I don't like my eggplant parmesan made in a casserole dish because I feel like it gets too soggy and the ratio of eggplant to cheese and sauce is unbalanced. So...I take this idea from my mother, and I slice an eggplant about 1/2 and inch thick, so that I get to work with individual circles. These circles then become almost like little individual pieces, which I then top with sauce and cheese.

1. Cut about a pound of eggplant into 1/2 inch discs
2. Coat with flour
3. Dredge in 1 beaten egg
3. Coat with Italian bread crumbs
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees on a cookie sheet for 20 minutes or until slightly brown
5. Top with marinara sauce and cheese (I used colby and parmiggiano reggiano because it's what I had)
6. Turn oven to 350 degrees and heat for another 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly

It's that easy, and so tasty. Very good as leftovers on bread the next day, too!

I had a night off from work and decided to invite an old friend of mine over for dinner. I was in the mood for some fish, so I got Tilapia filets. I was walking around the streets of NYC thinking about what to do with those filets. Tilapia is a plain tasting fish, so it's essential to add flavor to it. It's a great blank canvas. I started thinking about what I had in my fridge and cabinets and came up with breading the tilapia, pan frying it and adding warm salsa verde to it with a garnish of crumbled blue corn tortilla chips to add crunch and saltiness. I am wondering if I could next time bread it in corn tortilla chips?
Anyway, my friend and I really enjoyed the outcome. The flavors were great together and the salsa added a nice heat. For a thin filet of tilapia (<1 in. thick) heat oil in pan till hot, cook 3-4 minutes on one side and 1-2 minutes on the other side.
I added a nice side salad of romaine, persian cucumbers, carrots and artichoke hearts with a lemon olive oil vinaigrette I mixed.

Step 1. coat filets in a beaten egg


Step 2. Dredge fish in breadcrumbs


Final photo before being consumed:

'Tis the season of baking

Now that it is cold enough to start baking, I have decided to track some of my time in the kitchen and share the recipes. This is a butternut squash/pesto gratin that was perfect for Thanksgiving. All of my friends at the dinner loved it and wanted the recipe, so here it is with step-by-step photos to go along.
Ingredients
3-4 pounds of butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan (parmigiano reggiano for best taste. Expensive, but worth it)
1/4 cup purchased basil pesto (used Trader Joe's pesto genovese...less than a jar)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, plus more for greasing



Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Lightly butter an 8-inch baking dish and set aside. Fill a large pot with enough water to come 2 inches up the sides of the pot. Set a steamer rack in the pot, cover, and bring the water to a boil over high heat. Add the squash and steam over medium heat until the squash is very tender, about 20 minutes. Transfer the squash to a food processor (I mashed by hand, which meant more texture) and blend until smooth and creamy. Season the squash to taste with salt and pepper.


Spoon half of the squash evenly over the prepared baking dish. Dollop half of the pesto all over the squash in the dish. Sprinkle half of the cheese over the squash. Repeat layering with the remaining squash, pesto, and cheese. Using a skewer, swirl the pesto decoratively into the squash. Dot the top with butter and bake until the gratin is heated through and golden brown around the edges, about 40 minutes.

2 photos because it's just THAT beautiful


Today, I bought a pomegranate. Buying one pomegranate every winter, I believe, stems from my mother's ritual of doing so. Every time she'd pick up the dull looking fruit that held little treasures inside, she'd recount her memory of getting one around Christmas every year from her father (my grandpa) in her stocking. I've never tired of her forgetfulness in telling me countless times of her pomegranate winters with grandpa because I know the importance and meaningfulness of simple memories such as these.

Pomegranates are quite a process to open up but well worth the effort. They are a complex bundle of little rubys that swell with tart crimson juice and are great for eating as is, or in my home-made yogurt granola combo as seen above.

Warm bread pudding with vanilla bean sauce and raspberry coulis hit the spot on a cold night such as tonight. I usually don't get bread pudding, but they were out of pie (I'm a pie girl. I'm known not as a cookie, but as a "pie monster" at work. This ended up being tasty when I destroyed the pretty design and sopped up the sauce with it.

Little Cupcake Bakeshop is my new home. I am not a frequent customer, but, rather, I work here full time! What a great place to work! I am so lucky to have found it. Since it is a family run business hailing from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, I am feeling like it could really be a home away from home. I have now tried about half of everything. Considering we've been open on the corner of Mott and Prince for not quite 2 weeks, yet, I'd say that's pretty good...or pretty bad depending on how you see it. Not only do they have, in my opinion, the best cakes around, they also have delicious cheesecake, pie, cookies and a very popular banana pudding. One of my friends got to try some pudding that I took back to my apartment. He said he usually only takes one bite of it, but he took several of this kind from LCB and told me how it was the best he has ever had.
Additionally, a huge draw to working at LCB was their mission to be carbon neutral--one of the first bakeries of it's kind in NYC. I feel okay about handing out a cute bag because it has no environmental impact; it decomposes as a leaf falling from a tree would.
Customers are shocked when they walk inside to take a break from the bustling shopping and nightlife area surrounding the shop. The sweet aroma from the bakery in the back hits you, the warmth of the ovens cradle you, and the fact that there are about 20 different cakes amongst many other sweets to choose from makes your eyes grow wider by the second. You can stay for as long as you like, too. We wont kick you out. It'll be your neighborhood hangout. You'll feel like you've stepped into another time period when you walk inside--50s and 60smusic playing (or the occasional Pee Wee Soundtrack thanks to Massimo), and friendly girls wearing a lot of pink (and a couple sweet guys) describing the "Dreaming Princess" or "Blue Velvet" cake while hand icing cupcakes for all pedestrian's eyes to see and imaginations to travel. It's a sweet escape, you know, like the Gwen Stefani song. haha.
I'll have to take some better pictures (get out my actual camera and not my handy iPhone), but this is one from an evening outside looking in...at a red velvet cake, vanilla with chocolate buttercream cupcakes, and a brooklyn blackout cake.

There is some amazing food in the village, and I had always wanted to try the Belgian fries place that always has a line running out the door, Pomme Frites. What better person to try it with than my mom, who loves french fries. I've always been more of a mashed potatoes kind of girl. Call me a food snob, but, I really didn't think they were that amazing. I know they have tons of different sauces, which could be the appeal to the place, but we went with plain ketchup and some malt vinegar. I don't think they were that special. I've had better fries at Pop Burger. They put them in a cone and you can walk around the village with it like an ice cream. That's kind of cool, I suppose, but I'd rather be eating ice cream. Anyway, here is evidence that my mom and I tasted the fries at Pomme Frites.