teamwork and a glass of pinot gris

{eggplant parmesan}

i think it was by mistake that i wasn't born italian.

i love italian food. i love the smell of italian food. i love to eat italian food. i even love to make italian food.

i'm comfortable making red sauce. meatballs. david thinks i should sell my garlic bread. it comes so naturally. it's all in the taste.

my favorite dish is eggplant parmesan. it's one of those dishes that no matter how many other things sound good on the menu the eggplant's allure usually pulls me in. but i've never made it. until the other night. and it was so good. restaurant good.

and the process was a pleasure.

it's a lot of steps. i pulled together a quick marinara. clean. tomato-y. yummy. easy. then the work started. i thinly sliced and prepped the eggplant then i recruited a sous and opened some wine. those two steps made all the difference.

we formed a prep line. i was flour, egg, bread crumbs. he was the frying man. it took some time to get through all the eggplant. the wine helped when it felt like we'd never finish. and eventually we did. i layered the "meat" with the sauce and cheese (we through some fresh mozzarella in with the parmesan). after a half hour in the oven. the beauty above landed on our plates.

and it was love.

i loved it. david loved it. love went into it and you could taste it.

and since there are only two of us we can enjoy the result a few more times.


p.s. our grocery cashier asked "uh...what is this?" when it was time to scan the eggplant. seriously america, there is more to the veggie world than carrots and corn.