Dearest H.,

I come with humblest apologies for my seemingly MIA in blog land. While I have strayed, my heart has remained true to Reems Eats. Let it be known that in my absence, not once did I peruse another Food Blog; not once did I fail to sigh after creating a delicious bit of food and think, what a wonderful post this would be; and not once did I forget the times we've had here, together, in this strange cyber meeting place.

I don't ask you to understand why I left, why I had to go. I only ask for you to take me back, along with this amazing ground-breaking recipe for a skillet eggplant lasagna. All this could be yours...

Skillet Eggplant Lasagna

I made this in a truly Reems-fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants moment. A dinner date at friends, for Caleb's birthday, was cancelled at the last minute and my fridge was a desolate landscape, inhabited by a mere couple cheeses, some lettuce, an eggplant and half a bag of mushrooms (plus the other usual odds and sods). But we had a birthday to celebrate, so with a slap and a dash this new, veggie-heavy noodle-light lasagna was born. You can customize the following recipe to suit whatever is in your fridge.

The Ingredients:

2 pieces of bread (preferably whole wheat)

2Tbsp to 1/4 cup (aprox) walnuts (sub almonds or pecans)

1 Tbsp Parmesan cheese (optional)

A medium-sized eggplant, cut into rectangular pieces, about one inch long

a couple handfuls of mushrooms (I think the more mushrooms the better), sliced

two garlic cloves, minced

tomato sauce (a sauce ready for pasta- I use my own canned sauce. Use a pre-made pasta sauce, or make one using canned tomatoes-- saute garlic and onions, add tomatoes, salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar and simmer for 30-60 mins)

Dried or fresh lasagna noodles

1/4-1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 cup cheddar or mozzarella cheese

basil (optional)

The Work:

Roast or saute the vegetables. If sauteing, start with the garlic and add the eggplant, then as it softens, throw in the mushrooms and cook until they've released their juices and softened.

Mulch bread, nuts, and Parmesan cheese in the food processor. Taste and add salt and pepper or additional nuts if necessary.

Assemble your creation in a 10-12 inch skillet or a corning ware (any oven-proof dish will do). Cover the bottom of the dish with tomato sauce.

Spread a layer of vegetables on top (use half the veggies). Shake half of the bread/nut mixture on top of the veggie layer. Dot with ricotta cheese. It doesn't need to be covered with the ricotta, just as long as you've got blobs spread out evenly on top of the veggies.

Top with one layer of pasta noodles. This will be your only pasta layer. Top with a generous layer of sauce. If you are using dried noodles, or fresh, for that matter, you don't need to precook them if you use a generous portion of sauce. The noodles will cook in the sauce in the oven.

Top with remaining vegetables. Top with remaining bread/nut mixture. Cover with a sparing layer of mozzarella cheese. If you like, artfully dot any remaining ricotta on the top of the lasagna and sprinkle it with chopped basil.

Bake at 375 for 45 min or until the lasagna is hot and bubbling.

Biscotti Bake-a-thon Begins-

R-

sorry about the lower case type. i'm becoming adept at typing one-handed. babe snuggled up close in one arm, laptop literally atop my lap. anyway, i hope that all is well. i'm glad to have verified that you are alive in person, only missing in the blogosphere. after my jaunt to victoria i have some culinary highlights to reflect on-

1- the rebar. best food ever. i need to recreate that basil salad dressing. and the vegetarian fajitas. and the coconut cream pie. and the mousse cake. and the peanut butter cheesecake.. is there a reason why the baby-weight is coming off so slowly?

2-your french press coffee. given my chronically sleep-deprived state coffee is an important part of my day, and yours was top notch.

3-Joan's after-church tuna melts. mike has our house under a tuna ban so I love a clandestine tuna engagement.

OK, babe is in bed and I'm back to the world of two-handed typing. So today began my festive season of biscotti-baking. Now as you know, December is reserved for cranberry-almond-white chocolate-dipped biscotti. I haven't done the ceremonial chocolate-dipping yet, but that will come. I need to reserve that portion of the biscotti production line for when my greedy sous-chef is out with daddy.

I know that I shouldn't bother giving you this recipe, since you will be perfectly content waiting until Christmas for your batch. You can't say that I'm not concerned of the happiness of a most-beloved sister (just finished my annual re-reading of Pride and Prejudice)-

Cranberry-Almond Biscotti - as adapted from the One Smart Cookie

Cream:
2 T soft butter
2/3 cup sugar
Add:
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Stir in pre-sifted dry ingredients:
2 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt
and stir in 2/3 cup dried cranberries and 1/2 cup chopped or slivered almonds

The dough will be very stiff, I usually finish off with a hand-mixing to get everything combined.

Now for the shaping and baking portion of your biscotti-bake off-

1) Shape your dough into a flat log - - maybe 14" long by about 4" wide. If you like smaller biscotti go longer and skinnier.

2) Bake for 30 min at 350 degrees.

3) Remove from oven. After a few minutes remove carefully - today I used two dutch cheese cutters as my spatulas. Let cool on a rack for about 15 min or so.

4) Transfer your log to a cutting board, and on the diagonal, cut your cookie "loaf" into 1/2" slices.

5)Important!! Do not skip this step!! Next, as the baker eat the leftover loaf ends (Rach, our Reems terminology would dictate this as the "cuppy.." As I typed this I became curious if this had a legitimate source or was a Reems-original, A la google I discovered that the Dutch term for the end of a loaf of bread is the "kapje, leading to our usage of the word cuppy")

5) Bake these biscotti beauties again at 275 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove. If you like them really crisp bake on each side for 15 minutes each. I like them not rock-solid and stand them on their base (see the way the biscotti is standing in the pic) for one 15 min stint.

For everyday biscotti you can leave it at that. To kick it up a notch you can dip one end in melted white chocolate. I melt white chocolate in the microwave.

There you have it.

I'll see you again Wednesday! Give C a birthday hug for me tomorrow.