October 16, 2012 Dinner – Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce and pork and Candied Apple and Quince Pie

October 16, 2012 Dinner – Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce and pork  and Candied Apple and Quince Pie

We had picked the last two eggplants from our garden and were given one by the Bean/Alversons on Saturday.  Suzette wanted to make her favorite Chines dish from our new Chinese Recipe Eggplant with Garlic Sauce from “Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking” by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo (page 169).

Sauce

1 Tbsp. double dark soy sauce

2 tsp. oyster sauce

1 tsp. white rice vinegar

½ tsp. pepper flakes from hot chili oil

2 tsp. sugar 

½ tsp. cornstarch

Ingredients

4 cups peanut oil

1 lb. eggplants peeled and sliced lengthwise into ½ wide strips

2 tsp. minced garlic

Suzette made the sauce in a bowl in the kitchen, while I sliced three one Italian rosa eggplants into strips and diced 1 boneless pork steak (about ½ lb.).

The skin on the eggplants was tough at the end of the season and I should have skinned the eggplant skin and didn’t.  In the alternative, leaving the skin on the eggplant prevented the flesh from turning into mush.  Suzette deep fried the eggplant strips and then drained them.  Then she put the sauce into the wok and cooked the garlic and pork in it for a moment and then returned the cooked eggplant to the wok and stirred it for a few more minutes to mix the sauce with the eggplant and pork and cooked if for a few minutes while I heated PPI basmati rice.

We drank beer with the spicy eggplant dish and loved it.

Before dinner I had peeled 4 quinces and 4 cooking pears and stewed them in a simple syrup made with 4 cups of water and 4 cups of sugar flavored with about 8 cloves and one stick of cinnamon and a bouquet garni of cardamom.  

After dinner when the quince and pear mixture had simmered for about 1 ½ hours we drained most of the syrup off the fruit and placed them in a roasting dish and cooked them for an additional hour at 250˚F.

This is the recipe that Suzette used to the make the candied quince and apple pie last Sunday, except she cooked her fruit for a total of three hours. 

 

Quinces and granny apple smith from Five Leaf Community Garden, Center for Ageless Living Red Delicious Apples – Friend’s tree in Taos

Quince Candied Apple Pie

Recipe

Caramelized Quince

1-2 lbs of Quince, peeled and sliced thinly

Cover with 2 C simple syrup (1 C sugar/1 C water dissolved)

1tsp of powdered cardamom or a sachet of whole/crushed cardamom seeds

Simmer for one hour at low temperature in a heavy bottomed pan, thick syrup stage

Remove excess flavored simple syrup and reserve for apple filling

Spread quinces on deep roasting pan and roast at 225 degrees for another hour (color will darken and quinces will become more caramelized – do not over roast as they must finish caramelizing in the pie)

Cool filling

 

Apple Filling

2-3 lbs of apples  ( I use two types to create texture and flavor granny apple smith and red delicious)  peel and thinly slice

Add the remaining quince syrup to cover apples – add additional simple syrup if needed

1 tsp of cinnamon

1/8 tsp of nutmeg

Juice of one large lemon (2-3 T)

Simmer at low heat till apples are tender but not overcooked

Cool filling

 

Pie Crust (Mother Palmer)

1 ½ C sifted all purpose flour

½ Tsp

½ C shortening (lard preferred)

4-5 T pf cold water

Pre cook crust 10 minutes prior to construction

 

Pie Construction 

Optional:  sprinkle sea salt on bottom of crust

Layer apple filling, dot with small amount of butter

Layer quince filling

Bake 30-45min unit crust is brown and pie is set

Serve warm with crème fraise or vanilla ice cream

Submitted  by:  Suzette Lindemuth Phone:   505-249-1682 Email:  suzette@nmagelessliving.com