Here is the eggplant recipe I mentioned in today’s LansingNext episode.  It is very easy to make, a lot of fun and feeds a few people (depending on how you slice the eggplant and what size it is).

Ingredients

• 1 good size eggplant (a large one will feed three people easily, if not four.  Check for damage first)
• 1 container of Italian style bread crumbs (these have the extra seasoning.  you can make your own with basic bread crumbs, just add oregano, dried garlic, etc).
• Extra virgin olive oil – you’ll need a lot, so get a good sized bottle. Darker the oil, the better. It’ll add a lot of flavor.
• 1 chunk of parmesan cheese (skip the powered container junk, get the real thing). Go to a place like Horrocks Cheese Room, where the price is based on weight and get only what you need (little goes a long way). Make sure you have a cheese grater.

Steps

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Slice eggplant into thin slices, the thinner the better as they’ll soak up more of the olive oil. You can do thick slices if you want. I keep the outer skin on.
• Salt eggplant and layer them in a colander, place colander in the sink with a heavy plate on top for 20 to 40 minutes. This draws out some of the bitter flavor of the eggplant. Use kosher salt if you have it.
• After eggplant sits, rinse and pat dry with paper towel.
• Pour a decent amount of olive oil in a large bowl (big enough that a eggplant slice fits into it). Season the olive oil if you want, I usually do with garlic (not too much) or oregano.
• Pour a decent amount of the bread crumbs onto a plate, next to the bowl of olive oil.
• Dip eggplant slices into olive oil, covering both sides, and then into the bread crumbs (again, both sides). Do that one at a time. NOTE: this is a bit messy, be prepared to have your hands covered in oil and bread crumbs.
• Layer slices (don’t stack) in either a baking dish or cookie sheet (cookie sheet makes them a bit crispier).  You may want to spray baking dish or cookie sheet with nonstick spray. Do this until you either run out of eggplant or think you have enough. If you run out of olive oil and/or bread crumbs, just pour out more.
• I season the slices before putting them in the oven with a little bit of extra oregano and the Outrageously Garlic seasoning by Two Sisters Gourmet (dried garlic, onions, etc).
• Bake for 20 minutes or so and keep an eye on it–especially if you have thin slices on a cookie sheet.
• Remove slices, put on a plate (careful! they are HOT), grate cheese over slices and serve right away! You can also cover them in pasta sauce (either buy pre-made or make your own). Simmer the sauce on the stove top while you are prepping and cooking the eggplant.

Extra Credit

• Pair with garlic bread and a nice red wine, pinot noir is my favorite (I don’t care if that is “right” or not ) and you got yourself an easy, tasty dinner that can feed quite a few people.
• Refrigerate leftovers for a tasty treat later–cold, breaded eggplant is yummy. They make a great sandwich (I’ll put cold pasta sauce on the sandwich too).

It interesting where the Internet leads us some times.

I saw a Twitter update by @gmcalpin (writer and artist of one of my favorite webcomics, Multiplex) about the metal band Mastodon allegedly scoring the upcoming film Jonah Hex (based on a comic). It lead to an article on Ain’t It Cool News (movie rumors and such).

I read the article and was amused, I enjoy Mastodon but realized I don’t own nearly enough of their music. I hopped over to YouTube and watched a few music videos and also listened to some other songs, sampling cuts from the albums Leviathan and Blood Mountain.

Realizing I still had an online gift certificate from my birthday, I decided to buy a Mastodon album (along with Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon on vinyl). But I couldn’t decide which to get–then a friend commented on my Facebook page that Crack the Skye was nothing short of amazing (a friend whose opinions I hold in high regard).

So, I ventured back to YouTube to listen to a few cuts from Crack the Skye and read a few online reviews. I quickly decided on ordering the album–and when it comes to bands like Mastodon, I really prefer having the original CD over .MP3s (because the music is complex and/or layered–things that can get lost when compressing music to .MP3s).

After clicking Finish My Order, I sat back and thought “What the heck just happened?” Over the span of maybe twenty minutes, I went from reading about Mastodon scoring an upcoming film to buying one of their albums, mainly on a whim.

It was an interesting string of events: I read the article, listened to songs online/watched videos, got a recommendation from a friend who lives in another city, read reviews and purchased an album. All without leaving my seat.

I guess this shows you can’t underestimate the advantages of people talking about your stuff on the Internet.

Also: My latest article for Lansing Capital Gains is now online.  It is about the Soup Spoon Cafe, a very tasty restaurant (good coffee too).

I have started making my own sushi lately. Now, I don’t make it with raw fish–and I don’t think I’ll ever be comfortable doing that (we’ll see though)–I just make veggie sushi. A friend recommended using smoked salmon, the stuff you find in vacuumed sealed packages in the supermarket (and aren’t refrigerated), which I might give a try in the near future.

This was inspired by a recipe for “Rice Triangles” in the cookbook that came with my Laptop Lunch bento box. I figured, “Hey, that’s just sushi without the fish, I’ll give it a try.” Well, the first few I made weren’t that pretty and were difficult (based on the directions in the recipe), so I said the heck with it and just started doing my own little sushi rolls. I laid the seaweed paper out, spread out the rice and started laying veggies on top. It took a few times to get the hang of it, but I’m glad I decided to experiment (which is what I like most about cooking, just trying whatever I want).

I had a lot of fun! I love cooking and this was certainly a new, fun way to cook. Plus it lets me make healthy stuff for my daily lunches I take to work. My veggie rolls are a neat way to eat some raw veggies, and they are fun to make.

I decided to make more today, so I headed off to the East Lansing Farmer’s Market and picked up a cucumber and a zucchini (and a pint of super yummy blue berries).

Came home, made the rice (making only half of what I had made last week, because it was way too much for just me), added the sushi vinegar (have a bottle of stuff ready to go I got at the store), and the sesame seeds. Then the fun began.

This one has carrot, spinach and zucchini. I think I seasoned it with cilantro, can’t remember (some were seasoned, some weren’t, like I said: I experiment).

I switched some things up with each batch, but they all had some mix of veggies.

This one was spinach, cucumber and zucchini. I also seasoned it with cilantro as well as Two Sisters Gourmet Outrageous Garlic seasoning (dried garlic, onion, etc).

I might pick up some soy meat/tofu to try out next time as well, so I can have some protein in there.

I’m happy with how these turned out. Still need to get the bamboo mat-rolling thing, but I will soon. And I’ll tell ya, they ain’t kidding when they call it ’sticky rice,’ it is a pain to get off my hands, but that’s part of the fun.

A couple Fridays back I attended Lansing’s downtown Chili Cook Off, but on by the Board of Water and Light (the local utility folks). This has been going on for some time but after living in Lansing for four years (wow), this was my first outing.

My only experience with chili cook offs is via the Simpsons episode Homer ingests a freakish chili pepper and has various hallucinations.

Needless to say, I had high hopes for this cook off.

Upon arriving (with a pair of friends in tow), I was thankful I had purchased my ticket in advance–not only did it save me $3, I got to go to the front of the entrance line instead of waiting for a spell, like my friends had to. This was where I first spotted the muffin trays that almost everyone seemed to have.

This sight intrigued me, as that was something totally unexpected (not unlike the Spanish Inquisition). I later found out what the tins were for–stacking multiple cups of chili at once so you could enjoy them at your leisure. A novel concept. I imagine too that you could probably have chili poured in the tray itself if you wanted, to save on waste…but I didn’t really see that happening.

While waiting for my friends to work their way through the line, I enjoyed a couple of chilies. They were quite tasty. After linking up with my pals, we surveyed the mass of people and decided to just pick a spot and start. We had all kinds of chili: cheesy chili, chili made with coffee and even chili made with chocolate.

One chili had a rather amusing name

After enjoying a bunch of chili (as well as a Melting Moments ice cream sandwich for myself), one of our party decided to ride the mechanical bull featured at the cook off.

This was free and it was a riot, watching people of all ages try to tame mechanical beast. Our friends did pretty well, but was eventually tossed.

The crowd was more than I expected and the dueling music stages seemed to take a bit of the focus away (as well as cut down on places to sit, etc), however I had a great time and I’m looking forward to next year.