Day 2 - Eggplant

It's technically another year, the Christmas tree was officially delivered to the curb tonight, and I figured I should get around to actually posting stories about Cafe Davis before they fade into my memory. So I'm back to Day #2 - eggplant. Cafe Davis had a change of venue that night when we ventured into the "Annex," our former garage-now family room. My original plan was to have all of Cafe Davis out there, but this one foray into that bright idea left me feeling like I was waiting tables in a VERY LARGE restaurant. I henceforth had a change of heart.

I do appreciate our guinea pig guests who braved the journey across the backyard for the one and only Annex dinner - Nick Lepp, Erin Hadi, and Leah Webb, pictured in the fuzzy picture below, Paula Davis and Evelyn Button, pictured with the cute kiddo below, and Fannie Hutton and Misty Newman, pictured in the last picture below.

The menu was a veggie night featuring eggplant, and included roasted eggplant dip with crudite, rigatoni with eggplant puree, and grilled eggplant stacks with tomato and feta. Dinner was lovely because of the company, but I really didn't feel like any one dish stood out that much. I'll share the eggplant stacks recipe because I think it has the potential to be the best, but I wonder if lightly breading and frying the eggplants would have been better. Or maybe I just needed to toss them in more oil/grill longer. I dunno - I just don't feel like they lived up to their potential, and I'll leave them at something worth tinkering with again. Regardless, the stacks had tomato and feta, and that alone is yummy enough. Without further adieu, heeeeeeeere ya go! The recipe is originally from Gourmet magazine.

Grilled Eggplant Stacks with Tomato and Feta

• 1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 medium eggplants (1 3/4 to 2 lb total)
• 1 large tomato (about 4 inches in diameter) and 2 medium tomatoes (about 2 1/2 inches in diameter)
• 3 oz feta, crumbled (about 3/4 cup)

• Garnish: finely shredded fresh basil leaves

Blend basil with oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt in blender until finely chopped. Pour into a paper-towel- or coffee-filter-lined sieve set over a bowl and let drain 20 minutes. Gather together sides of towel or filter and press gently on it to extract more oil. (You will have a generous 1/3 cup oil.) Reserve 1 tablespoon basil oil separately for serving. Scrape basil solids into a small bowl and reserve.

Prepare grill for cooking over medium-hot charcoal (moderate heat for gas); see "Grilling Procedure," below.

While grill heats, cut off bottoms of eggplants, then cut 6 (1/2-inch-thick) crosswise rounds from each, starting from cut end. Reserve remaining eggplant for another use. Cut 4 (1/3-inch-thick) rounds from large tomato and 2 center slices (1/3 inch thick) from each medium tomato, reserving remaining tomato for another use.

Lightly brush eggplant rounds on both sides with basil oil and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Grill on a lightly oiled grill rack, covered only if using a gas grill, turning over occasionally, lightly brushing eggplant with more basil oil occasionally if it looks dry, until eggplant is very tender, 6 to 10 minutes. (Leave gas grill on.)

Make stacks:
On baking pan, arrange 4 largest eggplant rounds side by side and spread each with a generous 1/2 teaspoon of reserved basil solids, then top each with 1 of 4 largest tomato rounds. Season tomatoes with salt and pepper and top each with about 1 tablespoon feta. Make another layer with medium-size eggplant rounds, basil solids, medium tomato rounds, salt, pepper, and feta, then top with remaining eggplant and feta.

Set baking pan on grill and cook stacks, with grill cover closed, until heated through and cheese on top is softened, about 3 minutes. Transfer stacks to 4 plates and drizzle plates with reserved basil oil.