Roasted Eggplant, Tomato, Chicken, and Smoked Mozzarella Stack

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As I've said recently, Mr CC and I have been trying to be more mindful of what we buy that may sit in the fridge and turn to mush if not used in a timely manner, and to use up what we purchase before buying more. This has turned out to be very successful, in several ways: I get to stretch my mind a bit figuring out how to turn produce into dinner, we don't shop as much (which is a good thing as we have to get into a car every time we go shopping - rural living and all that), and the grocery bill has gone down a bit.

This open-face sandwich is a good example of using up what we had at hand: farmers market eggplant and tomatoes, local walnut bread, leftover chicken from a rotisserie dinner. The only thing I purchased to round out the recipe was the cheese. We paired it with a simple salad of mixed greens drizzled with a hearty vinaigrette and sighed in total satisfaction.

Roasted Eggplant, Tomato, Chicken, and Smoked Mozzarella Stack
Christine's original recipe
Ingredients:
6 slices good whole wheat walnut bread, I use our local Brio, which is my favorite
Gulden's Spicy Brown Mustard
1/2 pound (about) smoked mozzarella cheese, sliced (I used Rumiano)
3 small to medium eggplants, sliced lengthwise, 1/2" thick, roasted
3 medium organically grown, ripe, red tomatoes, sliced crosswise (heirlooms would be great)
thinly sliced chicken breast from a rotisseried chicken
4-5 basil leaves, thinly sliced crosswise
walnut oil

Preparation:
Place the eggplant slices on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with olive oil. Spray more olive oil over the slices and sprinkle with a bit of kosher salt.
Roast in a 375 oven for about 15 minutes, flipping them over halfway in the baking. Set aside.
In the same oven, place the walnut bread slices directly on an oven rack and toast for about 5 minutes.
Have your assembly ingredients ready on a work surface.
Beginning with the toasted bread on the bottom (duh), spread each slice with mustard, add a slice of the cheese, a slice of eggplant, more cheese, several slices of tomato followed by a few slices of chicken, more cheese, a bit of the basil, then top it all off with a drizzle of roasted walnut oil.

Assemble the rest of the sandwiches and place them on a baking sheet.

Place in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until the cheese melts deliciously over and through the sandwich.

Eat with a knife and fork, or serve with lots of napkins and use your fingers. It's finger-licking good no matter how you eat it.

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Pear, Walnut & Gorgonzola Panini

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I don't often write about restaurants or other eating establishments I've been to, mostly because that's not what this blog is about and, secondly, because I'm not very good at it. Today, however, I'm making an exception because this panini and its maker deserve recognition.

A more accurate title for this post would be Melissa's "Out on a Limb" Panini. This beautiful and tasty sandwich was made especially for us at our local village coffee house, The Beachcomber Cafe; the village being Trinidad, population 354, located on the far north coast of California, where the redwoods meet the Pacific Ocean.

ith a gulp, "I'm going out on a limb!", she agreed and made us one of the best tasting paninis I've had this side of the Atlantic.

When Clay and I went into town to vote last Tuesday, we decided to stop at the Beachcomber to see what was being offered for lunch. Co-owner Melissa Zarp, her lovely face just visible to clientele from her food prep station in the back of the small kitchen, told us she was working on a special panini that wasn't yet on the menu. After hearing the list of ingredients she was thinking of sandwiching between slices of our favorite local artisan focaccia, we both volunteered on the spot to be her guinea pigs. Saying, w

First came the focaccia. Made fresh daily by local artisan bread company, Brio, it's an herb-y, yeasty, soft flat bread that Melissa cut into sandwich-sized pieces then sliced in half horizontally. Gorgonzola, bosc pear slices, chopped walnuts, finely minced red onion, a bit of mozzarella cheese and beet greens made up the filling in this sandwich, which was then toasted in a panini press. The result was heavenly. Melissa added turkey to mine which I thought was outstanding. The only thing I might suggest would be to use arugula instead of beet greens. To my mind, gorgonzola, pears and walnuts cry out for arugula. Still, this panini is a winner - beet greens and all!

Soup is made fresh daily and a wide selection of paninis are always on the menu. Hopefully, Melissa's "Out on a Limb" creation will soon follow.

Beachcomber Cafe co-owner Melissa Zarp, left, with staff person Sarah

The Beachcomber Cafe is an all-organic coffee house, located at 363 Trinity Street, across from the Trinidad School. The wide selection of organic coffees and teas, as well as the always smiling faces of the staff, make this a favorite gathering place for locals. The shelves of the glass display case, filled with delicious, locally made scones, muffins, cookies and cakes, are often bare by closing time, prompting customers to come in early to get their favorite picks.

Back to Beach Night: A Leftovers Dinner with Friends

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Last Wednesday we had our first Beach Night of the season - actually on the beach. Although we were few in numbers, it made the outing that much sweeter - enjoying our friends Annie and Bruce as we do, having them all to ourselves for an evening on the beach was delightful.

And in the spirit of dinner on the beach, our food fare was simple and portable. Although I did make MOJITOS! which were fully appreciated and readily dispatched. I adapted the recipe from Epicurious.com and will share it with you here, as soon as I make another batch and photograph it.
Taking George Stella's recipe for deviled eggs to a higher level, I added smoked trout, fried capers, and the sauce from canned chipotles in adobo. WOW! Please do try this recipe. I think it's a winner. Plus, deviled eggs are very easy to make: hard boil the eggs the evening before, assemble them in the morning and take them out of the fridge for dinner.

And, Kalyn, I made coleslaw using your wonderful buttermilk-mayonnaise dressing. It was fantastic. I added wasabi, as was suggested by Anna at Cookie Madness, which was a terrific touch. I also added toasted pecans just before serving which added another dimension of crunch. And if I'd had them on hand, I would have added a small bag of frozen pettit peas into the mix, giving them enough time to thaw before serving. That's for another time.








Using leftovers from the night before to which I added some grilled corn cut from the cob, we wrapped them in a foil packet and heated it in the fire, then placed the mixture onto a hot, locally produced Brio roll and bit into a blissfully juicy, tasty, hot sandwich that was perfect for a rather cold and foggy evening.

Was it a perfect Beach Night? Well, we could have had a spectacular sunset and I'm sure there was one, somewhere. And the rest of the gang could have been there, but they'll be back. All in all it was a lovely evening, to which the photos attest.
Good night!