Broiled Eggplant Japonaise: Brutti Ma Buoni

If there was ever a case for not judging a book by its terrfiyingly scalded cover, Broiled Eggplant Japonaise is it. DAMN, this is good. Traumatizingly ugly, but good.

When I say “ugly,” I don’t mean “slightly unattractive," “aesthetically challenged,” or “appearance deficient.” I mean “Chinese crested dog mated with an Orc.”

I mean “the August 22nd Rangers-Orioles game.” (NOTE: This is a baseball score.)

I mean “all the clothes on Go Fug Yourself, but especially this Chloe Sevigny hat.”

I mean "the political prospects of closeted Idaho senator Larry Craig."

In other words, Serious Eats was not kidding when it compared this dish to a bowl of slugs.

Yet, if you can get past the hideous, hideous façade, it's a pleasant surprise – a filling, easily prepared, vegetarian-friendly meal with honest-to-goodness Asian flavor. For health/availability reasons I cut the oil by a third and used a large regular eggplant. Still, damn tasty.

Behold, if you dare...

Broiled Eggplant Japonaise
3 servings
Adapted from Serious Eats/Jacques Pepin.

2 tablespoons Canola oil
1 gigantic eggplant
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
Salt

1) Turn on your broiler and cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.

2) Cut the stem ends off your eggplant. Proceed slicing the eggplant into long strips, each about 1/2-inch in thickness. Drizzle the oil on the cookie sheet and mix it around with the eggplant. Sprinkle with a little salt. Broil for about 4 or 5 minutes per side, until eggplant is tender.

3) While eggplant is cooking, mix garlic, soy sauce, sugar, and tabasco sauce in a large bowl.

4) Once eggplant is finished, throw into the bowl with the marinade and toss gently, so eggplant is covered. Serve.

Approximate Calorie, Fat, and Price Per Serving
181 calories, 9.9 g fat, $0.57

Calculations
2 tablespoons Canola oil: 248 calories, 28 g fat, $0.08
1 gigantic eggplant: 230 calories, 1.8 g fat, $1.39
1 clove garlic: 5 calories, 0 g fat, $0.05
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce: 13 calories, 0 g fat, $0.14
1 teaspoon sugar: 46 calories, 0 g fat, $0.01
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce: negligible calories and fat, $0.03
Salt: negligible calories and fat, $0.02
TOTAL: 542 calories, 29.8 g fat, $1.72
PER SERVING (TOTAL/3): 181 calories, 9.9 g fat, $0.57

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Thursday Linkacalifragilisticexpealidocious

Boston Magazine: Murky Waters
Prevent salmonella, fishy scallops, and a whopping case of indigestion with this brief guide to buying good seafood.

Frugal Babe: Kitchen Envy
How do you know you've been struck with this terrible affliction?
1) You daydream not of George Clooney or of fronting U2, but of Viking appliances and granite countertops.
2) You plan parties exclusively in your friends’ homes, permission or no.
3) You are human.
12-step program coming soon.

Frugal Upstate: Return of the Lunchbox Report
In a day and age where pretzels with cheese dip counts as a nutritious school-backed meal, packing lunch for kids is mos def the healthier option. (There’s a “thinking outside the lunchbox” joke in there somewhere, but I can’t find it.)

New York Times: The School Cafeteria, On a Diet
Speaking about school lunches…

A Good American Wife: Meet Walt
Anne had a baby! Please welcome Walter Lawrence to the world, ladies and gentleman.
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When Food Frugality Pays Off: See Ya, Sallie Mae

Next week, barring disaster, I will pay off college. Undergrad and grad school, both. I'll be 30 in November.

Before we get into how eating frugally and healthily helped that happen, we must do this:

*Happy dance!*
*Happy dance!*
*Happy dance!*

Okay. Sweet. On with the show.

Between a small scholarship, tuition reimbursement from my job, and eight years of incremental Sallie Mae payments, I started the year with a little more than $15,000 in college debt. Being fairly oblivious, it never dawned on me to dump it until I perused Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover. It’s the kind of life-changing book that advocates debt awareness and financial responsibility, and it convinced me to tackle my loans before I even finished reading.

So, in addition to moving to a cheaper place, cutting cable, and living off the salary I made three years ago (and banking the difference), I decided to chop my food bill. To my surprise (not really), of all my self-imposed cash conservation rules, the chow-related ones were hardest to follow.

This is partially because I’m thrifty, but not a cost-cutting psychopath when it comes to my gaping maw. I eat, I take trips where meals are a key component, and I go to roughly 12 billion baby showers a year, where I purchase layette sets in exchange for massive plates of chicken francese. So, yeah - chopping the comestibles budget was not easy. But I managed, and axed a few calories, to boot. Here’s how:

1. I started brown-bagging it to work. When you’re employed in the smack center of the most expensive five-block radius on Earth (Schtimes Square, Schnew York), your lunch budget is secondary only to rent. The average mid-day meal goes for about $7.50 around here, meaning it’s easy to blow $1700 bucks annually on sandwiches and soup. Plus, overeating is endemic, as you’re constantly striving to get the most food you can for your precious salary. Since starting to pack from home consistently a year ago, I estimate I’ve saved about $1300 along with several inches off my rear end.

2. I began shopping exclusively from the supermarket circular. The Boyfriend and I save an average of 21% off our weekly grocery bill this way. (I did the math!) We usually spend about $51.55 for food that would have normally cost $65.25, which saves us $13.70 per week, or $712.40 a year. As an added bonus, our fruit and veggie intake has about doubled, since produce is a loss leader and constantly on sale.

3. I switched to water. Admittedly, I was never big into fruit juice or soda, but I like Crystal Lite a LOT. The chemical aftertaste appeals to me in a way I can’t explain and don’t want to. Happily, agua is just as thirst-quenching, not to mention free. Oh, and it doesn’t contain any of these: Maltodextrin, Citric and Malic Acids, Raspberry Juice Solids, Aspartame, Red 40, Calcium Phosphate, Acesulfame Potassium, Blue 1.

4. I became a Trader Joe’s convert. Not for food, you see, but for booze. Where else on god’s green earth can you get a glass of semi-decent Sauvignon Blanc for $3? Despite lines that stretch to Peoria, The Boyfriend and I visit TJ’s wine store regularly, saving between $5 and $10 per bottle. We purchase less beer now, too.

5. I launched a blog about frugal, healthy food. Finally, an activity that encompasses my passions: eating, giving unsolicited advice, and linking to George Clooney pictures. But seriously, I find it’s much easier to save money and think nutritionally when I feel some responsibility towards others for being consistent, accurate, and informative.

Besides these five steps, I also:

• Stopped frequenting Jamba Juice and Starbucks
• Snacked increasingly on fruits and whole grains
• Relied more on generic foods
• Cut my meat intake
• Obtained a Costco membership
• Shopped using a grocery list
• Began cooking in bigger batches
• Stocked a decent pantry
• Emphasized whole foods and meals cooked from scratch
• Started a price book

Sadly, my restaurant expenditures have not changed. I’m still dining out or ordering in twice or thrice (that’s right, THRICE) a week, which wouldn’t be terrible except for my fancy-schmancy tastes. While I don’t begrudge myself the occasional date night, there’s gotta be a way to slash the bills. It’s something to work on for the future.

In the end, though I made some mistakes, it worked. College is (almost) paid off, man. While I’ll miss Sallie Mae’s jumbled interface, bad-deal consolidation offers, and bizarrely middle-aged “college student” photos, I’m glad our relationship is over. It’s time to concentrate on new things now, like saving for a house, going to India, and of course, linking to George Clooney pictures.

But once more, for old times’ sake:

*Happy dance!*

`

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Tuesday Late Links

Real Simple: Organizing Your Recipes – 8 Foolproof Methods
These are much better than my place-recipe-on-table-and-let-spills-completely-obscure-the-directions method.

Time: What Doctors Don’t Say About Obesity
Physicians of the world are avoiding the harsh reactions to reality. Not cool.

Paid Twice: eBaying for Coupons
I keep hearing about this, but never knew the best strategies for going about the process. PT shoots and scores.

Get Rich Slowly Forums: How Much Do You Spend on Food?
Good question, long thread. How do you measure up?

Bean Sprouts: 90th Festival of Frugality
Tons of solid food links this week, including a nice shopping-around post from A Penny Closer and a kickass budget/health analysis from Wenchypoo
`

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Behold! The Great Zucchini (Bread)!

Oh, sweet September. As the days grow shorter and humidity takes a nosedive, we look forward to your month-long bacchanalia of pre-playoff baseball, meteorological schizophrenia, and heaping gobs of use-or-it-goes-bad-tomorrow zucchini.

So – yeah. What to do with all these green things? Beyond pretending they’re lightsabers and dueling it out Kenobi-style, ratatouille comes to mind, as do mounds of squashed-up pasta. But mostly, I’m thinking zucchini bread, which, like its banana and pumpkin kin, tends to be heavy on sugar and nuts.

Enter Cooking Light. Of their five different recipes, this one looked the most promising. And for the most part, it came out pretty darn good, especially when toasted. Yet, I couldn’t help but feel that something was missing. Maybe a dash of ginger, a kick of cloves, or a half cup of dried cranberries would have given the bread some chutzpah, some moxy, some joie de vivre. It wouldn’t have affected the price or calorie content too terribly, either. Barring that missing ingredient, though, I’d make it again.

Working off of user reviews, I did add ¼ teaspoon nutmeg. Also, since I only had a 9x5 bread pan, I made one loaf and poured the rest of the batter into a cupcake tin. Six mini-muffins took 30 minutes, while the big mama went for 50 or so.

Cooking Light was kind enough to provide nutritional information (150 calories, 4.3 g fat per slice), so only the price calculations are shown below.

Lighter Zucchini Bread
2 loaves, 12 servings per loaf (serving size: 1 slice)
Adapted from Cooking Light.

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 cups shredded zucchini (12 ounces)
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted
Cooking spray

1) Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat 2 (8x4-inch) loaf pans with cooking spray.

2) Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl.

3) In a separate bowl, mix egg substitute, canola oil, lemon rind, vanilla extract, and egg. Stir in sugar. Stir in zucchini. Everything should be well combined. Dump in flour mixture and stir until barely combined. Add walnuts and stir lightly.

4) Dump batter into 2 (8x4-inch) loaf pans, taking care to split it evenly. Bake at 350° for 60 minutes or until the loaves pass the toothpick test. Remove from oven and let cool in pans for about 10 minutes. Remove loaves from pans and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Approximate Calorie, Fat, and Price Per Serving
150 calories, 4.3 g fat, $0.18

Calculations
3 cups all-purpose flour: $0.16
1 teaspoon baking powder: $0.03
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon: $0.03
¼ teaspoon nutmeg: $0.03
1/2 teaspoon salt: $0.01
1/4 teaspoon baking soda: $0.01
1/2 cup egg substitute: $1.09
1/3 cup canola oil: $0.25
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind: $0.34
2 teaspoons vanilla extract: $0.25
1 large egg, lightly beaten: $0.17
1 1/2 cups sugar: $0.44
3 cups shredded zucchini (12 ounces): $0.98
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted: $0.40
Cooking spray: $0.09
TOTAL: $4.28
PER SERVING (TOTAL/24): $0.18

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Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

Hey everybody,

I'm on vacation until Monday. In the meantime, feel free to check out past posts, like the very lovely Pesto one located directly below this letter.

Oh, and come on back for next week's articles, including:

Behold! The Great Zucchini (Bread)!
Broiled Eggplant Japonaise: Ugly, but Good
and
When Frugality Pays Off: See Ya, Sallie Mae

Hearts,
Kristen

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Light Pesto: The Miracle of Basil

If fresh basil was a person, it’d be George Clooney, Olivier Martinez, and that dude from Under the Tuscan Sun rolled into one beautiful, musk-scented studmuffin. I’d date it. I’d marry it. I’d trail it from junior high class to junior high class, silently willing it to notice me, until, in a fit of pubescent insanity, I dropped a love letter in its locker.

If fresh basil was a drug, I’d be Keith Richards, Keith Moon, and Stevie Nicks rolled up into one mega-burnout. (Hopefully with Stevie’s hair.) I’d smoke it, apply it to brightly-colored stamps, ingest it in ways that couldn’t be printed in an Ozzy Osbourne memoir, much less a family-friendly blog. (Ooo...scary.)

If fresh basil was free and abundant all year around, I’d put it on pasta. I’d put it in bread. I’d put it in ice cream, cheesecake, and breakfast cereal. I’d mix it with peanut butter and make PB and J and B sandwiches. I’d have grillz made of it, so every time I licked, chewed, or breathed, fresh basil would infuse me with pungent green goodness.

Alas, fresh basil is none of these things, so I must be contented with the occasional tomato sauce, pasta salad, and scrumptious, delectable pesto.

Made with basil, garlic, parmesan, some sort of nut, and an inground pool’s worth of olive oil, pesto’s calorie and fat content is usually meteoric (i.e. 230 calories, 21 grams of fat per ¼ cup). Yet, there is a way to lighten the load considerably.

This recipe, courtesy of Weight Watchers, is a nice stand-in for the butt-conscious. First, it replaces most of the olive oil with chicken broth, cutting the fat by about 60%. Second, the abundance of fresh basil gives it a clean, earthy taste (if those even go together), meaning you won’t miss the absent oil. Finally, the lighter consistency doesn’t sit heavily in the tummy area, giving you more time to soliloquize about fresh basil. If Ebert was here, a thumb up would be forthcoming.

A word of caution about the garlic, though – two raw cloves go a LONG way. If you’re concerned about your breath/makeout potential, use a single one.

Light Pesto Sauce
4 servings – scant ¼ c each
Adapted from Weight Watchers.

2 Tbsp pine nuts
2 cups basil leaves, fresh
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth (or homemade broth)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 or 2 medium garlic clove(s), peeled (depending on how much you like garlic)
1/2 tsp table salt

1) Over medium heat, toast pine nuts in a small pan for about 3 minutes. Toss frequently so they won't burn.

2) Pour pine nuts into a food processor. Add basil, broth, cheese, oil, garlic and salt. Process until it's the smoothness and thickness of your liking. If you like, let it stand overnight for melding/thickening purposes. (It’s better the next day. – Kris)

Approximate Calories, Fat, and Price Per Serving
104 calories, 8.8 g fat, $0.83

Calculations
2 Tbsp pine nuts: 135 calories, 13.7 g fat, $1.00
2 cups basil leaves, fresh: 23 calories, 0.5 g fat, $1.48
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken stock: 43 calories, 1.4 g fat, $0.12
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese: 83 calories, 5.5 g fat, $0.52
1 Tbsp olive oil: 120 calories, 14 g fat, $0.08
2 medium garlic clove(s): 10 calories, 0 g fat, $0.10
1/2 tsp table salt: negligible calories and fat, $0.01
TOTAL: 414 calories, 35 g fat, $3.31
PER SERVING (TOTAL/4): 104 calories, 8.8 g fat, $0.83

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