Ingredients
3 large eggplants, sliced to rounds
1 cup chopped parsley
2 each large onions, sliced thinly
6 large tomatoes, sliced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 each celery hearts, chopped
2 tsp currants
1 tsp basil
1 tsp peppercorns, crushed
1 tsp capers, chopped
1 black pepper
1 cup olive oil
1 lemon wedges
Directions
Sprinkle eggplant slices with salt. Place in a large colander, cover
with weight & let stand about 45 minutes. Rinse thoroughly & pat dry.
Arrange half of the eggplant in a baking dish. Sprinkle with half the
parsley. Arrange the onions, tomatoes, garlic, celery, currants,
basil, capers, peppercorns on top. Season to taste with salt &
pepper. Sprinkle with remaining parsley. Top with rest of eggplant.
Pour olive oil evenly over the top. Cover with foil tightly.
Bake at 275F for 4 hours. Remove oil & bake for another 1 hour.
Let cool & then chill. Let stand at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours
before serving. Garnish with lemon wedges.
Joel Rapp, "Mother Earth's Vegetarian Feasts"
Servings: 10 servings
Cold Eggplant Provencale Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Eggplant; Vegetable
The History of Recipes
It is quite possible to track the history of written cooking instructions way back into distant history, in truth as far back into recorded history as early Egypt, and possibly even further than that. Interesting though that is, generally, these early records were just primitive pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for preparing meals.
Interestingly, the most ancient recipe discovered so far, according to food historians are a few ancient tablets in the Sumerian language which recount the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making those who drank it feel wonderful. Progressing into The time of the romans around 25BC a roman called Apicius assembled a few documents which described recipes prepared by the Romans. In his publication, he tells us how the roman meals were separated into hors d`oeuvres, entrees and desserts, a style of dining still practiced today. This early Roman chef tells us how the Roman cooks made use of many different aromatic flavors, including a few you will know such as basil, rue and dill. Moving on, there were two interesting cookery books which appeared in the 14th Century - a book published under the title `Forme of Cury`, and another called `Curye on Inglish`. Despite their titles, these books are nothing to do with the spicy food that is popular today, but instead descriptions of the types of meals cooked for the rich people of that time. Later, in the 15th century, knights returning from the crusades brought back many new foods and herbs from middle-east cuisine, such as coriander, basil and rosemary. The introduction of these new culinary ideas caused a surge in books on cooking, many of which are now in academic collections. During the next few hundred years, the upper-class families of Wesstern Europe tried to lay on the most extravagent meals, and because of this cooks and their recipes could command a high salary. However, it wasn`t until the 1800s the formal cooking and recipe collections became popular. Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Farmer in the US, dedicated years of their lives to collating, trying out, and writing down popular recipes of the day. By the time we get to the twentieth century, cookery publications were increasing in popularity mostly as a result of higher levels of literacy, people having more free time and having more money to spend. Like it or not, the introduction of TV brings us celebrity chefs and the demand for the accompanying recipe books. Which brings us neatly up to date and the invention of computers and the internet, permitting everyone to search through massive numbers of recipes like those on sites such as this. |
We hope you enjoy this Cold Eggplant Provencale recipe.
