Passport & Plate - Rainwashed eggplant patties with a dash of thunder
Australia | Friday, March 14, 2014 | 
flickr photos
Ingredients
1 late afternoon storm
About 1 kilo of rain washed eggplant
1/3 cup of fresh bread crumbs, lightly toasted (maybe more)
1 big bunch of fresh basil
2 small garlic cloves
1 egg
3 tablespoons of parmesan cheese
Salt
Black pepper, freshly ground
Vegetable oil
Plain flour spread on a plate
How to prepare this recipeAfter the storm …
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Roast the eggplants, rain washed, whole and untrimmed in a hot hot oven on the top rack, with a tray underneath to catch any spills. Bake until tender for about 40 minutes depending on their size. Marcella's test for readiness is when a toothpick will penetrate them without resistance.
3. When cool enough to handle, skin them, cut them up a bit and set them in a colander for 15 minutes giving them a push every so often to squeeze out more juice.
4. While the eggplants are draining, get a mortar and pestle and smash the fresh basil (what would amount to about 3 tablespoons worth), with salt and 2 small garlic cloves.
5. In a bowl mix 1 egg, about 1/3 cup of fresh breadcrumbs, the smashed basil mix and 3 tablespoons of parmesan cheese. Plus some freshly ground black pepper.
6. Cut the drained eggplant finely and add it to your mixture.
7. Taste test for salt and pepper. It's all about taste!
8. Shape the mix into patties (you might have to add some more breadcrumbs - I did), about 2 inches wide and 1/2 an inch thick.
9. Heat some vegetable oil, a little less than half an inch depth, in a shallow pan and when it's nice and hot, douse the patties in plain flour, dust them off very gently and drop them into the oil to brown.
Oh and don't forget the dash of thunder!
Nothing could be simpler, fresher or more seasonal. I'm sure Marcella would approve :)
* Recipe adapted from "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" by Marcella Hazan.
The story behind this recipeJust over 20 years ago I sent Marcella Hazan a letter.
After travelling through Italy in 1985 I’d seen my first blood orange and discovered that parmesan cheese actually didn’t smell like vomit in a shaker tin – it was in fact, an Italian institution, flavoursome, cut fresh from the round and a fundamental ingredient found in every Italian kitchen. It was a revelation and when I returned home to Australia, I took up cooking.
Marcella’s Classic Italian Cookbook was the first cookbook I ever bought. The Second Classic Italian Cookbook made it on to my shelf soon after and before long I was recreating the wonderful food I’d experienced in Italy, including rolling my own pasta.
In 1992 Marcella was featured in Australian Vogue Entertaining and I decided to send her a letter to see if I could buy one of her signature aprons. I used the address from the article: “In a narrow calle, near Campo SS Giovanni e Paolo”, translated it into bad Italian, sent it off (and to be honest) thought that would probably be the end of it.
Three months later, a letter arrived from Italy.
Not only had my letter found her but she was enchanted to receive it!
“Tomorrow, my husband and I are leaving for Ireland ... We won’t be back in Venice until the end of July and soon after I shall mail you one of my aprons. I don’t sell them so, if you don’t mind, I shall send one of my used ones, washed and pressed of course.”
And true to her word, about three months later, a parcel arrived in downtown Duckmaloi.
Her apron still holds pride of place in my kitchen. Washed and pressed of course.
In March 2012 I started a blog and in November of that year I sent a second letter to Marcella.
Once again it was met with the most gracious response and she agreed to do, what turned out to be, one of her last interviews before she died on my birthday last September.
Please let me pack my apron and allow me to bring Marcella’s beloved Emilia-Romagna to life.
This recipe honours her legacy.
