Today's recipe was made about a week and a half ago (oops). Too bad this semester is whooping my tail and I have no time for blogging (as if graduate school is supposed to be this much work)! Ugh as IF! If you've been displaced to the frozen tundra of central, PA or other northern states, your basil is probably starting to wilt and look a bit sad. Maybe it's depressed that you live in a frozen tundra and it's trying to send you a message: go back south. According to my comrade, EGG, the south has already risen again!
She obvi meant "What's" I think Erin still has a flip phone without autocorrect
So until I went home to my mommy the other week, I was working with an Osterizer Galaxie blender from around 1975. Like many of the appliances Andrew has given me (my mom gave me the blender though), it was probably one of the first of it's kind! I, like Tim Gunn, made it work though. I did work at the Planet Smoothie for 3+ years as a professional blendgineer after all. Anyway, I couldn't really use said blender to make pesto because... you know... it wasn't the bomb and I couldn't make it work (sorry, Tim Gunn). So what do I do with the end of my sad, dying basil plant? Invite Brittany and Austin over for dinner and make a Splendid Table inspired pasta dish! My mom made me the original splendid table dish for my 16th birthday and I fell in love with it.
The Osterizer Galaxie in all its glory
What you need:
Handfull + of basil
1 can of whole tomatoes
2tbsp of tomato paste
2 large shallots
1 clove of garlic
1 lb pastas that soak up sauce
1 Eggplant (how fall festive!)
1/2 cup gorgonzola
1/2 cup gorgonzola
Wine
olive oil
salt
pepper
crushed red pepper flakes
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and then go outside and collect the end of your sad basil plant
Poor little basil plant :( I'll miss you, summer herb!
Step 2: Kitchen prep: chop the garlic, shallots, basil, and eggplant. The eggplant should be cut into 1"x 1" cubes. Lauren told me that eggplants are very moist vegetables and can take over with their moistness. Moist. A way to combat that is, once you cut up the eggplant, put it in a colander in the sink and sprinkle salt on the eggplant. Once it's dried out, rinse the salt off and prepare it for the oven.
Step 3: Coat a cookie sheet in olive oil and put in eggplant, covered in salt, pepper, and olive oil. Throw it in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the top is browned. Also put the pot of water on to boil for the pastas.
Step 4: As the eggplant is roasting, begin to make your sauce. Put olive oil, salt, pepper, shallots, and garlic into a pan. Once it has started to brown, add the tomato paste. Top secret tomato paste tip!! My mama once said: once you opened a can of tomato paste, scoop the rest of the paste into tablespoon clumps and put them on wax paper in the freezer. Once they've hardened, put them in a plastic bag to store for later usage. Those moms.... ya know? I feel like only a mom would know that.
Step 5: Once your paste has properly integrated itself into your shallots and garlic, add the basil and get it all mixed up real good and stuff. Then add your wine. Usually about 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup will do. Really just try not to drink the whole bottle before you finish making the sauce. You need SOME of the wine and maybe you have some lying around that you don't plan to drink. Perhaps you put a bottle in the freezer to cool faster and forgot about it and went to bed.... Perhaps you made a winesicle in the freezer.... Anyway! Add the wine and reduce this delicious mixture into one beautiful piece of condensed marinara.
It start like dis....
...and reduce down to dis
Step 6: At this point, your eggplant should be done and your sauce is also almost done. Open a can of whoopass. Now open a can of tomatoes. I buy unsalted tomatoes but salted works too. Just trying to watch my figure :) Not really. I just prefer my own amounts of salt. Drain the juice from the tomatoes and crush them! This is a good time to get out any anger issues you might have. Take it out on the tomatoes.
TJ's has the best canned tomatoes, obvi
Step7: Add the crushed tomatoes and red pepper flakes (optional) to the reduced mixture and heat it all up.
For the record, you can stop here and can this marinara sauce. It's delish.
Step 8: Add the eggplant to the sauce. Once the pasta is done, drain it and fold the sauce into the pasta. You're welcome to stop here OR you can add about 1/2 cup gorgonzola to the pasta and either bake it for about 5 minutes or just let the heat melt the cheese into the dish. Either way it's supremely nomsy.
Presentation is everything! What a terrible picture.
Delicious Level: 5/5 Noms (om nom nom nom nom nom)
Difficulty Level: Easy Peasy.
Lesson Learned: Take a better picture of the final product. This one sucks.
Here's to eatin' good and eatin' local! Cheers and uff-da!
