Even though eggplant makes its seasonal appearance in the summer, there’s something inherently hearty about its nature that compels me to cook with it in winter. The kinds of dishes where it plays the starring role—-think eggplant parmesan, moussaka, even stewy ratatouille—-are really suited for cold weather times.

So are these roulades. Filled with creamy spinach-flecked ricotta and baked with a lush slather of red sauce, they make a fancy-pants casserole that you’d be pleased to serve on a chilly wet night.

At first blush, you’d think they might be testy to make, but they really are not. The trick is to slice the ‘plant long and thin. (even easier, if you have a mandoline at your disposal, which I do not!)

After the slices are gently roasted and cooled, they become quite flexible, rather cooperative. In the time it would take to boil some tubes of manicotti, your eggplant slices would be roasted and ready to roll.

The slices are also very forgiving. Uniformity doesn’t count, thank goodness for that. So, don’t fret about odd oblong pieces, or breaks in the slice. It doesn’t matter! Just place a nice spoonful of ricotta at one end and roll it up.

Once in place, I like to spoon the red sauce over and across the roulade centers, leaving the ends exposed, for contrast. Keep your remaining sauce warm–on stand by on the stove, for an extra embellishment when you serve. Or, add it to a side dish of pasta. I cooked up some pipette, and tossed it with a little red sauce and cream.

This is one of my departures from eating seasonally, I know. It’s not always easy to be a good locavore…especially in January! Nevertheless, the roulades really satisfy this time of year, and provide a good meatless alternative anytime.

Eggplant Roulades
1 large Eggplant
Olive Oil
Salt
1 lb. part-skim Ricotta (these days it comes in a 15 oz. container-which works just fine)
½ cup grated Parmesan
¼ t.Granulated Garlic
¼ t. Salt
¼ t. Black Pepper
1 Egg
a handful (about 2 oz.) fresh Spinach leaves
½ cup shredded Mozzarella

1 cup your favorite Marinara Sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash and dry eggplant and slice lengthwise into ¼” thick slabs—from one large eggplant, you may get 12 long slices.
Brush each slice on both sides with olive oil and lay onto a baking sheet pan. Sprinkle lightly with salt and place in the oven to roast for about 5 minutes. Slices will look somewhat translucent. Remove and allow to cool. They will be very flexible.

In a food processor fitted with a swivel blade, place ricotta, parmesan, garlic, salt, pepper, and egg. Process until smooth. Toss in spinach leaves and pulse until the spinach is coarsely chopped throughout the mixture, however not pureed. Scrape into a bowl and fold in shredded mozzarella.

Place a generous spoonful at the end of each cooled eggplant slice and roll up. Place into casserole dish. After all slices have been rolled and set in place, spoon your marinara sauce over the center of each roulade. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Makes 12 roulades, serving 4-6.

Tick Tick Tick Tick… Counting down to Christmas and Year End…..
Time has accelerated, don’t you think? It always does, this time of year. There’s an energy, positively frenetic, that builds on itself, days spinning out ad delirium as we dart and dash about wrapping up loose ends, wrapping up presents,

wrapping up brie.

What, No Brie Wrapping, you say? And, why not?

It’s so very festive, and much more fun than trying to fit shiny paper in tidy corners around a big box, and tape without tearing, and not misplace the scissors under the mounds of wadded gift wrap, tissue paper, bows, ribbons, and the odd pieces of plastic holly that surround you on the floor. Promise.

Step away from all the trappings of gift wrapping. Consider stashing that book/scarf/bracelet/salad bowl/teddy bear into a shiny bag and mosey on into the kitchen.

Simple elements are involved: a round of brie, a package of puff pastry, some chutney. Any chutney will do, really.
My Of-The-Moment one is Apricot-Cranberry.

Oh, and a sharp knife, and a little confidence in your creativity. You can do this. Free-form works. Abstract works. Childlike wonder works.

(In the days when we were both impoverished hippie artists doing bits of catering-for-cash , my friend Teresa, now a food stylist, and I, now a recovered caterer, decided that bad fine art often made respectable food art. There’s a world of possibilities…)

Meanwhile, here’s a presentation that everyone will tear into—oh melty cheese and chutney—you’ll find yourself surrounded by love and gratitude. And no rumpled gift wrap.

Promise.

Cut the brie across the center

Spread a generous layer of chutney onto the brie

The big brie burger…..

Cutting the corners at an angle will give you pieces to wrap around the middle. The main idea is to secure the brie in the pastry, giving yourself a nice canvas for your design. I made a wreath, but you could make a sunburst, snowflakes, trees, ornaments, leaves, anything you fancy. Work with pastry that is cold; it cuts better. As it warms, it stretches more readily, and can be twisted, or rolled into balls. You can move the pastry in and out of the refrigerator as you work. It is very forgiving.

Piercing the contours of all your shapes will add dimension while keeping the brie from exploding (!)

Chutney-stuffed Brie in Puff Pastry
1 Box Puff Pastry
cracked black pepper
your favorite chutney (recipe below)
1 round of Brie

parchment
cookie/baking sheet pan

Allow puff pastry to thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
Split brie in half and spread one side with chutney. Close up like a sandwich. Place, centered, onto a sheet of puff pastry and sprinkle with pepper. Cut a square of puff pastry and place on top.
Cut the corners of the bottom piece at a diagonal, and wrap around the sides of the brie. Seal edges by gently pinching the dough together. If it won’t stick, moist with a little water.
Flip the brie over so that the bottom is now the top.
Decorate, by cutting or carving shapes with a paring knife and place on the brie.
When your design is set, gently pierce around the shapes with the tip of your knife. This enhances the design AND prevents the brie from popping and oozing when it bakes and puffs up.

You can wrap and decorate your brie ahead of time–a day or so before serving (I have even frozen them at this point.) Cover in plastic wrap.

Ready to bake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes, until pastry is puffed up and golden brown.

Remove and cool slightly. You can dust the top of the pastry with a little paprika or chives. Place on serving tray, decorate with fresh fruits. Enjoy with wine.

Apricot-Cranberry Chutney

2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons peeled fresh ginger, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil (or vegetable oil)
1 cup coarsely chopped dried apricots
½ cup dried cranberries
1 cup water
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
¼ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil and sauté the garlic and ginger together, stirring over moderate heat for about two minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Turn the heat to low and allow the mixture to cook for another 15-20 minutes as the dried fruits absorb the liquid and thicken. Stir occasionally. Allow to cool to room temperature. Makes 1 ½ cups.

Yellow Dinner
(with optional bright green chives, for contrast!)

There are times, like this rainy-gray fall day, when the simplicity of a monochromatic one-plate meal is just right.

Consider a poached farm egg–so pure–
nestled a top a mound of creamy polenta.
Now, spoon on some roasted yellow pepper sauce
for sweetness.
Then, sprinkle shreds of parmesan
for bite.

Grab your spoon, to scoop up all the comfort.
Get a blanket and huddle on the couch with your dinner bowl,
grateful that you are warm inside.

It’s the sauce that unifies this dish, bringing that caramel-vegetal
balance to the protein and the carb.

I roasted the sweet bell peppers in much the same way that I roast
tomatoes—brushed with olive oil, dusted with sea salt. I used yellow bell peppers—that’s what I grew—but you can use sweet red or orange bell peppers too.

Here, I included hunks of onion, a few garlic cloves, a handful of sungold cherry tomatoes, and one overripe “Mr. Stripey” yellow tomato–all which caramelized in harmony with the peppers.

Post-peeling, all the mixture needs is a puree in the food processor.
If you want to make it super-rich, puree this with heavy cream.
Whoa!
That added dairy is unnecessary, however.

While this dish has full flavors and richness, it does not have a lot of fat.

The polenta, seasoned simply with salt and black pepper, is boiled in water to desired thickness. (follow the directions on the bag or box–typically it’s a ratio of 1 to 3, corn meal to water.

The peppers are roasted in olive oil. The eggs are soft-poached. (so that the runny yolk will get sopped up by the polenta.)

A few nut-like shards of parmegiano-regianno are the only dairy.

The whole ensemble is divine.

Roasted Sweet Yellow Pepper Sauce
2 large ripe Yellow Bell Peppers
1 ripe Yellow Tomato
1/2 large Yellow Onion
2-3 cloves of Garlic
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
olive oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Cut peppers in half lengthwise and remove seeds and pod. Place onto baking sheetpan, top up.
Core tomato, cut in half. Place on baking sheetpan.
Cut onion into medium sized hunks. Place among, and underneath the peppers. Place garlic cloves under the peppers as well.
Brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Place in oven to roast for 20-25 minutes: skins will blacken and blister.
Allow to cool, and remove peels. (they should slip right off.)
Puree in a food processor fitted with the swivel blade.

In honor of our Sixth Annual Tomato Art Fest this past Saturday, I made these thick, savory-sweet tarts and promptly sold them by the slice out of our Local Food Tent. Slow Food Nashville, The Friends of the Nashville Farmers Market, and the Food Security Partners of Middle Tennessee shared side-by-side tents at the festival, giving away tastes of Orange-Tomato-Cardamon Ice Cream, Grilled Trout and Tomato Sandwiches, Mountain Ridge and Bradley tomato bites.

We also had a huge Tomato Bake Sale to raise money for the Food Security Partners. It featured quite the array of All Things Tomato, from tomato-feta foccaccia to green tomato coffeecake, tomato-basil scones, tomato-dill bread, tomato-mozzarella calzones, purple cherokee cherry tomatoes filled with homemade ricotta, tomato-corn muffins, (beginning to seem like a Forrest Gump recitation…)
and this deep-dish heirloom peach roma-lemon basil tart!

The foundation for this recipe came to me many years ago via baker Tonya Marinelli’s mom, Gail. It became an oft-made brunch dish at my catering company, using ripe red tomatoes, genovese basil, baked in a regular pie dish.

Gigi had given me these unique heirloom romas, some peach in color, some yellow, grown in her Wedgewood Urban Gardens. These tomatoes were indeed beautiful–I’d never seen any like them–and, unlike many red romas I’ve eaten, these heirlooms were exceptionally sweet and juicy, with lemony citrus notes. That inspired me to pair them with my lemon basil in the pie, and increase the original recipe by one-and a -half to make it extra tall and rich.

The results:Sublime.

Remember, the recipe can be simply altered to use any variety of tomato and basil you like. I also made one with the bold “Mortgage Lifter” tomato and pesto. It sold out before I could try it, but the word on the street was “day-um.”

Pastry Crust (Pâte Brisée)
1 cup all purpose flour
6 Tablespoons chilled Butter, cut into small pieces
¼ teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons Ice water

pesto and pine nuts

Place flour, chilled butter and salt into a food processor fitted with the pastry blade. Pulse,until the mixture is blended and like coarse meal. Add ice water, one tablespoon at a time, and process until the mixture gathers into a ball-like mass. Remove, shape into a ball, wrap in plastic, and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Roll out on a lightly floured surface into a 12”circle. Drape over your 9” deep pie or springform pan. Press the dough to the bottom and sides, taking care not to stretch it. Brush pesto onto the pastry surface, prick pie bottom with a fork, and scatter with pinenuts, which double as pie weights.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Remove and cool before adding the filling.

Deep-Dish Peach Roma-Lemon Basil Tart

1 9” deep pastry shell, brushed with pesto, weighted with pine nuts and prebaked
2 eggs
1 ½ cups mayo
1 ½ cups grated parmesan
1 teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon granulated garlic
½ teaspoon salt
4-6 ripe Tomatoes, sliced medium thickness
1 ½ cups chopped fresh Lemon Basil leaves
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
½ cup shredded White Cheddar

In a bowl, mix until well combined: egg, mayo, parmesan, garlic, salt, pepper.
Cover the bottom of the pie crust with a layer of sliced tomatoes. Top with a layer of chopped basil. Spoon about half of the egg-mayo-parmesan mixture over that and top with shredded cheeses. Repeat the layering. Decorate the top with tomato slices and basil leaves.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes, until golden. Serve warm, or at room temperature. One tart serves 12-15.

While I was careening through boggy farm fields in Southwest Missouri (in the intrepid John Deere Gator, no less!) this past weekend, my daughter and her friend Jenn were on their own road trip exploring some of the rural mountain communities of north Georgia. They called me on Sunday morning, excited to report about an event they chanced upon in the twee town Dahlonega: a Pie Tasting.

Now, this was not your ordinary country pie tasting, but Dahlonega is no ordinary country place. Set in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, it was the site of our first gold rush. (That’s where “There’s gold in them thar hills!” originated..and you can still pan for it, for a price.) Today its rustic setting is the hub of several wineries, and boasts a creative spirit: with performing and visual arts, festivals, and recreational activities.

And, if the Pie Tasting is any indication, there is also some very good food.

Designed as a fundraiser for their local Literacy Council, this Pie Tasting featured 75 varieties of both sweet and savory concoctions. With names to set you salivating: Strawberry-Rhubarb with Brown Sugar Crumble. Rustic Spinach-Feta-Red Pepper Phyllo Tart. Upside-Down Key Lime Pie. Roasted Herbed Vegetables in Puff Pastry. Mile High Chocolate Meringue Pie.

The girls set their cell on speakerphone so that we could have a conference on the tasting.

“They charged $10.00, which entitled you to 5 different slices,” Madeleine said. “I figured, there’s no way we could possibly eat that. But we were wrong.”

“Soooooo very wrong,” said Jenn.

The girls’ favorite pie, hands-down, was the Vidalia Onion with a Cornbread crust.

“We had to have a second slice. It was Crazy Good.”

I’ve made onion tarts, traditional French model, with a basic pate-brisée crust, never with cornmeal. I had never considered that as a possibility. With Vidalias now readily available, this decidedly southern twist was worth replicating.

“The crust was really more like cornbread,” Madeleine explained. “And the filling had kernels of corn in it.”

“And, it was a little custardy,” Jenn continued.

“Quiche-like?” I asked.

“Yes, but, packed with vidalias!” Madeleine said.

“So sweet!” Jenn said.

“Mmmmm. I think I’ve got the picture,” I said.

Vidalia Onion Pie with Cornbread Crust

The Crust
½ cup Cornmeal ( I used white cornmeal, but either work)
½ cup All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
½ teaspoon Salt
1 egg
2 Tablespoons Butter
4 Tablespoons Ice-Cold Water

1 9”pie pan, coated with baking spray

Sift dry ingredients together and place in food processor fitted with pastry cutter blade. Add egg, butter, and pulse until mixed. Add water, a tablespoon at a time. This will form a sticky mass of dough.
Press into the prepared pie pan. If the dough is too sticky, add a little cornmeal.

Vidalia Onions are naturally sweet, but lightly caramelizing makes them outstanding.

The Filling

3 medium Vidalia Onions, sliced
1 Tablespoon Butter
½ cup kernel Sweet Corn (can be fresh or frozen)
1 cup shredded White Cheddar Cheese
2 eggs
1 cup Half-and-Half
½ teaspoon Salt
¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
4 sprigs Fresh Thyme

Heat a large skillet, then melt butter. Add onions and toss until lightly coated. On medium heat, sauté the onions for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until caramelized. Remove from heat.

In a bowl, beat the eggs and half-and-half together well—no traces of yolk.

Layer the bottom the pie with about half of the shredded cheese. Sprinkle with corn kernels, then add the onions. Pour the egg custard mixture over this. Top with remaining cheddar, the leaves from the sprigs of thyme, and a few grindings of black pepper.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 40 minutes—top will feel set and be nicely browned.

Serves 4-6