Big Fat Burritos & Curried Eggplant

The Food Nanny
September 15 & 16, 2009
Meal 1: Big Fat Burritos, Cucumber Gazpacho, Blue Moon Mix
· Unwrap the burrito and place in on a sheet tray. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes, or until hot. You can probably nuke these too…
· Dress the salad and serve the soup chilled. Meal 2: Curried Eggplant with Tomato, Grilled Flatbreads, Rice and Lentil Salad
· Warm the breads in the oven or by toasting them in a dry pan.
· Heat the curry in a microwave, on the stovetop, or even by putting the baking dish in the oven at 350° for 10-15 or until just bubbly.
· Serve the rice/lentils at room temp or heat them in a pan with a little oil, and then a dash of water.

Technique: Great Green Goodness
Gazpacho. What exactly is it? Well, if I was a Mexican raider a la "The Magnificent Seven" (btw, I totally recommend skipping this film and going straight to Kurasawa's masterpiece), or even "The Three Amigo's" for that matter, I would like the moniker 'Gazpacho.' Perhaps 'Gazpacho the Gringo' or 'Gazpacho the Green' or simply ' El Gazpacho' if you prefer the whole brevity thing.
Anyway, I see a gazpacho as a chilled soup based on a fruit puree. Yes, tomatoes and cucumbers are fruit. Garden fruit I call them, but fruit, botanically, they are. Also melon makes an alluring gazpacho as I have described before.
The fruit puree is then studded with diced and minced ingredients, seasoned well, and garnished with herbs. It is important to think of complementing flavors and textures as this soup is the perfect stage for both. The soup is silky, so diced crunchy items stand out. For this reason, cucumber is one of my favorite ingredients for a classic tomato gazpacho. In this case I decided to turn the idea on its head and build the soup around the cukes highlighted with sweet red pepper and some yellow heirloom tomato. Two important additions: a little heat from fresh chiles, and fresh herbs. Parsley and cilantro are great together in this soup. I like to not pass over an opportunity to play these flavor cards together.
Finally, the real techniquie I'd like to discuss however is the stock for this soup. In homage to the James Beard quote on this blog we've made a lot of stock from the corn cobs produced by cooking with and putting up the quantities of corn this summer. The sweet stock is good on its own, but to stack some flavor points I brought some to a boil and then plunged in all the cucumber peelings, trim, and scraped seeds created when cleaning them before pureeing.
This was then allowed to steep with no heat for about 1/2 hour, then strained and chilled overnight. I did not simmer the additions because the flavor I sought is delicate, and heat not only destroys some flavors, it brings out/creates some bitter ones, and as we all know, cukes can have a bitter aspect, so I acted with precaution and yielded a useful cucumber liquor for your soup. It is not only this idea that I recommend, but also the philosophy of frugality, utility, and thrift. Don't just cook like a cook. Think like a cook.