Yummy Lowfat Eggplant Lasagna

In addition to growing tomatoes in the summer, Paul insists on planting eggplant. He loves it and his favorite dish is a panang curry dish that I concocted. As much as I love coconut milk, I can’t justify making it too often for obvious fatty reasons. However, I was inspired by Hungry Girl’s eggplant lasagna recipe. I’m not a fan, exactly, as I don’t use fat free cheese or fake food items of that ilk (except I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter spray), but she did give me an idea to run with. So this morning I picked our Asian eggplants (the globes aren’t producing yet) and made a delicious, low-fat, rich-tasting eggplant lasagna. I may be on Weight Watchers, but I insist on eating really good food.

If you have read my recipes before you may have noticed I cook a little loosey goosey. A recipe is a guideline and I often change ingredients a little bit, based on my mood and what’s in my pantry. The only time you need to goose-step is when you are making pastries. I use lite provolone here for the rich flavor but if you must have mozzarella, by all means do. This time I’m using Trader Joe’s Turkey Bolognese, which is delicious, but you can use your favorite bottled meat sauce or make your own (I often make my own). This recipe serves 4-ish in my house as we are light eaters, but realistically it will serve 2, maybe 3. You can easily double or triple the recipe.

Eggplant Lasagna

½ tsp oil
1 lb eggplant, sliced ½ inch thick
12 oz package Trader Joe’s Turkey Bolognese
4 oz sliced reduced fat provolone cheese
1 oz grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350°. Brush oil in a baking dish about 9 1/2x8” and set aside. Using a silpat or parchment paper in a half sheet pan, brush on a little oil. Bake eggplant until tender, about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, gently heat the turkey bolognese in a covered saucepan until it has thawed and is hot. Place a layer of eggplant in the baking dish and cover with half the sauce and provolone. Add another layer and top with grated Parmesan. Bake for 20 minutes or more until cheese is melted and bubbly. Lowfat cheese doesn’t brown as well as full fat, so don’t look for it.

Really delicious!

A Few of My Favorite Spots on the Oregon Coast

Paul and I decided to travel up the Oregon Coast to celebrate our 25^th anniversary. We hadn’t made that trip in a few years and we were excited. The route taken was highway 12, working our way to Petaluma, birthplace of Snoopy. There is an Italian restaurant in Petluma, Giacomo’s, which Paul loves, so we decided to have dinner there. But first, since it was a little early we decided to cruise downtown Petaluma, where we made a fab discovery: The Seed Bank! We just had to go in, and we found an old bank building stocked with heirloom seeds. Paul is going to plant a winter garden this fall and he bought lettuce as well as root vegetable seeds. I found an Italian pepper I’d never heard of; in fact I tried planting 6 seeds when we got home. I couldn’t resist! I highly recommend going in The Seed Bank if you are in the area and are interested in Non-GMO, better tasting produce. They also have a website: www.rareseeds.com.

On to Giacomo’s: Paul had been swearing that their chicken saltimbocca (pounded breast with cheese and prosciutto) was incredible so we decided to split a dinner. (We split dinners frequently; it saves calories as well as money. The trick is reaching an agreement.) So, the upshot was, the whole dinner was delish, the salad, the bread, the saltimbocca. I can’t speak to the rest of the menu, but in general I have to recommend it. Giacomo’s is right on the road entering Petaluma, just google it!

The next day we jetted on up to Eureka, with a few side trips. There are many small towns up the 101 corridor, and it’s kind of a shame that so many have been bypassed, though 101 frequently stops being a freeway and worms through towns like Willits and Crescent City. There is a historic downtown area in Eureka that is full of shops and cafes and it just so happened that the monthly art walk was happening that Saturday night! The shops were open and bands were playing everywhere; our favorite was Funk Pilot, playing an R&B mix, and funking very well at that. There are lots of good looking restaurants in Eureka; we went back to the Sea Grill, one of those old establishments that serve good food and plenty of it, so we split our clam dinner. They were very generous and gave us extra clams. Despite sharing we were pretty full when we left. Someday we must try the Ethiopian restaurant on the main drag. I promise.

On the way into Eureka we stopped in Ferndale, an historic town loaded with Victorian buildings. One of my favorite stops was the Blacksmith Shop. They had forged knives made from recycled, high-carbon Swedish saw steel (I suspect from the sawmills of Humboldt County). I was salivating over those knives, but there were so big I wasn’t sure they fit in my knife block. I have since learned that high-carbon steel rusts unless you immediately clean and dry your knife. Whoops, better not!

The first town across the Oregon border on 101 is Brookings. We absolutely have to stay at the Best Western Motel in the harbor. Brookings is up on the cliffs, the harbor is down below. The motel is on the beach and every room looks out over the beach. Absolute heaven.

We were told about a new restaurant in town, Superfly Distillery. The biz started out as a boutique vodka distillery (distilled three times) and a small restaurant followed. I must confess I had two cocktails, both made with fresh fruit; a watermelon as well as a kiwi martini. Both were delicious, and the vodka was very clean tasting. I didn’t feel a thing the next day. Yippee! The food offerings are small plates, nothing over $10. We shared a dish of mussels in broth. I wish they had grilled the bread and I told them so, but the mussels were very good. The wedge salad was amazing with lots of blue cheese and bacon. Please go there if you miraculously end up in Brookings.

On up the coast is Bandon. They used to make cheese there but that’s all gone now. We did have a nice little lunch at the Port O’ Call in the historic downtown area, but the surprise was Coastal Mist. This place had really gorgeous chocolate truffles and drinking chocolate. We tried a couple of delicious truffles, comparable to the ones you would find at Recchiutti Confections in the Ferry Building in San Francisco. In other words, pretty bitchen! They also sold big hunks of Callebaut, a high end Belgian chocolate, but I passed.

I was really looking forward to having a bite at The Blue Hen in Florence. They had great fried chicken, wonderful omelets for breakfast. Everything about that place was blue, with chickens. I was disappointed to learn that it was closed!!! Years ago!!! So we motored into historic Florence and had a great lunch at ICM, right by the water. At this point I am still trying to do minimal damage to myself and had a bowl of delicious clams for lunch. Really great food, Paul had really good clam chowder – yes I tasted it! There were, count’em, two kitchen stores, had to hit both. I needed a new garlic slicer and found a really nice one. Mission accomplished.

After spending the night in Coos Bay, with unremarkable food, we motored on to Tillamook. Actually, I must mention that an Italian place was highly recommended, which I wanted to try, but there was also a German place, the Blue Heron, and I compromised with Paul, who wanted schnitzel or some such thing. At the risk of slandering a whole cuisine, German cooking is so bland I really don’t care to eat it again. Paul did allow that this was subpar cooking, but I am not mollified. If you have resources for tasty German cooking I trust you will let me know.

So, on to Tillamook, a small farm town, with again, unremarkable restaurants, but the attraction is the Tillamook Cheese Factory, which is way cool. We took the self guided tour – absolutely fascinated by the worker bees packaging the cheese down below. I kept filming clips of the machines whirling around. We tasted cheese – why can’t we get Habanero Jack here? It’s heavenly. I had a bite of Paul’s chocolate ice cream - addictive. Why didn’t I know there was Tillamook ice cream?

After a great morning at the cheese factory and a visit to the Blue Heron Cheese place we decided to make our way to Portland. Did I mention that western Oregon is unrelentingly beautiful? It’s so green it’s like being in the land of Oz. So we blissfully drove on to Portland, stopping in Beaverton for lunch. Beaverton appears to be bustling and is probably a nice city to live in. We had delicious soup and sandwiches at Fresh Thyme. That is one popular place and we really enjoyed ourselves. I particularly enjoyed the sight of the tall white guy with braided dreads down to his calves. I wish I had thought to snap a picture.

We fooled around in Portland a bit and when I used my GPS to get us back to Interstate 5 and therefore our hotel, it meandered us through the historic Mississippi district, which reminded me of a combo of midtown Sacramento and a clean, non druggy Berkeley. We swore we would come back the next day for further exploration the next day, which we did.

But first, tapas at Toro Bravo for our anniversary dinner! Our foodie neighbor suggested it and since we love small plates we went for it. They don’t take reservations for small parties so it’s a good thing we got there by 6. We got to sit at the bar in front of the kitchen and watch the cooks work their magic. We had fried anchovies with aioli (a first for me) – delicious! Don’t forget to dip those little fishies in the flavorfulness that is aioli. We also had grilled asparagus with fried jamon and other delights, sauteed spinach with pine nuts and golden raisins and grilled flat bread with black truffle cheese and arugula. They treated us to salt cod fritters with aioli. It was all wonderful; oh did I mentioned the delicious cocktails – don’t remember what was in them except they had Tangueray gin in them and I felt perfectly fine the next day. (Notice a pattern here? I don’t drink cheap alcohol because I don’t like feeling like hell the next day. Plus I don’t drink often so when I do I want the good stuff. I don’t normally drink gin, but I’ve been told Bombay Sapphire is amazing so I will have to try it one day.) I got to watch my churros being freshly fried and man were they good, dipped in chocolate sauce. What a wonderful dinner. If you go to Portland – do not pass go, do not collect any moola, go directly to Toro Bravo. When we left at about 7:30 there was a crowd outside waiting to get seated, and sipping cocktails. So go early, unless you want to stand outside and sip cocktails, possibly in the rain.

The next morning we headed back to the Mississippi District, looking for a great breakfast. I had found Muddy’s online so we headed there. I found out Muddy was the owner’s dog, and that he went along on a trip to see the Pope back in 1983, so I figure Muddy is no longer with this. However, is spirit is in evidence – just look at the entrance. Muddy’s is in an old Victorian house and definitely has a homey feel. I had a flavorful bagel and lox and was in heaven with all the capers and onions and the toastiness of the bagel. Yum. Paul went traditional and was happy too. Go to Muddy’s.

We walked up and down Mississippi and found Pistils, a nursery with its own chicken run. I was lured in by the sound of clucking and cackling. Evidently at certain times they have the run of the place, after plants are placed out of reach of their busy beaks and claws. Our favorite spot was The Meadow, a small shop that sells finishing salts and and at least 30 kinds of bitters. I had heard of Angostura bitters and knew they were used in some cocktails, but I didn’t know they were used for cooking too. So we bought the Angostura bitters, which smell citrusy and spicy, and some lemon infused finishing salt and called it good.

One more place to try for breakfast is Zells, where we stopped before leaving Portland. It was popular and good and in an old part of town, just google it. Thanks goodness for google! We did have to start heading south and didn’t have time to meander as before so we had decided to head down Interstate 5 to Ashland, with visits to towns along the way. Ashland is the last town before the California border, and is home to the Shakespeare Festival. It’s a pretty town, high in the hills by the freeway, and has a really pretty downtown. Be sure to walk through Lithia Park, and if you dare, taste the Lithia water. It is full of dissolved minerals like sulphur and it tastes god-awful. I didn’t drink it this time, all those times tasting it as a kid was plenty! Parking is challenging, but it’s worth the effort to go. There are fun shops and lots of restaurants to try. Thai Pepper was good and I would eat there again.

We had to jet on down I5 to get home after two nights in Ashland. I really didn’t want to go home, but that’s how you feel after a great trip. Let me know if you go!

Monterey, Our Way

Paul and I finally got a weekend off together and decided to go to Monterey, a coastal town famous for Cannery Row, the Aquarium and Pebble Beach. It was also a Spanish settlement many years ago and it still shows. But I digress; Paul is always grousing that we’ve seen everything around here (possibly true) and we need to move away (well, not so fast – where to?) But it’s fairly close and it had been a while and I wanted to see the new jellyfish exhibit at the aquarium, so we headed there.

When we checked in to our hotel I grabbed a Dining Guide and headed for the Mediterranean section. We went for Estéban, which sounded suspiciously Spanish but por qué no? It’s attached to the Casa Munras Hotel, on Munras, and the whole property is really pretty. I was going to book us there, but some rapscallion had snagged the last room a few minutes earlier.

So it turns out Estéban is a Spanish tapas place. When we arrived the servers looked overrun – I think they were short handed. But a managerish looking person finally seated us and a man in a chef’s coat took our order. I suspected he was the executive chef, and I was right. We tried three wonderfully flavorful small plates, starting with papas bravas, thick fries coated in a smoky powder and served with aioli (presumably housemade mayo). I asked the chef about the powder as I have used pimentón de la vera, available as “sweet” or hot smoked paprika, and knew that wasn’t what I was tasting. Turns out it was pimentón de espelette, which I had heard of but never used. It is straight smoky and deliciously different. He mixes that with paprika, cayenne and salt. I might try making it sometime.

May I also suggest the clam dish, in a savory broth with beans and tomatoes and whole garlic. I asked for bread to soak up the juices that I refused to leave behind. Paul had the seafood stew which he really enjoyed, although he allowed that the clam broth was more flavorful. The only thing I complained about was the pita (they were having supplier problems) which was served instead of bread, with hummus (yum), oil and balsamic, and olive tapenade (double yum).

Right across the street from Estéban is Wild Plum, a café that Paul reminded me I really liked once upon a time. I didn’t remember it at all but agreed to go there for breakfast the next morning. We both had 2 eggs with toast and potatoes and shared a side of sausage. The flavors were all great but the potatoes were soft with no crispiness, which I didn’t care for. I would recommend trying it anyway, as there aren’t many breakfast choices in downtown Monterey if you want protein. Grandma’s Kitchen got savaged in Yelp for being filthy, and it did look dumpy from the street. So the following morning we ate at Denny’s, which serves a good breakfast with no unpleasant surprises.

One last recommendation I have for you is Epsilon, a Greek restaurant on Tyler St. It is really cute inside, the staff is warm and welcoming; our server was great. We ordered the saganaki, or flaming cheese appetizer, which was delicious. Burning booze makes the cheese flame; it is served with a flaming flourish and french bread. I would have preferred pita bread, but no deal. Paul and I shared a huge Greek salad with gyros. The meat was well seasoned and there was plenty of feta cheese, which is unusual. We couldn’t. quite. finish. it. I highly recommend you try it. As our dinner progressed it became a busy place, always a good sign. As our flaming cheese was being lit I whipped out my camcorder. Here’s the cheese, unedited and delicious. If you want to see the movie and you get this in your email box, you must click on the article title to go to my blog.

 

I wanted a nice glass of wine, so our last stop was Wine from the Heart, on Alvarado St. It’s a fun wine bar, which also has comfortable chairs to linger in. There are some nice wines, including vintages by Orin Swift, one of my new favorite wineries. I was going to buy a bottle of Saldo, a zinfandel, and get a glass too. Somehow Johnny, our jovial and slightly toasted wine guy convinced us to buy 2 bottles and share part of it with other tasters. He did give us a discount and it worked out fine. Go in for the entertainment value as well as the wine. Heck, just go to Monterey and relax with a glass of wine and some jellyfish.