Sunday, July 31, 2011

Eggplant Frituras


Posted by PicasaIntuitive Eggplant has graciously invited us all to get off  our sofas and cook some eggplant!
How wonderful. So on my way home from an appointment Saturday morning I stopped in at our local farmer's market. It was pitiful. Our drought conditions are harsh. Farmers are not getting enough rain. Some with wells are taking risks to water their produce.  County water gets pricey in a hurry. These farmers have to recoup that investment by raising their prices for what is actually marginal produce. 

I did buy every eggplant I saw, 2  Black Russians and 3 Fingerlings. I paid 25 cents for the three fingerling eggplants plus a dollar tip. For a minute I feared I had offended this good man's pride. I tapped his hand and said, " These are hard to find. I hope you will be here all season". I smiled and walked away before he could say  anything. I paid $1.40 for the two Black Russians.

My plan was to come home and set up for a great blog. But, as things played out, I had to go back out to the client at the lake and take more measurements in triple digit heat.

Today I thought would be better anyway. No divided interests. I could take my time and  fix an eggplant dish which would be yummy with the pork tenderloin marinating in the frige. I decided to check on the entries to date as I did not want to duplicate. That's when I discovered I had no internet service. I tried all the usual troubleshooting. Nada. We called the "bundler" (that I call the "bungler") only to be told it was a weekend. As if I did not know. This means fewer staff, longer waits, etc. Then I got a call back saying there had been an outage in our service region and no tech would be coming as service should be restored once the outage was corrected.  Blah,  blah. It is 6pm and we are just now "restored".

What I would have entered had I actually cooked today:

Eggplant Frituras: 

Peel and seed 2.5 cups of eggplant
 Heat half cup of olive oil in a Wok to 375 degrees
mix together:
the shredded eggplant
2 finely chopped scallions
1 egg
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
pepper to taste 

Drop by rounded teaspoons into the heated oil
Fry until golden brown, turning once, about 2 minutes 
Drain on paper towels
Salt to taste
Serve immediately 

This is the recipe as published.
I actually soak the shredded eggplant in lemon juice for 10 minutes, drain it well,
then press it between paper towels to ensure dryness. I do this to remove bitterness but
also because I do not use the baking powder because of the sodium value. I do whip the egg before incorporating the other ingredients for a bit of rise to the batter.
If the batter seems too thick, add just enough liquid for your fritter to hold together. 

Apologies to you Eggy!
I'll do better next time. 




16 comments:

Buzz Kill said...

You don't have to tell me about schedules that never go your way. This recipe (as I assembled it in my head) sounds like it might be similar to a hush puppy, but not as spicy. I like the lemon idea for flavor and to keep the eggplant from browning.

I would have liked to have seen it next to some pork tenderloin and greenbeans maybe. You still have the eggplant and you'll need a meal later in the week...

fishy said...

Buzz,
those eggplants will be up to Blowfish as I am traveling out of state the remainder of the week.

You are right about the recipe, I have another latin cuisine cookbook with a very similar recipe for what they call "egg dogs". The difference in the two is mostly the mix of flour to corn meal. The dogs are 3/4 corn meal and 1/4 flour and you definitely have to add liquid for these to hold together.

moi said...

I wasn't able to get it together this week, either. Plus S.B. doesn't like eggplant. But this recipe sounds delicious!

Aunty Belle said...

yum!!

make it an' show us...yummy!

Sharon Rudd said...

Dear Fishy, I am so intrigued by this recipe - and by those eggplant varieties you found! Thanks so much for joining the party, despite your internet woes. I'm finally up with Team Eggplant's entry after my mouse, then my keyboard went down.

Did you see the new badge Chickory designed for us?

Safe travels, my friend.

xoxo, eggy

Jenny said...

nicely done. Have a great trip.

Come back soon.

chickory said...

internet trouble is my number one freak out situation. Poor V has had to endure my serious angst when the internet goes down. At chickory though - its rock solid. ahhhhh

well, i think you did right by the farmer. I do that too -because it is hard to get food that looks pretty with no marks or bug holes or mold or whatever to market. I had reached the point (before truck crapped out) that I was only going to sell eggs and art and flowers. but man -i am overrun with tomatoes. I dont have time to can so I will make some spaghetti sauce and freeze it - and paula deens squash cassarole and freeze that.

good luck with the challnege!

Sharon Rudd said...

Thanks so much for your contributions, Fishy, and wishing you safe travels. Results post up over at my place, and I look forward to whatever you come up with next month!

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