Learning to prepare eggplant, testing another recipe from Tori Avey

I have a very complicated relationship with eggplant. I started to eat very late in life and my first experience was a disastrous allergy. Since then, I cautiously tried to prepare it in several ways, without too much success. But I hardly give up, especially when it comes to prepare food, so I gave one more chance with a very tempting recipe by Tori Avey. 

I used a medium eggplant, sliced it and salted abundantly it with kosher salt. I also added some drops of lemon. Let it to rest on a paper. After 15 minutes, the drops of water were visible on the paper. I let it to rest for 20 minutes, in total, and rinsed the salt with cold water for 5 minutes.

I coated each slice in eggs white, previously beaten till it goes creamy. In a pan, I poured 1 tablespoon of walnut oil and waited a while till it gets hotter. The recommended temperature is 200C. I fried it on both sides, for around 6-7 minutes each. On some slices I spread some Cayenne pepper for more hotness. 

I followed the author's recommendation to do not have more than 4 slices of eggplant simultaneously in the pan, because it diminishes the overall temperature and it might take more time till it's getting ready, but after the first batch it went very fast anyway and in less than 20 minutes I was ready. 

And when it was ready, I could not stop eating it! I left some pieces for later and share a little bit in the house. Served cold is not that good and eggplant anyway should not be let too much to wait after preparation.

I made a little salad, with fresh tomatoes and rocket, plus fresh yoghurt, and it suited excellently the beginning of the summer mood. No allergy this time, perfect taste, low calories and not too much oil. Can't wait to seize a new occasion to test this recipe once again. 

Bon Appétit!

The wonderful Food of Morocco

After I had a look through Paula Wolfert's book on the Food of Morocco, I know why I am so in love with cookbooks: some are so well done that even though you do not know how to open your heater you will still be happy to read this book over and over again. 

Shortly, the book is about how to cook the Food of Morocco and for each recipe you have a step-by-step description of what you should do for a successful meal. But, as cooking is not only gulping the food from a plastic plate, you will have the perfect ambiance for understanding the culture of Moroccan cuisine. The design of the book is very elegant and the pictures presenting various parts of Morocco are more than a hasty lecture of a hungry person. Till the end of the book you will learn how to cook with style and distinction.

If you are curious to see a sample of what the book could offer, you can access the free sneak peak. Isn't it gorgeous? I promise that soon I will do the sweet couscous recipe!