Aubergine Stacks, Blackberry Crumble, Shrimp Alfredo Rigatoni, Berry Mini Tarts

Aubergine/Eggplant Stacks
I've made these stacks many different ways over the years, but this new version I like most of all.

1-2 Eggplant -- enough for 12 slices 3/4" thick x 3-4" diameter
4-6 oz soft Goat Cheese
1 jar or 1 cup Basil Pesto homemade or bought
1-2 Beefsteak Tomatoes -- enough for 8 slices 1/4" thick
1 jar Marinara of your choice

Cut the eggplant slices and lay them out on a baking sheet.  Turn on your broiler, drizzle the slices with EVOO, and broil 4-5 minutes until they start to color.  Repeat on the second side broiling 3-4 minutes.    

Do the same thing with the slices of tomato.  Don't cook either the eggplant or tomatoes mushy, leave them a bit al dente.  Cool and reserve.

In a 9x9 baking dish, lay down 4 slices of eggplant.  Spread each with a tablespoon or more of pesto. Top each with a 'dollop' of goat cheese.  Then top each with a slice of tomato.  

Repeat three more times until you have 4 stacks with 3 slices of eggplant and 3 slices of tomato in each.  Spoon the marinara sauce over the top of everything and bake at 400F for 30 minutes until everything is heated through and the cheese is nice and melted.

Blackberry Crumble
I picked up a box of blackberries from our SW Florida Produce Co-op, and just had to find something to do with them.  

This is the tastiest, easiest crumble recipe I know; good with any fruit, and can be multiplied to fit the size of your fruit crumble.   The recipe below covers a 6x6 baking dish easily.

6oz Blackberries

Crumble Topping
3 Tbsp Butter, softened
1/3 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup old fashioned or quick-cooking Oats
1/4 cup WW or AP Flour
1/8 tsp ground Cinnamon
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 375F.

While that's going on, rinse the berries and set them aside in your baking dish.  In  bowl, combine the crumble ingredients and stir with a fork until everything comes together and there is no loose flour or sugar.  Compact the mixture into a big lump and set aside for 15 minutes in the fridge or freezer to allow the oats to hydrate and stiffen the mixture.

When the oven is hot, break apart the lump over the dish of berries until they are covered with crumbles.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the crumble topping is golden brown.

Shrimp Alfredo Rigatoni
With the availability of jarred Alfredo sauces, this is really simple to make.  Or, you can start from scratch with sauteed garlic, whole cream and Parmesan cheese and make your own Alfredo sauce.  I made my Shrimp Alfredo with rigatoni rather than fettucini, since I already had some of that pasta shape on hand.

12 each 16-20 count shrimp
Alfredo Sauce (jar or homemade)
Frozen Peas
1/2 box Rigatoni

Peel the shrimp and saute them in a bit of oil and butter with a dash of Cajun seasoning if you want.  Set them aside.

Cook up the pasta to package directions, drain and rinse.  Transfer the pasta, shrimp and Alfredo along with the peas to a skillet and heat everything through.  Add a good amount of smoked paprika and serve piping hot!

By the way, "piping hot" does not refer to food being led to the table by a bagpiper.  Nor does it refer to food supplies being piped aboard a ship.  It refers to the high pitched sizzling whistling sound of escaping steam that comes from a really hot dish,

Mixed Berry Mini Tarts
Next weekend we're having our annual watching party of the 1987 A Child's Christmas In Wales movie, starring Denholm Elliott; and of course I'm providing munchies -- Strawberry Scones and Mincemeat mini-tarts.  Sally suggested that I make a test batch of the tarts so I could 'perfect' my No-Fail Tart Crust.  This was the result.

I had some blackberries and strawberries laying about so I just chopped them up and stewed them with a bit of water and sugar, letting them cook down  and thicken to make the filling

No-Fail Crust
This is a slight variation of a classic English Short Crust dough.  Very simple indeed.

1-3/4 cup AP flour
1 stick unsalted Butter 
1/2 tsp Salt 
2 Egg Yolks (no egg whites need apply)
3 Tbsp Ice Water

Makes a dozen mini tarts (2.5").

Preheat the oven to 375F. 

In your food processor, take the flour, salt and butter for a spin until the mixture looks like fine crumbs (10-20 seconds of pulsing). Don't overdo it!

In a small bowl whisk together the water and the yolks. With the processor running, add the yolk mixture and stop spinning as soon as the dough comes together in a ball – about 5 seconds!

Roll the dough out between sheets of waxed paper.  In this case roll the dough out a bit more than 1/8" thick.  Use a ring cutter to make disks that will fit your mini tart pan, trimming if necessary.  Leftover dough gets turned into the lattice or other top crust bits.

Dock the bottoms of the tarts with a fork and bake the empty crusts about 15 minutes until just starting to color.  Remove from the oven and allow the shells to cool in the pan.

Fill the cooled shells with a couple tablespoons of berry mixture, then add the topping crust lattice or disks with a center hole.   Bake the filled tarts about 15 minutes to cook the top crust.   Serve hot from the oven or cool to room temperature.

Did you know that mincemeat really was originally minced (ground) beef or venison, suet, chopped dried fruit, whisky, and spices??  Some modern mincemeats still contain animal fat (butter or suet) so if you're a hardcore vegetarian or vegan, make sure to read the label for the contents.