Friday, June 22, 2007

MINI RANT AND EGGPLANT ROLLS

In looking at the articles Mom posted in the comment section in response to my post yesterday I got even more pissed off. This time my anger is directed at the media. I understand that it is the job of the media to print stories that are going to be of interest to people and that will elicit an emotional response. It is also their responsibility to make the facts clear. I wasn’t the only person who read that this beating happened at a Juneteenth celebration, not outside an apartment building near where the festivities were winding down. I am not the only person who interpreted the story the way I did because of how it was written. Don’t get me wrong, most of the things I said yesterday still apply. However, to suggest that this event was in the midst of the celebration is misleading and causes improper associations. Any responsible journalist would know that. Ok, rant done, let me talk about food.

On Tuesday I made these delectable Eggplant rolls. What a fantastic dish. The recipe made four rolls and I had a lot of extra filling leftover which I used (along with some remaining pesto) to make an awesome pasta dish. I suppose you could stuff the rolls more than I did but then they wouldn’t be as cute. You can also lay the extra filling out on the plate so it appears to delicately spill out of the roll and garnish with a few ribbons of fresh basil. Anything works. One roll and some extra filling was perfect for a meal.

-2 medium sized eggplants with the insides scooped out within about ¼ inch of the outside. Dice the insides
-1 ¾ cup small white beans or cannelini beans (the recipe I used called for kidney beans, which I used, but I think the white beans would be better)
-½ anise bulb diced (the recipe called for a fennel bulb but they didn’t have them at my store and although this is a different flavor I thought it would meld well with the dish and I was right)
-Few tbsp olive oil for various things
-5tbsp or so of pesto- if you are the type to make your own you already know how to do it and if you are not just buy some
-1 zucchini diced
-5 small tomatoes deseeded and diced
-3 cloves garlic pressed
-12 very thinly sliced pieces of Swiss cheese (cheese slicer thin not knife thin)
-Salt and pepper to taste
-12 toothpicks

-Preheat oven to 425
-Brush eggplant skins lightly with olive oil and bake for 40 min
-Heat a tbsp of olive oil in a LARGE sauté pan
-Add diced eggplant and pressed garlic and sauté for about one minute
-Add the tomatoes and sauté for about 25 min stirring often until eggplant is nice and soft. If eggplant stats to stick add a tiny bit of water to the pan but the tomatoes should keep things nice and mushy
-Remove eggplant mixture from pan and, while still hot, add anise and sauté one minute
-Add zucchini and beans to the pan and sauté for about 5 min.
-Add eggplant mixture to pan and cook to meld the flavors until the skins are done add salt and pepper to taste if needed
-Place about 1tbsp of pesto in each eggplant skin and spread it around
-Take three Swiss slices and line the skins with them
-Put a bunch of the filling mixture into each skin
-Fold the skin up like a taco and fasten together with three toothpicks
-Brush the outsides of the rolls with the remaining pesto
-Place rolls in a lightly oiled or buttered pan and bake for 15 min until the pesto is slightly crisp
Enjoy!

1. Well my name is Young MC and I’m cold rockin’ the house/ I came up into the place and now I’m turning it out.

2. My baby’s always dancing/ And it wouldn't be a bad thing/ But I don't get no loving/ And that's no lie.

3. The creator of what’s now cliché/ Had some funny words to say/ all you little things are incomplete/ Why did he speak of us that way.

4. Just before our love got lost you said/ I am as constant as the northern star and I said/ Constantly in the darkness/ Where’s that at/ If you need me I'll be in the bar.

5. Your mom is so fat/ How fat is she/ Your mama is so big and fat that she can get busy with/ 22 burritos when times are rough/ I seen her in the back of Taco Bell with hand cuffs. Yo Mama, Pharcyde. Identified by Monica

8 comments:

Traveling Matt said...

5 ya mama by the parcyde. i loved that shit when it came out. LOVED it

Anonymous said...

Yeah, the thing that gets me about the media story is that you can bet the retractions (if any!) will be printed in back pages or mumbled when hardly anyone is listening. So, many people will be walking around with all kids of improper assoiciations and bad misimpressions. And that's not right.

notfearingchange said...

Yes the media is very much about selling the news as opposed to the truth. It causes us the public to need to read several sources to actually know what is going on. If we're lucky enough to find several sources.

Sling said...

The media,in this case,was appallingly irresponsible,if not downright despicable.
There was a time when journalists held themselves to much higher standards.

Report the facts,and let thinking people decide for themselves how it might impact themdelves,and their world.

It seems that has given way to glib hyperbole,and ill-informed sensationalism,all for the sake of appealing to the least common denominators among us.

Nice rant Natalie..

Johnny Yen said...

Yeah, that's really irked me that the original story was so misleading.

One of my oldest friends is a journalist-- he works for the Hartford Courant, which is owned by the Tribune. He tells me that because of the economic squeeze put the newspaper industry, it's increasingly understaffed as they attrit down positions-- simply not replacing people who retire or quit. He finds himself now the only member of a department that used to have 4 or 5 people, but is supposed to cover all the stories the department would cover.

Good article, incidentally, in the the New York Times yesterday, about Sam Zell, the guy who's leading the group that bought the Trib. Interesting thoughts on how he hopes to save the paper through employee ownership.

http://select.nytimes.com/2007/06/23/business/media/23nocera.html

CS said...

I had no news contact for a week, so I just had the interesting experience of first reading your intial take, then your view after more accurate details come out. It's such a disservice to mis-report and then do a retraction - by then much of the damage has been done. I'm glad to hear it wasn't how it was at first reported, and yet it still strikes me a a tragic story as it actually occurred.

notfearingchange said...

sorry there is a tag waiting for you at my place....come on by...

With Love, Fat Girl said...

Hi! I've tagged you for a meme. You know you want to do it...