Eggplant, tomatoes and salmon?

I realized that since I’ve had this blog, I haven’t posted any recipes with eggplant (though during my March hiatus I made a twist on eggplant parmesan for some friends that went over very well). Well, eggplants have gradually become a favorite vegetable for me. I didn’t like them as a kid, but over time I have acquired a taste for the flavor and texture. Mostly the texture.

So I think I’m working my way bit by bit through the Green Glorious Greens cookbook I got from Walk a Crooked Mile. Usually when spring starts coming around I like making salads that I can have as a side during the week and as a lunch to bring to work. This book seems to have many great recipes that do just that for me. So this week I went with their recipe for pasta with eggplant and arugula.

I went down to NJ for the weekend and before stopping off at my friends’ house, I went to pick up some ingredients at this great Italian market in Hammonton, NJ, Bagliani’s. I found here my whole canned tomatoes, which were actually cheaper here than in Shoprite, a nice clamshell container of arugula and anchovies. My recipe didn’t call for anchovies, but I thought it sounded like a recipe that was begging for anchovies. Unfortunately their eggplants looked sad and they didn’t have any kind of squash so I had to find another place for them. For them, I ended up finding nice ones at this other good produce market Santori’s in Galloway, NJ.

This morning on my way out of NJ, I knew that I wanted to have fish to go along with the salad/pasta dish I was making. Unfortunately on a Sunday near my apartment, there are no good fish places nearby, unless I take a ride to Whole Foods, or Whole Paycheck so I thought I’d stop off in South Philadelphia. I made such good time on the road this morning that it was too early for me to stop into my favorite fish market, Ippolito’s. Instead, I took a ride to the good ol’ Italian Market and got a lovely parking spot at the intersection where Geno’s Steaks and Pat’s Steaks square off. I should have known myself enough that I couldn’t go there, get fish and just leave. It was a pretty truncated visit, though, compared to my usual. I stopped into Fante’s, of course. This time I popped into Talluto’s to get some frozen pasta for later dinners. Apparently my family is good friends with the Talluto’s somewhere down the line, though I don’t always stop there. My final non-fish market stop had to be Claudio’s, which I always prefer highly over its somewhat competitor DiBruno’s. It’s always much more low-key and less crowded in Claudio’s, plus they have what I think is the best provolone cheese in the world. Today, though, I actually didn’t get provolone, but instead got some really nice Claudio’s brand semolina penne pasta.

And I got some of their fabulous Parmigiano-Reggiano and a pretty jar of anchovies. Finally, I took a stroll back to Anastasi’s Seafood to get some good quality fish. I was originally set to get some kind of white fish steak like a halibut, but like I do many times at a fish market, I ended up deciding last minute to get a pound of salmon. Anastasi’s had some gorgeous looking Sockeye salmon from Seattle that I chose over the Norwegian salmon.

When I got to putting together the pasta with eggplant and arugula, the whole process moved along nicely. I had the eggplants in nice chunks, my favorite way to have them, added some red pepper flakes and anchovies to my whole tomatoes that I got to have fun crushing with my hands, and mixed everything into what turned out to be a great dish. It was finished off with the Parmigiano-Reggiano mixed in with everything.

And as for the salmon, I always see salmon as a fish that doesn’t need much dressing up as it has so much flavor naturally. With that, I simply dressed it with olive oil and sprinkled it with dill weed and roasted it for about 20 minutes. Since I didn’t have much to eat today, except for the madeleines from earlier, I was hungry for a good, hearty dinner and this whole meal certainly delivered well.