The Crock Pot Chronicles: Eggplant “Ganoosh”

All good things go into the pot: end of summer veggies, garlic, shallot, olive oil, herbs and seasoning…six hours later, dinner is ready to go.

And so it begins. The season of the Crock Pot is finally here, and as I am not yet homeless (this is pretty exciting for me these days), I still have an outlet to plug my slow cooker into. It’s the litte things, really. I lovelovelove Crock Pot weather—it’s like a giant snugglefest for my heart! Blankies and sweaters and slow-cooked meals that melt in your mouth and cocoa in the tin, just waiting to be frothed into a hot chocolate frenzy…oh, happiness.

So, check back with me every week as long as I remain among the living-in-a-house-and-not-a-cardboard-box set for the next edition of The Crock Pot Chronicles (life as a looking-for-work freelancer can be sketchy, but I’m coping and hoping). I love cooking with the slow cooker because it coaxes every last ounce of flavor out of the ingredients and helps you stretch your pennies by doing a lot with a little. This week’s haul at the farmer’s market yielded end-of-summer tomatoes, baby eggplant, basil, shallots and garlic. I put ’em all together and call it Eggplant Ganoosh, because I like the sound of the word and I’m in a Lewis Carroll sort of a mood today. I will make at least three meals with it this week, tossed with rigatoni, with cheese ravioli and ladled over polenta. Here’s how you make it:

Eggplant Ganoosh

1 1/2 lbs tomatoes, quartered

1 lb eggplant, salted, drained, and rinsed*

2 shallots, diced

5 cloves garlic, quartered

1/2 cup basil, cut into a chiffonade

Dried oregano

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Sea salt

Freshly cracked black pepper

1. Place half of the tomatoes in the crock pot. Top with half of the eggplant.

2. Top with half the shallot, garlic and basil each, distributing evenly. Sprinkle with dried oregano. Drizzle the layer with olive oil and a little Balsamic vinegar (not too much, or the flavor will overpower everything else), and season with sea salt and black pepper. Repeat with a second layer in the same order, using the remaining ingredients.

3. Cook on low for 6-7 hours. Serve immediately or the next day—the dish gets better as it sits.

* Do NOT skip this step or the eggplant will be bitter. Drain with kosher salt for at least 30 minutes, and don’t forget to rinse off the salt before using the eggplant.

Hey Mambo, Pass The Pasta

Ravioli al Fromaggio with a meaty ragu.

Perhaps it’s the pure, unadulterated Sicilian blood that courses through my veins, but I have to say, if there’s one thing I love more than a rich spicy pasta dish, it’s a good old-fashioned mafia flick. Though it’s not the bullet-riddled exchanges between capos and made men or even the thought of my own personal Al Pacino that makes me happily settle in for a marathon viewing of The Godfather I and II (I pretend part III never happened). Rather, it’s the more human moments that I love—Vito Corleone crying over his murdered son (they shot Sunny on the causeway!) or Michael tenderly teaching his new young bride to drive and speak English.

That’s not to say I don’t silently relish seeing Moe Green get what’s coming to him, I certainly do. But I prefer the scenes where you see the teddy bear hiding inside the cold-blooded killer, and unsurprisingly, many of those scenes take place either in the kitchen or over a plate of something tasty.

Rigatoni with Pepperoni and Roasted Tomato Sauce

Of course, when it comes to pasta made the Omertà way, it’s all about the gravy. And as Clemenza teaches Michael, a good gravy is only as delicious as the sum of its parts—plenty of olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, red wine, sausage, meatballs and a pinch of sugar (Clemenza’s secret ingredient). My God, I heart that fat man. He knows from cooking. But what I have only discovered this summer is that you don’t need to slow-simmer your sauce for hours and hours. You just need a hot oven and plenty of garden-fresh tomatoes.

A good gravy starts with great tomatoes!

A friend (who happens to be Italian, from Long Island and possibly living under an assumed name) recently revealed to me one of the greatest saucy secrets ever. If you roast the tomatoes instead of essentially boiling them to bits, it coaxes the natural sweetness from the vine-ripened darlings while still leaving the oomph in the tomato itself. Now I love summer tomatoes more than Bill Compton loves Sookie, and I literally dream about new ways to cook and eat them when they’re in season. But the roasting method has truly opened up a new world to me, and I find myself driving past produce stands that aren’t on the way home just to get my juicy fix. The best part is, you can literally use any kind of tomatoes and once you’ve produced the sauce, you can toss in Italian sausage, olives, shrimp, crumbly feta, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, pepperoni, zucchini, ground beef—whatever boils your noodle really. I even use it as pizza sauce sometimes, or add roasted eggplant and white beans, then serve it over polenta or cheese grits.

Slow-roasted tomatoes and eggplant over cheesy, creamy polenta.

So, if you’re planning on going to mattresses, starting a war with the Barzinis, or just looking for an easy dinner idea, try my Roasted Tomato Sauce. You’re a’gonna love it. It will keep for up to a week or more in a lidded container, and even longer in a tightly sealed mason jar.

Roasted Tomato Sauce

Stacey’s Roasted Tomato Sauce

6-7 Medium to large tomatoes, washed and quartered

5-6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

2 shallots, minced

1/2 cup or more fresh basil, cut into a chiffonade

Olive Oil

Kosher salt

Balsamic Vinegar

Pinch Red pepper or a dash of Tabasco

1. Preheat oven to 300°. Place tomatoes on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

2. Evenly sprinkle garlic, shallot, and basil over tomatoes. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt.

3. Roast for 45 minutes or so, or until the edges of the tomatoes turn golden brown. Remove from oven and, using a fork, quickly remove and discard skins (they will peel off easily while the tomatoes are still hot from the oven).

4. Place roasted mixture in a large bowl and mash with a potato masher or ricer. Add a splash of Balsamic vinegar and a pinch of red pepper or a dash of Tabasco. Refrigerate until ready for use or toss with hot pasta.