Fresh off of an amazing dinner of poached cod from Mezcla, I needed a quick-fix dinner as a break from work. I turned to the very first recipe and decided to make this eggplant dish. I also prepared a salad and some bread to go with by its suggestion. The recipe looks quick, but I didn’t realized I’d have to blend my own sauce.

Notes: Roast that eggplant hot and near the top of your oven (I’d do 500F next time) as it’s difficult to get it browned in the allotted time (before they deflate into eggplant-shaped pancakes!) You may notice that my sauce is more orange than in the cookbook’s picture. This is because I blended on high speed which creates a very fine emulsion (I like that!) If you want a red sauce though, just be careful to blend on low-ish speed. Finally, note that I actually forgot to include the cream in the cheese mixture – I poured it over about a minute after the cheese had been in the oven. This attempt at a fix was largely ineffective as the cheese remained in gobs.

Gem and Herb Salad with Maple, Lime, and Sesame Dressing
I’m not the biggest salad fan, but I didn’t want to ignore Ixta’s suggestion to pair this dish with a salad. I chose the gem and herb salad because it looked easy (it is.) Not because it looked delicious or interesting (it’s not). Maybe go a bit heavier on the maple syrup in the dressing? With the pickled shallots, I was getting a lot of acid overall. I would also rip or cut up the lettuce leaves to make them smaller. I used mint and cilantro; wish I had gotten basil too.

Joe’s Rating: 6/5 (Eggplant/Salad)
Difficulty: 5/3