Eggplants, Sunshine, Brits and France Recipe

While I was in the kitchen cooking an eggplant pasta, I was listening to Sunshine , a beautiful song by the  famous British band Keane. I find this song so atmospheric – it has a very ethereal sound. The song is about finding a home in someone, out of all the people in the world…so beautiful.

Tim Rice Oxley, the band’s songwriter who brilliantly penned this song, said: “Sunshine was written in France, it’s probably got a bit of the French atmosphere in it. … We wrote it out in a garden in France, and then rushed in and recorded it.” – (source Keaneshaped.co.uk )

As I opened my mail today, I found a  new post –  Which came first “The egg plant or the egg?” – from the blog Camerahols / Food, Photography & France  , written by the famous British photographer, Roger Stowell (who is also a superb writer with a great sense of humor).  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that in that post, Roger Stowell mentioned that I was off to Vendée, France – where he lives –  to take his food photography course – Camerahols. 

So before going to France, I wanted to make a recipe inspired by this new and exciting experience.

Here it is :

 Ingredients

• 1 cup of sunshine 
•  2 baked eggplants
• a dash of Brit pop
• 100 grams of French atmosphere
• 1 cup of Brit photography
• 2 tablespoons of grated French “cheese”.

Method

Using an immersion blender combine baked eggplants and sunshine. Add the Brit pop and combine well. Gently fold in the French atmosphere. Add cheese!!!….. Ciak!!

Now, my question is “To Photoshop or not to Photoshop?…

Pappardelle with eggplant cream, cherry tomatoes and parsley

Ingredients

• 400 grams of Pappardelle pasta
• 800 grams of eggplants (about 3 medium eggplants)
• 1 cup of cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• 3 tablespoons of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• some  water for eggplant sauce
• coarse salt for cooking pasta
• salt to taste

 Method

Thinly cut  20-25 round slices of eggplants. In a skillet heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Stir  fry eggplant slices until golden, Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 200°C (about 400°F). Cut eggplants in two halves lengthwise and bake them for about 30 minutes or until tender. Let it cool. Cut eggplants into cubs. Combine eggplants, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, and extra virgin olive oil. Using a whizzer, mix these ingredients well. Add water to get the desired consistency. The sauce does not need to be thick;  it should be a bit runny.

Cook pasta under package instructions. For this recipe I used pappardelle, which is a type of  pasta larger and broader than fettuccine.

When pasta is cooked, combine with eggplant sauce. Add cherry tomatoes and fresh parsley. Garnish with four or five eggplant rounds. Sprinkle with extra grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

 Serves 4