Laurabelle's Blog

Yesterday Dorothea asked for raspberry recipes, and it just so happens that I’ve made a couple of raspberry pies or tarts in the last few days. Unfortunately, the recipes I used are in cookbooks, so all I can do is share references rather than the full recipes themselves.

The first recipe I used was for a raspberry tart, from a new cookbook called The Berry Bible. The other, which I made today, was a raspberry pie from the Joy of Cooking. Both of them are very good, but I think I prefer the Joy of Cooking recipe.

I made fresh pasta this afternoon, for the first time in my memory. I would say it’s the first time in my life, but Mom told me that I made pasta once when I was 4 or 5. It turned out okay; certainly it was passable for a first try. The dough was good and easy to work, but I didn’t roll and stretch it thin enough. The noodles were more or less the width of fettuccine and more even than I would have expected, since all I had to work with was a pizza cutter and a yardstick (for use as a straightedge). However, the noodles plumped up quite a lot when cooked, more than I had expected, so they were much too fat and thick. The flavor was still nice, and Jeff ate most of the batch (of course).

Next time I won’t be so afraid to stretch the pasta thin, and I’ll get a pasta machine as soon as I can!

Saturday Jeff and I went down to Olympia for Mother’s Day. While down there, we made a stop by Capital Footwear, a hippie shoe store where the staff care about comfort and quality and only sell shoes made by fairly paid labor. (For example, they don’t sell Doc Martens any more because that company opened a factory in China and lowered their prices.) I only found one pair that I really liked, but it wasn’t for lack of trying, on my part or theirs; I tried on pretty near every shoe in the store. I think I’ll go back every couple of months, though, and see what they’ve got that’s new. It’s a small, quality business that deserves my patronage.

Today Jeff and I invited my friend Alita to dinner. We had meant to get together over break, about a month ago, but it didn’t work out until now. The evening was all the more lovely for waiting.

This is probably my favorite recipe in the world. I got it from my French host mother. It’s delicious, and the great thing about it is that you can’t mess it up if you halfway follow the directions. Start with good, fresh, flavorful vegetables, and the end product will be divine.

Ingredients

• at least ½ (large) bottle of olive oil
• 2 eggplants, thinly sliced (0.5cm or ¼in.)
• 1 white onion, halved and sliced
• 5 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and cut into eighths
• 4 zucchini, sliced
• 1 large red bell pepper, sliced and thirded
• finely chopped garlic, as much as you want (2-3 cloves is probably normal, but I use more)
• 2-3 dried bay leaves

Instructions

Cover the bottom of a pot with olive oil and heat it on medium. When the oil is warm and shimmery, lay eggplant slices in a single layer in the bottom of the pot and let them soak up oil until they are yellow (darkened) and soft, 3-4 min. Remove the treated slices to a plate and add more to the pot. Add more olive oil as it is drunk by the eggplant.

When all the eggplant has been treated with olive oil, add the onion to the pot and cook it until slightly golden. Now add all the ingredients to the pot and cook it over a medium/low heat for two hours, stirring occasionally, until all the vegetables are soft and melt in the mouth.