EGGPLANT & RED PEPPER TERRINE
25 july 2006

once upon a time, there was a girl who had a storied history with eggplant. this includes the time she struck up a conversation with a seemingly intelligent young man about eggplant's membership in the nightshade family, & how she was pretty certain she'd read somewhere that eggplant was poisonous if eaten raw. (this turned out to be 100% fiction.) this young man then parlayed this innocuous conversation into an opening to send an email which contained, among other gems, the lines: "I hope you don't freak on this , but I love to wear make-up and honor my inner Goddess/female anima" & "Linda wants you and Phil to come and hang out at my place one early eve. for mixed drinks/ tea and some neuron Xchange."

female anima indeed.

i suppose that's neither here nor there. the fact of the matter is that i AM that girl (!!) & i am suspicious of eggplant. but my e-friend meg (not to be confused with tortellini meg) sent me a link to this recipe with the following comment: "do you think this would taste good? i am dubious." i'd stalled out in looking for a recipe, putting jalapeno poppers on the back burner for the time being (especially when considering this tropical heatwave we've been experiencing here in the stl region), & so i latched onto the terrine readily. a cold summer dish? check! involving one of my favorite cheeses? check! & possibly offering an opportunity for eggplant to redeem itself? check!

i got this email from meg the day before our crazy storm (80mph winds! etc!) knocked out my power (& that of 500,000 other people), & so, being without electricity for two days sorta cramped my cooking style, what with the electric fridge (everything perishable -- perished! oh noes!) & the electric stove & the electric microwave & the electric FANS & AIR CONDITIONER & OK, when my power finally returned? it was 86 degrees on the first floor of my house & over 90 on the second! so don't even!!

so here you've got it: late, but worth the wait.

INGREDIENTS
3 large red bell peppers (about 1 1/2 lbs)
2 large, long (11"), firm eggplants (about 2 1/2 lbs)
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 1/2 cups (loose) flat-leaf parsley leaves
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 oz of firm brie cheese (or fresh mozzarella), cut into 1/8" slices (about 14 slices)

tomato sauce:
3 cloves of garlic, peeled & finely chopped
2 to 3 ripe tomatoes (1 1/4 lbs), each cut into 6 to 8 pieces
1/4 cup virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon tabasco sauce

METHOD
prepare the red peppers. arrange the red peppers on a tray & place them under a hot broiler so that their upper surfaces are about 1/2" from the heat. broil for 15 minutes, turning occassionally, until the peppers are blistered & black on all sides. immediately transfer them to a large plastic bag & seal or tie the bag shut. let the peppers steam in their own residual heat inside the bag for 10 minutes. then peel them (the skin will slide off), split them, & seed them under cool running water. dry the flesh with paper towels.

prepare the eggplants. heat a grill or grill pan until very hot. cut the eggplants lengthwise into 1/2" slices & lay out flat on a large flat surface such as a baking pan. brush the slices on both sides with the peanut oil, & sprinkle with salt. cook the eggplant slices on the grill, covered, for 4 minutes on each side, until they are nicely browned & softened. if your grill does not have a lid, make a tentlike lid of aluminum foil & place it over the eggplant as it cooks.

prepare the parsley. while the eggplant is grilling, soften the parsley by blanching it in boiling water for 5 to 10 seconds. remove, cool under cold water, drain.

build the terrine. line a terrine mold (loaf pan) with plastic wrap. arrange a layer of eggplant in the bottom of the mold & top it with about a third each of the red pepper pieces, parsley, & cheese. repeat, beginning & ending with a layer of eggplant, until all the ingredients are used. cover with plastic wrap & press on the wrap to compact the mixture. refrigerate.

at this point you can make the terrine in advance & store in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve it.

prepare the sauce. place the garlic & tomatoes in a blender & blend until smooth. push the mixture through a food mill (fitted with a fine screen) over a bowl. add the remainder of the sauce ingredients. mix well.

serve. to serve, pour some of the sauce on a large platter & unmold the terrine in the center. cut it into slices & serve with the remainder of the sauce.

DEVIATIONS & OBSERVATIONS
where to begin, where to begin ...

eggplant:
i don't have a grill. (what?) i don't even know what a grill pan is. so i decided to pan fry the eggplant -- my friend theresa & i made eggplant parmesan once upon a time, & i seemed to remember doing some pan frying at that point, so what could be easier? not to mention that i'm the queen of pan frying, no sweat. unfortunately, eggplant soaks up oil like nobody's business, so all this made the eggplant a little greasy. plus, i think my slices were a little thin -- not quite 1/2" thick -- so they got a little flimsy, too.

terrine mold:
i halved the recipe b/c, ok, i'm one person & there's no way i needed to make this whole recipe. i still used a standard-sized loaf pan, though, so the terrine wasn't as thick as it might have been -- i think i had three layers of eggplant (& two of everything else) instead of four & three, respectively. no big deal.

tomato sauce:
a food mill? seriously? b/c no. i added the oil to the tomatoes & garlic in the blender b/c i couldn't remember what the instructions said (it'd been a day since i'd printed them, as i made the rest of the terrine the afternoon before), but it turned out a-okay. normally, the thought of a gazpacho kind of grosses me out (had a bad experience in high school eating ice cold gazpacho that i expected to be a warm soup), but this cold tomato sauce was really excellent, especially with the mozzarella.

the rest of it:
so apparently i still dislike eggplant. this + greasy eggplant + greasy roasted peppers = too much slippery slimy vegetable matter. take away the eggplant & the bell peppers, though, & you're on to something! or maybe i'm just a sucker for fresh mozzarella & tomatoes in ANY format.

i plated the terrine just like i would've done had i served it to someone who would've been impressed by presentation (it was just me, so i could've eaten it out of the loaf pan for all i cared -- but no, i had to get the glamor shot for YOU, my patiently waiting public). in fact, i took a fairly hearty slice despite the nagging feeling that i wouldn't be too enamored of the dish. the first bite with everything all together? was good. by the third bite, though, the gag reflex was kicking in & the eggplant was pushed to one side.

i really wanted this to be good, but i REALLY didn't like it.

on the upside, caroline's mom? loves eggplant. & apart from the parsley (which she decided was a misstep), she really dug the terrine. i shuffled the whole thing into a tupperware & had it over at her house within the hour. i was glad to have someone enjoy it, as i'd put a decent amount of work into it, & it sort of validated that it's not that i'm a bad cook, it's just that i make bad decisions based on my personal preferences at times. c'est la vie.

"Eggplant & Red Pepper Terrine" from Today's Gourmet II: Light & Healthy Cooking for the '90s by Jacques Pépin, 1992 (via meg: the silkening)