Sicilian eggplant pizza: light meal from a gorgeous farm market vegetable

A slice of Sicilan eggplant bakes into a soft, tasty base for individual pizzas. We topped with marinara and Asiago cheese.Sicilian eggplant at Scotch Plains Farmers Market. Prepared in old-fashioned ways, eggplant dishes can be full of sodium from the salting and weighting that squeezes out excess moisture. 

They can be full of fat because eggplant's spongy texture soaks up a lot of oil when fried.

We recently found globes of spectacularly gorgeous purple and white Sicilian eggplant at Scotch Plains Farmers Market and decided to try using half-inch slices in place of a bread crust for home-baked individual pizzas.

We had previously baked slices of the regular type of eggplant with good results. So, we placed the eggplant slices on a pan brushed with olive oil. No foil or parchment lining is needed. The exposed eggplant tops also were brushed with oil.

After 20 minutes of roasting at 425 degrees, the eggplant was tender. We flipped the slices, spooned marinara over the tops, sprinkled on shredded Asiago cheese and returned to the oven 5 minutes to melt the cheese.

The flavor and soft texture reminded me of eggplant rollatini -- with less cheese and without the breading or fried oiliness.

The flavor of the Sicilian eggplant was slightly sweet, and it seemed lighter. It was a quick and easy way to enjoy fresh eggplant.

Here's the recipe we'll start with for real-deal rollatini.

Scotch Plains "Cannonball house" opens Oct. 1 for Scotch Plains Day

A Colonial-style flower and herb garden surrounds the Osborn Cannonball House Museum at 1840 E. Front Street in Scotch Plains If you live in Scotch Plains or surrounding areas, it can be enlightening to visit a little 18th century house where Jonathan and Abigail Osborn raised 13 children.

This is a house that has withstood time as well as an actual cannonball strike. Its low ceilings and doors help illustrate how we humans – like our dwellings – have grown in size.

Members of the Osborn family were instrumental in the early development of Scotch Plains, and their home still stands at 1840 E. Front St., preserved as the Osborn Cannonball House Museum since 1972. 

The yellow clapboard cottage is opened to visitors on the first Sunday of each month (except January and February). On Sunday, Oct. 1, the museum will be open for  Scotch Plains Day from 11 a.m.  to 3 p.m. The museum joins the celebration of the founding of our community from the village of Scotch Plains in Elizabethtown, to the Township of Westfield, to the Township of Fanwood, to the present day Township of Scotch Plains. There will be costumed docents to give tours and tell the history of the house and of the Osborn family and their participation in the American Revolution.


Visitors to  the Colonial-era museum will see enduring period construction that relied on the wooden pegs that came before iron nails, brick-filled walls, hand hewn ceiling beams and wide wooden floor boards. Plaster was made of crushed oyster shells and strengthened with animal hair. The original kitchen has been uncovered, revealing a bee-hive oven and recessed porch.

Admission to the museum is free, but donations will help support work of the Historical Society of Scotch Plains and Fanwood New Jersey, which operates the restored and furnished museum.

Scotch Plains has numerous historic sites, including the formerly Black-owned Shady Rest Country Club, which drew African American elites and renowned performers from 1921 into the 1930s.

See a list of local historic sites from the 18th and 19th centuries at HistoricalSocietySPFNJ.org. Among them is original Stage House Tavern, built in 1737 as the Stage House Inn.  The tavern continues to serve at the corner of Park Avenue and Front Street, just steps from the Osborn house (built circa 1760) in what is now downtown Scotch Plains.

Resuming Sept. 26, the historical society will meet the fourth Tuesday of each month (excluding December). The public is invited to attend the 7:30 p.m. meetings at the historic Shady Rest Country Club, 820 Jerusalem Road, Scotch Plains.

The society provides historical lectures, many focused on the local area or New Jersey at large. New members are encouraged. For more information, email Info@HistoricalSocietySPFNJ.org or call 908-322-6700, ext. 230.

Photo courtesy of Historical Society of Scotch Plains and Fanwood New Jersey.

Chocolate banana muffin-top cookies

Chocolate banana muffin-top cookies

Chocolate banana muffin-top cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/2 cup mashed overripe banana

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sifted whole-wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

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Julia Morgan: An intimate biography of Hearst Castle's little-known architect

Hearst Castle, the estate architect Julia Morgan designed for William Randolph Hearst at San Simeon, in California's coastal mountains. Photo by Alexander VertikoffIn 1919, a 47-year-old woman began work designing one of the world’s most impressive estates, a sprawling compound at a 1,600-foot elevation about halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Architect Julia MorganWhen architect Julia Morgan died in 1957 at age 85, she had designed an estimated 700 structures — schools, churches, office buildings, hospitals, stores and residences -— most notably La Cuesta Encantada, William Randolph Hearst’s home on “the Enchanted Hill.” More than a century later, what came to be known as Hearst Castle continues to draw throngs of tourists to California from across the globe. Yet many visitors never learned that for nearly three decades a female designer was the planner who oversaw every detail of the estate’s evolving landscape.

It wasn’t until 2014 that Morgan’s lifetime of work was recognized by the American Institute of Architects with its Gold Medal. With the posthumous award, she became the first woman to join the ranks of such revered architects as Charles McKim, Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbsier.

In “Julia Morgan: an Intimate Biography of the Trailblazing Architect” (Chronicle Books, $32.50), author Victoria Kastner offers keen insights into Morgan’s life, her career, and the friendly working relationship that shaped Hearst Castle and other properties of the newspaper tycoon; his mistress, Marion Davies; and his mother, Phoebe Apperson Hearst, who attempted in vain to rein in her son’s extravagance.

In addition to his structures and gardens at San Simeon, Hearst installed an extensive zoo, for which Morgan designed bear pits, a giraffe house, open-air shelters and quarters for an elephant called Marianne.

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Recipe: Savory apple relish

Try apple relish as a cranberry sauce alternative. Chopped apples and apple cider vinegar are blended with onions and peppers. With ribs and seeds removed, the jalepeno only adds a mild kick. The savory-sweet result complements turkey breast roasted in a bacon wrap to help keep it moist.Savory apple relish

(6 servings) 

Ingredients

2 cups chopped apples, such as Macoun or Cortland

1/2 cup diced red  bell peppers

1/2 cup diced yellow bell peppers

1/3 cup diced red onion

1 small jalapeno pepper, ribs and seeds removed, finely diced 

1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper

4 strips crisply cooked bacon (optional

Instructions 

Toss all ingredients except bacon in a large bowl to combine. If using bacon, keep it crisp by adding it to individual portions just before serving.

Photo and adapted recipe courtesy U.S. Apple Association