they're not very reminiscent of "ordinary" tree nuts, indeed, more like sunflower seeds!

[solarbird]

Yes. I don't really like sunflower seeds, but they're okay. And I love everything else that goes into pesto, so I want a pesto I can like.

[kathrynt.livejournal.com]

just fwiw, most commercial pesto has pine nuts in it, so if you like pesto. . .

[solarbird]

I know; I don't, in fact, like the commercial pestos I've tried. But I like everything that's in pesto except the nuts (be they pine or walnut, as per the usual pesto I buy), so I'm pretty sure that if I swap out the pine nuts, I'll like the result.

[gerimaple.livejournal.com]

I have used pumpkin seeds to make a vegan, dairy-free pesto several times. Always gets rave reviews, even from the "ominvorous-with-no-food-allergies" crowd, though personally I prefer the pine nuts.

[solarbird]

Mmm. I like pumpkin seeds, when toasted. I didn't think they'd have enough oil to substitute for nuts, but if they do, that would be epic. Should I toast them first?

[gerimaple.livejournal.com]

I get them from the bulk bins at the store, and just use them straight from the bag. I suppose toasted might work, though i wonder if they will still get creamy enough (to provide the correct cheese-free mouth feel) if they're toasted.

Here's a link (http://norwitz.net/blog/2008/05/13/vegan-pesto/#more-312) to my friend Cyndi's vegan pesto recipe - the one I use.

ETA re: produce overstock - a goodly amount of stuff can be blanched and frozen for use in the winter when fresh stuff costs an arm & leg due to being imported from halfway 'round the planet.

[solarbird]

Thanks ^_^

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

If you don't salt the eggplant it will be really bitter. I used to always think that you had to prepare eggplant over night to remove the bitterness, but my housemate has been making stuff that she prepares at the time and that's turned out good.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

yum, i love love eggplants.

do you remember i used to make mini eggplant rounds broiled with a bit of cheese and a basil leaf or other veggie/spice bit on each? probably not :)

i'd try the sunflower seeds for pesto, why not?

[adammaker.livejournal.com]

A tablespoon of coconut oil (instead of pine nuts) makes for an amazing flavor, somewhere between pesto and curry.

[solarbird]

...huh. I don't like coconut. Does it taste like coconut?

[adammaker.livejournal.com]

Heh. Most coconut tastes like dried albino spiders* to me, the extra virgin coconut oil has all the yummy that the rest was missing.

*No, I have not verified this.

[rosepurr.livejournal.com]

When I was broke, I made my pesto without pine nuts because they're damn expensive. I had to play with the other ingredients to get the texture right, but it always turned out pretty good. I just added more herbs and cheese and less oil.

[discogravy.livejournal.com]

this is what i was going to suggest. i often leave pine nuts out (because i forget but there's also http://pinchmysalt.com/2009/05/02/pine-nuts-left-a-bitter-taste-in-my-mouth/)

[sarakate.livejournal.com]

How do you feel about almonds, just blanched and not tarted up with anything? They've really got very little flavor at all -- I use ground almonds to make totally flourless muffins, and they basically are strictly structural and don't impart any significant taste -- so maybe they would serve the structural/mouth-feel need without giving a taste you'd dislike.