Roasted Eggplant with Yogurt Tahini Sauce

I never end up making the recipes in my cookbooks that don't have pictures accompanying them. It's sort of silly since the dish never looks like the picture anyways but it's the picture that grabs my attention. Although on the flipside I adamantly avoid restaurants that use pictures to advertise their food. Always a bad sign!   Anyways, this is my excuse for taking so long to make the roasted eggplant recipe in the Smitten Kitchen cookbook. I finally decided to give it a whirl since yogurt and tahini are staples in my house. I was surprised at how pretty it was. I guess that is the upside to not comparing your cooking to professional cookbook photos!

http://www.thegreenbeet.com/appetizers/item/339-roasted-eggplant-with-yogurt-tahini-sauce

It's a simple recipe that involves eggplant, chickpeas, garlic, yogurt, tahini and lemon. I garnished it with some paprika for some color. I didn't find it substantial enough for a whole meal (oink, oink) but it's great with a big salad. I also ate it for breakfast and it reheats well.  But then again I'm probably the only weirdo eating eggplant for breakfast.

Pork Rib Roast with Apples

My parents always boycotted Costco. We are a newspaper family and they don’t advertise in newspapers so we didn’t give them our business. But the family is growing and food prices are soaring, so my mom has caved. She recently showed up at my doorstep with a giant Pork Rib Roast and 490 apples. We had no idea what to do with them but we were happy that they would feed an army. 

This simple recipe calls for apples, white wine, pork, salt and pepper. I skipped the gremolata and didn’t miss it. It’s pretty to look at and since it’s a fatty cut, it’s tender and delicious. 

http://www.marthastewart.com/868603/bone-pork-roast-apples-and-gremolata

I tried not to think about how we were selling out while we gobbled it down, but I felt undeniably guilty the next day. Maybe this is just the nudge I needed to talk me into paying for a New York Times subscription?