Eggplant Balls at Adele’s

These luscious eggplant balls look just like meatball’s but are a “no meat” kind of meatball made with eggplant, fresh garlic, parsley, eggs, Reggiano Parmesan and bread crumbs. They are formed into balls and broiled with a drizzle of olive oil until golden! They are vevelty on the inside with a little golden caramelization on the outside. They are so delicous all on their own and when you simmer them in a tomato-basil sauce they get even better, if that is at all possible! 

A few weeks ago, I got a message from a friend of mine that I needed to meet this family of amazing Italian cooks who were so much fun to be around and how it would make for a great show! Boy, was she right! Adele and her daughter Sonia are just lovely people. Adele is not only passionate about her recipe’s and cooking but about life in general. Sharing her memories from Italy made me feel like I was there with her. Adele’s vivaciousness is an inspiration to how life ought to be lived.

Now, I thought I was the eggplant queen, loving everything about eggplant and all that there is to create with eggplant, from eggplant parmesan, rollatini, to stuffed eggplants (haven’t had a chance to put the stuffed eggplant show together yet…but it’s on the list!) until I met Adele and had a bite of her unbelieveable eggplant balls! Wow, what can I say. The day she invited me over to taste these incredible morsels I knew I had to let the secret out and share this recipe with all of you so you too could experience this creation!

It looks like you now have an amazing reicpe to take care of all those eggplants you have in your garden. If you don’t have a garden, don’t fret there’s an abundance of eggplants at your local market, year round really. Can’t wait for you to make these eggplant balls of Adele’s and add this recipe to your “go to” Italian dishes to impress dinner guests! You might want to add a couple of apps to this like my baked asparagus wrapped in proscuitto, or crab cakes and don’t forget to throw in some incredible desserts like baklava, chocolate pecan pie or drunk blondies with a caramel bourbon sauce!…YUM!

Ingredients For Eggplant Balls, Makes approx 28-34 eggplant balls:                                                                                                                 NOTE: Colleen, a new friend & Travel Epicurean Follower told me she makes these in 2 STEPS -DAY 1 – boil the cut-up eggplant, then put into the fridge over night set in a colander to drain…DAY 2 – continue on with the rest of the recipe!

• 14 cups cubed up eggplant – 6 large eggplants
• 3 eggs
• 4 cups – 1 full loaf of 1-2 day old Italian bread (cut in half and leave on the counter for 2 days to help dry out the bread), wheat bread if you can get it, coarsely ground-up in the food processor OR 1 1/3 cups fine ground dry bread crumbs
• 1 1/2 cup grated Reggiano Parmesan
• 3 ex-large garlic cloves put thru a garlic press
• 1 head of coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. Simmer tomato-basil sauce ready to add in eggplant balls
2. Cut the ends off 6 small eggplants and peel them with a potato peeler
3. Cut the eggplants into 1/2″ stips lengthwise and then crosswise 1/2″ inch – cutting into cubed size piecces – it will measure approx 12 cups
4. Bring a large pot of water to a boil with 1 tbsp salt – filling the water only 1/2 way up the pot
5. Add in the 12 cups of cubed up eggplant to the boiling water all awhile pushing pieces down, they will try to float up and cover
6. Turn heat down to a simmer and cook 5 minutes
7. Remove cover and stir eggplant pieces with a spoon to help evenly distribute the cooking
8. Cover and cook another 5 minutes, total 10 minutes
9. Drain into a colander, then make a well in the center of the eggplant pieces
10. Cover eggplant well with a small plate and a large full can on top of that – to weight down eggplant helping drainage
11. DO NOT RINSE with cold water
12. Leaving draining for 1 1/2 – 2 hours OR for the quicker method …you can press the plate to force the water out, then use paper towel to remove any excess 
13. During this time, at 30 minute intervals, stir the eggplant pieces then replace the plate and the can and continue to drain and cool
14. When the eggplant is drained add it to a large mixing bowl
15. Add in the rest of the ingredients in the list
16. Mix by hand until combined and then shape into 2″ balls
17. Cover cookie tray with foil and spray with Pam
18. Place the eggplant balls on the tray
19. Drizzle olive oil over the tops of all the eggplant balls and broil for 11 minutes NOTE: place 2 racks top from the top broiler rack)
20. Take eggplant balls out and carefully turn over without ripping the bottom of the ball
21. Place back under broiler for another 13 minutes until golden
22. Turn oven off and leave tray in the oven for another 5 minutes
23. Take out and add to tomato-basil sauce and simmer 20-30 minutes
24. OR freeze any eggplant balls you don’t need without the sauce for another time in ZipLoc baggies
25. Serve eggplant balls in the tomato-basil sauce with your favorite pasta!  Mangia…Mangia! 🙂

Adele’s Sangria:

• 1 bottle favorite Pinot Noir
• 3-4 peaches sliced

Add sliced peaches to a pitcher with as much red wine as you like, even better when you can let ferment over night in the frig!

Gnocchi at Louie’s

The anticipation of these light and fluffy, melt in your mouth gnocchi is what keeps you focused while you are working away forming these little potato pillows. The recipe for these delicious gnocchi we made at my friend’s Louie and Rachel’s house last weekend is probably the easiest one out there. Having our other friend’s Marco and Sheryl (from the show’s “Salmon B.L.T. Slider’s at Marco’s” and “Lobster Mac & Cheese at David’s“) working together with us forming and shaping the gnocchi made it a breeze. in fact, it felt as though we were only working on the gnocchi for mere minutes before popping them into the salted water. Louie served his gnocchi with a gravy or sauce made from tomatoes, red wine, herbs, garlic, homemade meatballs and sausages where the aroma’s alone made you salivate when first arriving at their front door!

If you have never made homemade gnocchi before you must try this simple recipe. Louie has been making his family’s gnocchi for over 20 years so this is a solid recipe thru and thru. You begin making the gnocchi with only 2 large potatoes and believe it or not this is enough potato to make about 200 gnocchi pillows.The other ingredients in the recipe are ricotta, egg, flour and Parmesan which balance out the dough nicely keeping it super light.

So remember to have a few friends over when making these delightful gnocchi to help with the task and before you know it you too will have a plate of homemade gnocchi right in front of you! A wonderful sauce to have with these gnocchi is my bolognese made with veal, pork, bacon, red wine, heavy cream and rosemary..YUM! Or you could go with a traditional red sauce with beef or turkey meatballs. Don’t forget some appetizers to go with these melt in your mouth gnocchi at Louie’s like my famous Caesar Salad or Crab Cakes! Mangia…Mangia! 🙂

Ingredients:

• 2 ex-tra lg russet potatoes – 1.5 lbs. total
• 1 cup whole milk ricotta
• 1 lg egg
• 1/3 cup grated Reggiano Parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Bring medium pan to a boil, adding 1 tsp salt
2. Add in the 2 whole russet potatoes – NOT PEELED
3. Boil the potatoes til tender, can pierce with a fork – APPROX 40 MINUTES
4. Remove potatoes with tongs to a cutting board and begin to peel off the skin with a fork gently scraping the outer layer
5. Cut the hot potato into half and load the potato ricer – MUST RICE THE POTATOES WHILE HOT for light and fluffy gnocchi!
6. Push the potato thru the ricer onto a cutting board and spread out the potato now to cool
7. Add 1 egg to a large mixing bowl and whisk
8. Add in the riced potato and mix with a fork just to combine
9. Add in the ricotta, Parmesan, salt and pepper and mix with the fork to combine
10. Add in 1 1/4 of the flour and mix with a fork at first and as it comes together begin to mix with you hands, if it’s too sticky add a pinch more flour
11. Turn dough out onto work surface with a small amount of flour
12. Begin to cut off a little at a time from the lg ball of gnocchi dough and roll out each piece into a long 1/2″ x 18″ (approx) rope
13. Cut rope into 1/2″ pieces and then roll each piece off a fork to form indents
14. These indents help to hold the sauce
15. Lay a dish towel over a cookie tray and sprinkle a little flour on top
16. As you form these little potato pillows lat them onto the dish towel
17. Bring a large pan of salted water to boil
18. Swirl the boiling water with a lg spoon to create a circular whirlpool …help to keep gnocchi from sinking to the bottom completely
19. Begin to add gnocchi to the boiling, swirling water
20. They will sink a little at first and then when they start to float when they are cooked – 3 MINUTES
21. Immediately begin to remove floating, swirling gnocchi with a slotted spoon to a large serving bowl with your gravy or sauce
22. Continue to do this until you go through all the potato dough
23. Cook what you want at this point
24. TO FLASH FREEZE:  Line up the extra gnocchi onto cutting boards that fit into your freezer and begin to flash freeze them until solid, sprinkle a little flour directly onto each board – Do not use a dish towel at this point
25. Then pop the frozen gnocchi off of the cutting boards and place frozen gnocchi into lg Ziploc baggies and back into freeze until future use

TIP:  When using flash frozen gnocchi in the future go directly from the freezer to the boiling water, give a couple of stirs so as not to clump at the bottom. NEVER thaw first or leave on counter too longer especially marble or granite because they will thaw quickly.