Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Memorializing Memorial Day Weekend

Yesterday, I felt completely wretched all day so I want to offer my deepest apology to Sunny Anderson for my previous post. In all the times I've poked at tv personalities, I never imagined any of them would read it...and I was completely mortified. I just want to take this time to make it clear to anybody reading this blog that the tone is incredibly light hearted. I don't take myself too seriously and I damn sure don't hate anybody (except for one ex boyfriend, but that's a different story). Now, I feel a lot better saying that.

I hope everybody had an absolutely fantastic weekend! I know I did. Even though we didn't have a grill, it felt like a barbeque weekend. After we finished the leftovers from our Jamaican meal, we had some coconut rice to use up. So, I made an eggplant recipe that I saw on Grill It! last week. It's pretty amazing. I used one large American eggplant instead of the Japanese ones. I also salted my eggplant to take the bitterness out. This is not the best picture, but the flavor was on point and super simple. Note: if you don't want to make a garlic paste, I suggest grating the garlic on a microplane...which is what I did.
Grilled Eggplant with Garlic Sauce and Mint
BY BOBBY FLAY (recipe originally found here)

1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes
4 Asian eggplants, halved lengthwise
Vegetable oil
Chopped fresh mint or cilantro leaves

Directions
Make a paste by smashing the garlic with a little salt and add to a small bowl. Whisk in the vinegar, soy, sesame oil, and red chili flakes.

Heat grill to high. Brush eggplant with oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill until slightly charred and just cooked through. Slice each half into 1/2-inch slices and place on a platter. Drizzle with the vinegar mixture and sprinkle with mint or cilantro.

Yesterday I made a sorta combination of the jackfruit carnitas and Vcon's baja tempeh tacos. I used jackfruit but flavored it with beer, olive oil, ancho chili powder, onions, garlic, cumin, and salt. I cooked it in the oven on 375 for about an hour and a half, adding more beer as the liquid was absorbed. I also made some more of Eddie G's tortillas, Isa's spicy pinto sausages, and Ani Phyo's red pepper corn salsa (substituted orange pepper and salted to taste). Served everything up with plenty of fresh avocado and beer. It was delicious.

Aaaaand...now I'm back to the rawness. Made a large batch of Ani Phyo's raw donut holes (added cocoa to half and cinnamon to the others). I'll be enjoying some of those babies with some cinnamon Dunkin Donuts coffee thanks to Kmouse's post where she mentioned cardamom coffee. I also have some leftover salsa so I see a big salad in my future.

Anyway, I promise original recipes super soon. I'm working on a mango ginger lemonade recipe and some strawberry colada paletas for a project that might be coming. I should know within two weeks. I am stoked!

Happy Tuesday everybody.

6 comments:

Eddie G said...

Sweet--pretty cool she took notice, though :)

aTxVegn said...

How cool Sunny Anderson left you a comment. You are obviously a big fan of Food Network, so I hope she gets that too. I share your pet peeve, and I've actually had to turn off Emeril.

Your jackfruit tacos sound really good!

Sunny Anderson said...

awww girl, first i want to say apology accepted, but not needed. i actually am a person that doesn't mind 'hate' ... i get it, not everyone can love me or love what i do, etc. radio is worse, people call you at work and tell you they hate you ... all while they listen intently teeheehee. television is a bit different, people blog. well, because i do as well i like to keep up with my peers. i'm not above any of this and think it's really important to keep in touch with people so invested that they blog about food as well. so all i am doing is my best to be accessible because food is such an everyday thing, we can all chat about it as it changes and grows, discuss trends, etc. that's why i commented on your post ... so we could chat, or at least so you could know i'm sorry my accent sux! (i had to change them so much moving and then for radio, who knows where it sounds like i'm from) heck, i knew we had one thing in common and that was we liked the same food. :-) that's the part of communications i love, the dialogue. it isn't always gonna pan out in my favor, but i'm not here for the bad ... i try to find the good. which i did ... i was actually happy you still watched the show and used the recipes! if someone asks what i want most, it's just that. for people to have fun with the stuff i have fun with and share it with others. now that i know your sense of humor, i think i should check in more often ... cuz i like me some funny too ... btw, we actually have 2 things in common. i can't stand my ex either :-P

Monique a.k.a. Mo said...

Wow, Sunny, you are just about the coolest person ever! I don't know that I would have handled seeing that first post with as much grace as you.

Seriously...I have nothing but mad respect.

Also, I am familiar with the moving. I grew up on Randolph AFB. No worries. I caught your show yesterday and will continue to catch it!

And I figured out what you could do with the scraps left over from the cucumber juice: cucumber banana bread. It looks like zucchini bread but has a bit of a banana taste. The cucumber works well for that.

Sunny Anderson said...

well, i think i've just always been the new girl growing up because we moved around and then when entering radio, i just opened myself up to scrutiny early on. so, that makes me really easy peasy in my old age lol ... like, i've heard it all and totally don't think everyone needs to like me. nor do i think i'm perfect. I'm just happy because i'm working a dream like i always had. like i said, i just like that you are a foodie and you tried the recipes. your pics were nice too. and randolph? really!? that area of the city was so nice and quiet! i used to go there sometimes when i was stationed at kelly afb and liked the quiet drive. thanks for the cucumber tip. i've gotten so many, i should just try them all. some say flavor some vodka lol! they all sound good. thanks!

dreaminitvegan said...

I'm always looking for ways to cook eggplant. This looks very tasty.