In the spirit of full disclosure, this month’s Cottage Cooking Club post will make you weep. In fact, it’s a two-weeper. Since I’m not the sort to hold back, suffer in silence, I feel inclined to share the pain.
PANZANELLA, recipe by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, River Cottage Veg
Cottage Cooking Club is a group devoted to eating our vegetables. With able assistance from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Veg cookbook, we are discovering unique and more creative ways to put nutrition on our tables. Every month our leader, Andrea, an award-winning blogger at The Kitchen Lioness, sends ten recipes for our consideration. We then make our choices.
Knowing July would be a busy month, I picked two classics: Panzanella (recipe here) and Eggplant Parmigiana (recipe here). Panzanella, a Tuscan bread salad, is considered an Italian national treasure. The late, Italian cooking legend Marcella Hazan described it best. “Throughout Central Italy, from Florence to Rome, the most satisfying of salads is based on that old standby of the ingenious poor, bread and water. Given the right bread – a gutsy, country bread such as that of Tuscany or Abruzzi -,” Hazan continued, “ there is no change that one can bring to the traditional version that can improve it.”
Unfortunately, like most classic dishes, every cook has a tweak or two. Link to the Pinterest site, type in Panzanella and, mamma mia, you’ll find 60 different bread salads. Gingerbread? Brussels Sprouts? Amaranth? Seriously? While Whittingstall’s version doesn’t venture too far off the rails, I was intrigued by his tomatoey dressing followed by his technique to moisten the bread. No water for this guy.
My friend, Donna Grauer, asked me to Theatre Aspen’s Little Women production (husband, Bernie, was a no-go for LW). Wouldn’t a light supper, a little wine, be a gracious before-the-theatre touch? The Grauers are card-carrying Italianophiles so Donna, unlike me, knew her Panzanellas. We found this bread salad flavorful and refreshingly light. If needing to satisfy bigger appetites, we agreed that protein, an entrée, is needed.
This is what a Before-the-Theatre soirée looks like in the mountains.
We all are familiar with Louisa Mae Alcott’s Little Women. Right? The theatre production, a musical, Jo, Beth, Meg and Amy, was wonderful. At Intermission, Donna handed me a wad of Kleenex, “Here, you’ll need this,” she said.
And, we did. I’ve read this novel many times. It’s a story. I know Beth dies. I’ve known that for more than 55 years. And, yet, when Beth died in the play, we could hear the sniffles, see the tears, throughout the theatre. My first weep.
EGGPLANT PARMIGIANA, coming out of the oven
If you return to Pinterest and do a Eggplant Parmigiana-search, you will again find 60 different recipes but very few variables. Eggplants. Tomatoes. Cheese. Quell è tutto. The techniques are similar. No one crawls too far out on that limb. Whittingstall’s recipe is easily put together and very, very good … I think.
This is where the second weep begins. I made this dish late Wednesday afternoon in anticipation of my daughter’s visit. It’s a 14-hour drive from California and Melissa would arrive Thursday evening, weary and hungry. My welcome-to-Aspen dinner would be the requested greens salad, Filet Mignon, (cooked John Lester-style) and fresh green beans. The Eggplant Parmigiana would be a Mom-addition to dazzle and impress.
That’s three small bites for me………
This is what went down. I pulled the EP out of the oven, took two or three bites, pleased with the result. After taking photos, I set the dish on the counter to cool and cleaned up the kitchen. The evening passed quickly with last-minute chores. Then, to bed. The next morning I discovered the EP sitting on the counter, cooling! Since I had already once poisoned my son-in-law with an unrefrigerated leftover corn dog, I decided against going 2-for-2. I’m still hearing “Do you remember when Gramma poisoned Dad?” at family gatherings. With a very heavy heart, I tossed it. Second weep.
Melissa and I walked through the breathtakingly beautiful John Denver Sanctuary. She will only know about the Eggplant Parmigiana if she reads this post. I do have my pride.
You can find this post’s recipes here and here. I suspect my colleagues chose to make other great recipes this month. Visit them at our CCC site.
I lika that you do the Italian… I grew up eating panzanella because my grandmother believed it was a sin to waste bread. Yours looks a lot nicer then what we ate, so does the eggplant parmesan. And I cry at everything.
Those seem to be weep-worthy events! Who doesn’t cry when Beth is dying? And who wouldn’t weep over that gorgeous eggplant parmesan being thrown out? I thought that the dish was quite delicious – luckily I did put leftovers in the refrigerator (I think I’ll have some tonight!). I made the panzanella too, though “unofficially”. I made a few unofficial recipes this month, it just turned out that way. But then again, it was early on… I’ve had to ramp up my cooking! Your salad looks really great. I love the idea of not wasting the bread, I think it makes me feel virtuous! I’m happy that you had such a lovely evening with your friend, and that Melissa was able to come for a visit. Beautiful photos!!
Your hair looks better than mine. ALWAYS! Anyway, so great being part of your blog this week, I continue to love my 5 minutes of fame whenever I can get it. The Panzanella was quite tasty and reminded me of Italy …we even had gelato which I usually have before dinner when I am in Italy. BTW,
very clever of you not serve bread with that meal.
And finally, I am heartbroken about your eggplant parmigiana. I wish we could have gotten a picture of you when you went into the kitchen in the morning. This sort of thing has been happening to me of late…our brains are apparently full.
Hugs, Talks to Rocks.
So sad about the eggplant, it sounds mighty fine! Love that picture of you with your daughter – you both look so happy. I know you both loved being together!
Such a shame you had to throw that absolutely gorgeous dish of eggplant parmigiana out! Your panzanella looks beautiful too and I’m happy you were able to serve that. I quite liked Hugh’s, but after reading Marcella’s quote, it seems I have one more recipe for this salad to try.
What an eventful posting you had, so many different feelings here, so sorry about the eggplant dish. Great post, beautiful presentation!
Wasn’t the panzanella wonderful?!!! So sorry to read that you had to toss the EP ! Lovely photo of you and your daughter. 🙂
Mary, nice theme for this month – and such nice choices – I did not make those two recipes (but the rest off the list) – I did not make the lovely looking Panzanella because I knew (HA!) that most CCC partipipants would end up making this (and indeed they came through) and the Aubergines are gracing our table tonight – your dish looks so tempting and so fresh – I am already looking forward to making this – thie picture of Melissa and you is absolutely priceless, I love it and the pre-theatre picture is just azing as well- love it when you share those precious moments with us – BTW before I ventured into law I studied theatre…theatre is wonderful!
Thank you so much for your wonderful post, great pictures of your fabulous looking dishes and for participating in the Cottage Cooking Club!
Love,
Andrea
I am so sorry about the eggplant parmesan 🙁 You’re taking it much better than I would have. I literally would have cried – and then tried to serve it anyway! It sounds like your dinner was a success even without it. I love your photo of the panzanella and that gorgeous blue bowl, it sounds like it tasted as good as it looked….On another note, I’m pretty into nutrition but I have a serious weakness for DQ. I would love to eat a Buster Bar every night. Your girls are very lucky!
Both dishes look wonderful. Is it wrong to admit that despite your confession of tears your posts left me smiling – a “been there” smile 🙂 Wondering if your daughter has read the post yet…!
Hi Mary, oh, so sorry about your eggplant parmesan! But then I must admit it made your story quite animated, and love your bit of tie in with Little Women. I didn’t prepare the eggplant parm since I have my own recipe to present as a Post in a short while. Hope you had fun with your daughter! Enjoy the month ahead!
Oh no! So sorry you had to throw that lovely eggplant out. And even thinking about Little Women can get me tearing up…