by Julia Child
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: Will keep several days under refrigeration; may be frozen.
GRATIN D’AUBERGINES, PROVENÇAL
[Sliced Eggplant Baked with Cheese and Tomatoes]
When you have the time for it, this is a most attractive way to serve eggplant: it is sliced but the peel is left on, and the slices are arranged upright in the baking dish with tomatoes and cheese in between. When baked, the purple-skinned slices form dark ripples separated by hints of red and brown, and the same effect is carried over onto the plates when you serve. This is a particularly good dish to go with roast lamb or veal.
NOTE: Fresh tomato sauce, coulis de tomates, in Volume I, page 78, is the most desirable one here, but the following sauce with canned Italian tomatoes is an excellent alternative. We prefer canned tomatoes to tomato purée because they are less concentrated and the resulting sauce, we think, tastes more like the fresh.
For 4 to 6 servings
1) The tomato sauce (using canned tomatoes)—for about 1 cup
1 cup minced onions
2 Tb olive oil or cooking oil
A heavy bottomed 2-quart saucepan with cover
A 1-lb. can of peeled Italian-style plum (pear-shaped) tomatoes
A sieve set over a bowl
1 bay leaf
¼ tsp thyme or oregano
A 1-inch piece of dried orange peel or ¼ tsp bottled dried peel
A pinch of saffron threads
1 large clove mashed garlic
¼ tsp salt
Stir the onions into the oil, cover pan, and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes or until onions are tender and translucent but not browned. Meanwhile drain the tomatoes, collecting their juice in the bowl; pour juice back into the can and reserve. Rub the tomatoes through the sieve to eliminate seeds. When onions are tender, stir in the sieved tomato pulp and the herbs, orange peel, saffron, garlic, and salt. Cover pan loosely and simmer, stirring occasionally, and adding a little of the tomato juice if sauce becomes too thick. Let sauce simmer at least 30 minutes, although a total of 45 to 60 minutes will make it even better. Taste carefully and correct seasoning. Sauce should be thick enough to hold its shape softly in a spoon.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: May be made several days in advance and refrigerated; may be frozen.
2) Blanching and sautéing the eggplant
2 lbs. firm, fresh, shiny eggplants (or eggplant)
Cut off green caps, and wash the eggplants but do not peel them. Halve or quarter the eggplants, depending on size, and cut into slices ⅜ inch thick and about 2 inches from skin side to bottom of slice.
A large saucepan of boiling salted water (1½ tsp salt per quart)
A skimmer or slotted spoon
A tray covered with several thicknesses of paper toweling, and additional paper towels
A large (11-inch) frying pan, preferably no-stick
Olive oil or cooking oil
A flexible-blade spatula
A second tray or a platter to hold sautéed eggplant
A dozen slices or so at a time, blanch in the boiling water for 2 minutes—barely to soften, not to cook through; dip out with skimmer or spoon, and drain on paper towels.
Pat tops of slices dry with towels. Pour a ⅛-inch layer of oil into frying pan; heat to very hot but not smoking. Sauté for a minute as many slices in pan as will fit in one layer, on each side, barely browning them, and transfer to second tray. Continue with rest of slices, adding more oil to pan as necessary. (Although all of this is somewhat of a nuisance, it is this step that gives the final dish its distinction.)
3) Assembling
An oiled 5- to 6-cup flameproof gratin dish, such as an oval one 10 to 11 inches long and 2 inches deep
About 4 ounces Swiss cheese sliced 1⁄16 inch thick
The reserved tomato juice
Aluminum foil
Arrange the eggplant slices purple side uppermost in overlapping rows, each row spread with tomato sauce and covered with slices of cheese as shown.
If you need more room, push the rows more closely together as you go; if you need less, let them lie flatter. Pour in about ½ cup of the tomato juice, enough to come ½ to ⅔ the way up the eggplant. Cover closely with the foil.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: May be prepared in advance to this point; refrigerate if you are not going to bake within an hour or so.
4) Baking and serving—preheat oven to 375 degrees
Heat briefly on top of stove, just until contents start to bubble, then bake for 45 minutes to an hour in the middle level of the preheated oven. Eggplant is done when the slices are tender and juices have thickened but are not quite absorbed. Uncover for last 10 minutes of baking so that cheese will brown and liquid will thicken more. (Add more tomato juice if there is danger of eggplant drying out before it is done.) Serve bubbling hot.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: This may be baked well in advance of serving, and then reheated. If so, take it out of the oven before liquid is quite absorbed, so there will be enough to moisten the eggplant during its reheating. Any leftovers may be transferred to a smaller dish and reheated under a slow broiler.
VARIATION
Gratin d’Aubergines Farcies
[Main-course Eggplant and Tomato Casserole for Leftover Meat]
Sautéed sliced eggplant, an excellent tomato sauce, and grated cheese are just the elements for turning yesterday’s roast into a splendid new main course. Turkey, veal, or pork respond especially well to this treatment. The meat is ground and flavored, while the other elements are the same as in the preceding recipe. You may arrange the eggplant in upright slices if you wish to take the time, or lay them flat as suggested here and build the casserole in layers. Serve this hot with French bread and a chilled rosé wine, and follow with a tossed green salad. It is also delicious served cold.
NOTE: As in most recipes of this type, exact proportions are not of vital importance. If you have less or more meat, add fewer or more onions and the other ingredients that flavor it.
For 6 to 8 people
The meat mixture
1 cup minced onions
2 Tb olive oil or cooking oil
An 8-inch frying pan with cover
Stir the onions into the oil, cover the pan, and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes or until onions are tender. Raise heat and stir to brown onions lightly for 2 to 3 minutes.
About 2 cups ground cooked veal, pork, or turkey (previously trimmed of all fat, skin, and gristle)
About ½ cup ground baked or boiled ham, or ready-to-cook packaged ham slice (you may include some of the fat)
About ¼ tsp of whatever herb you prefer and are using in the tomato sauce (thyme, oregano, fresh basil, rosemary)
½ cup thickened gravy from the roast, or ½ cup stock or bouillon blended with 1½ tsp cornstarch
1 clove mashed garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
1 egg
3 to 4 Tb chopped fresh parsley
Stir the ground meat into the onions, along with the herbs, the gravy or bouillon, and garlic. Simmer 2 to 3 minutes to blend flavors. Season carefully with salt and pepper to taste, and a little more of the herb if you think it necessary. Let cool while you are completing other parts of the recipe. When tepid or cold, blend in the egg and the parsley.
Assembling the casserole
Ingredients for the 2 lbs. sliced, blanched, and sautéed eggplant in preceding recipe, but 2 cups tomato sauce, and the tomato juice and 1 cup coarsely grated Swiss cheese (or ⅔ cup Parmesan if you prefer)
An oiled 3-quart baking dish or casserole such as a round earthenware one 10 inches in diameter at the top and 3 inches deep
¼ cup coarse white bread crumbs, fresh or stale
2 Tb olive oil or melted butter
A rubber spatula
1 cup tomato juice
A cover for the casserole, or aluminum foil
For a round casserole 10 by 3 inches, you will have 4 layers each of eggp
lant, meat, tomato sauce, and cheese. Arrange them, then, in the casserole in that order, ending with a mixture of cheese and bread crumbs tossed together. Dribble olive oil or melted butter over the top. Drawing edges of ingredients ¼ inch toward center of casserole in several places, pour in the cup of tomato juice.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: May be assembled a day in advance of baking.
Baking and serving—about 1¼ hours at 375 degrees
Cover, heat to simmer on top of stove, and bake as directed in Step 4 of preceding Master Recipe.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: May be baked in advance and reheated.
TWO RECIPES FOR GREENS
BLETTES GRATINÉES
[Swiss Chard Gratinéed with Cheese Sauce]
This way of serving chard brings out its special flavor, and makes it a most attractive accompaniment to roast beef or chicken. Here both the long white stems and the large green leaves are used, but they are cooked separately before being combined.
For 6 to 8 servings
1) Preparing the chard
About 10 stalks (2 bunches) fresh chard
Cut the green part of the leaves off the white of the stalk that runs up the center of the leaves. Wash leaves and set aside. Trim off any discolored bits and ends, wash the long white stalks thoroughly, and cut into ¼-inch slices (makes about 8 cups).
2) Cooking the white stalks
¼ cup flour (instant-blending works nicely here)
A heavy-bottomed 2½-quart saucepan (no-stick is useful)
A wire whip
1 cup cold water and 2 cups hot water
1 tsp salt
1 Tb lemon juice
The sliced stalks
A wooden spoon
A sieve set over a bowl
Place flour in saucepan. Beating with wire whip, gradually blend in the cold water to make a smooth mixture. Beat in the hot water, salt, and lemon juice, and bring to the simmer, stirring. Add chard stalks and simmer about 30 minutes or until they are tender, stirring occasionally, and adding a little more water, if necessary, to prevent scorching. Drain, reserving cooking liquid. (You will note that the chard stalks acquire a subtle flavor when finally tender, and that they leave a sticky film on the bottom of the pan.)
3) Cooking the green leaves
The green leaves
A large pan of boiling salted water
A colander
While the stalks are simmering, drop the leaves into the boiling water, bring rapidly back to the boil, and boil uncovered for 5 to 6 minutes or until leaves are fairly tender. Drain, refresh in cold water, squeeze dry a handful at a time, and chop. You will have almost 2 cups; mix them into the cooked stalks.
4) Sauce and assembly
1 egg yolk
¼ cup heavy cream
A clean saucepan
The stalk-cooking liquid (plus milk if necessary to make 2 cups)
Salt and pepper to taste
A buttered 5- to 6-cup baking dish about 2 inches deep
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tb butter
Blend the egg yolk and cream in the saucepan with a wire whip, then gradually blend in the stalk-cooking liquid. Bring to the simmer, stirring, and simmer 1 minute. Correct seasoning. Spoon a layer onto the bottom of the baking dish. Taste the cooked stalks and leaves, and season if necessary. Spread half in the dish, spread on half the sauce and half the cheese. Repeat with the remaining chard, sauce, and cheese and top with the butter, cut into dots.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: May be completed a day before serving; cover with plastic and refrigerate.
5) Serving
If chard is still warm, set under a slow broiler until just beginning to bubble and top is nicely browned. If cold, set in upper third of preheated 375-degree oven for about 30 minutes just until bubbling hot and top has browned.
GRATIN D’ÉPINARDS AUX OIGNONS
[Spinach Braised with Onions—also for other greens]
This is creamed spinach with character, which will stand up to steaks, chops, roasts, and broiled fish; you can also serve it with poached eggs and croûtons. Although fresh is best, frozen spinach is very successful done this way, as are other greens such as collards, chard, and kale.
For 4 people
1 cup minced onions
3 Tb olive oil
An 8-inch, heavy-bottomed no-stick or enameled frying pan
Optional: 1 to 2 large cloves garlic, mashed
2 cups blanched, chopped spinach (2 lbs. fresh spinach boiled 3 minutes, drained, squeezed dry, and chopped)
2 Tb flour
1 cup hot milk, more if needed
Salt and pepper to taste
2 to 4 Tb heavy cream
Cook the onions in the oil for 8 to 10 minutes or more until tender and just beginning to brown lightly. Add optional garlic and cook for a few seconds, then stir in the spinach and cook over moderate heat, stirring, for 2 minutes. Blend in the flour and stir over moderate heat for 2 minutes more. Remove pan from heat; gradually blend in the milk. Set again over heat, bring to the simmer, stirring, and add seasonings to taste. Simmer slowly over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to be sure spinach is not sticking to pan. Spinach is done when it is tender and has absorbed the milk. (If you are doing other greens you may have to cook them longer, and add a little more milk.) Just before serving, taste carefully for seasoning and stir in the cream, a tablespoon at a time.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: Set spinach aside after it has simmered in the milk; smooth it with a rubber spatula and spread 2 tablespoons of cream over it. Reheat and finish seasoning just before serving.
PUMPKINS AND SQUASHES
Courges et Courgettes
Before Columbus sailed back from his famous voyage of 1492 the squash family was unknown in Europe. The only written accounts date from after his return, and this seems as good a reason as any to trace the origin of squash from the Americas. Our word, “squash,” is of Algonquin origin; the Latin generic is Cucurbita, and the French, courge. Hard-shell, mature, yellow-fleshed varieties like Hubbard, turban, acorn squash, and even pumpkin come under the popular heading of winter squashes, courges, while the soft-shell, tender-seeded types like zucchini, yellow crooknecks, and pattypans are called summer squashes, courgettes. However, winter squash is available in August, and summer squash can be found in December as well as June. Our main emphasis here will be on summer squash, particularly zucchini, but we shall start off with a prize pumpkin.
LE POTIRON TOUT ROND
[Stuffed Pumpkin or Pumpkin Soup Served in a Pumpkin]
In France a potiron is any member of the squash family including the citrouille, which is a pumpkin-like yellow-fleshed squash tasting like our Hubbard and acorn squashes. Thus you can never be quite sure whether you are getting in France what we would call pumpkin or what we would call squash; many’s the bride who has tried to duplicate her French mother-in-law’s famous potage au potiron and finds that the secret ingredient which gave that wonderful flavor was squash rather than pumpkin. Use American pumpkin for this recipe, which can be either a soup or the starchy vegetable to go with turkey, goose, duck, pork, or game birds. Cooked and served in the pumpkin itself, this always makes an amusing presentation.
As a vegetable serving 6 to 8
1½ cups (pressed down) fresh white crumbs from nonsweetened homemade-type white bread
A roasting pan
A fine, hard, unblemished 4-lb. pumpkin (about 6 inches in diameter) with 2-inch stem
1 Tb soft butter
Salt
Spread the bread crumbs in the roasting pan and let them dry out in a 300-degree oven, stirring occasionally; this will take about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, with a short, stout knife, cut a cover 4 inches in diameter out of the top of the pumpkin. Scrape all the stringy material and seeds from cover and inside of pumpkin (an ice-cream spoon and grapefruit knife are useful for this). Rub inside of pumpkin and the cover with the soft butter and sprinkle lightly with salt.
⅔
cup finely minced onions
6 Tb butter
An 8-inch frying pan
½ tsp salt
Pinch of pepper and nutmeg
½ tsp ground sage
½ cup finely diced or coarsely grated Swiss cheese
2 to 2¼ cups light cream
1 bay leaf
A shallow lightly buttered baking/serving dish to hold the pumpkin
While bread crumbs are drying, cook the onions in the butter for 8 to 10 minutes over low heat until tender and translucent. Then stir in the crumbs and let them cook slowly for 2 minutes to absorb the butter. Stir in seasonings and sage. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese, then spoon the mixture into the pumpkin. Pour in the cream, adding enough so mixture comes to within ½ inch of pumpkin rim. Lay bay leaf on top and replace cover.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: May be prepared in advance to this point.
Baking and serving—baking time about 2 hours
Bake in a preheated 400-degree oven for about 1½ hours, until pumpkin is beginning to soften on the outside and the inside is beginning to bubble. Reduce oven thermostat to 350 and bake another half hour until pumpkin is tender but still holds its shape solidly. (If pumpkin is browning too much, cover loosely with foil or brown paper.)