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    • What to Cook Now: Eggplant


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      Eggplant is so much more than just baked with Parmesan-it stars in dishes from Greece and China, Indonesia and Tunisia. We've gathered our favorite international recipes to diversify your eggplant portfolio.

      Cooking tips:

      • To Eat or Not to Eat

      You can eat the skin on young eggplants, but the skin of older ones can be bitter and may require peeling.

      • Salting

      The flesh of older eggplants can be bitter, too. To mitigate this, sprinkle salt on slices or chunks, and let them rest for 30 to 60 minutes in a colander until they begin to give up water. Rinse them well, pat them dry, and proceed with your recipe.

      • A La Minute

      When you're not using the above technique, cut

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    • 9 Great Grape Recipes


      Gorgonzola and Grape Pizza

      Gourmet | September 2006

      Yield: Makes 6 (first course) servings

      Grape focaccia is a Tuscan classic. Here, we've reworked it with two kinds of cheese and a dash of sweet wine.

      Ingredients

      For dough

      • 1 (1/4-oz) package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
      • 1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
      • 3/4 cup warm water (105-115°F)
      • 1 teaspoon salt
      • 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

      For topping

      • 1/3 cup Vin Santo
      • 1 tablespoon sugar
      • 1 1/2 cups red seedless grapes (9 oz), halved lengthwise
      • 5 oz Italian Fontina, rind discarded and cheese cut into 1/4-inch dice (1 cup)
      • 2 oz Gorgonzola dolce, crumbled
      • 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
      • Special equipment: a pizza stone; parchment paper

      Preparation

      Make dough:
      Stir together yeast, 1 tablespoon flour, and 1/4 cup warm water in a cup and let stand until mixture appears creamy on surface, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn't appear

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    • What to Drink When You are Dehydrated

      I had the misfortune of getting food poisoning earlier this week and we all know how much fun that can be. Having suffered from a stomach bug before I knew my diet for the days following should consist mainly of soup, bananas and saltines. What I didn't know was that water is not the best way to hydrate your body after it has gone through all this stress.

      I was told Gatorade, Coconut Water and Vitamin Water are far better options, mainly because they have electrolytes. So I followed that advice, until another friend told me that the end-all be-all hydrating liquid is actually Pedialyte, yes, I am talking about that stuff that you give babies.

      I won't lie and tell you that it tastes like a chocolate milk shake, and no, you don't have to drink it from a baby bottle, but I will say that it got rid of my headache.

      What do you have a go-to beverage or food that you consume when dehydrated?


      By Carolina Santos-Neves

      MORE FROM EPICURIOUS.COM

      18 healthy recipes

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    • Busy days ahead? Great recipes to make and freeze

      With my due date approaching, I'm starting to try to plan for those first few crazy weeks after the baby's born. One thing that a lot of moms I know recommend is to do a bunch of cooking ahead of time and stock my freezer with items that can easily be reheated for quick dinners. This sounds like a great idea to me, since I highly doubt I'll be doing much cooking while caring for a newborn, and I'd like to avoid ordering takeout every night. But what to make? My due date is near the end of August, and a lot of the traditional make-and-freeze recipes, like heavy casseroles and stews, just don't sound like appealing summer food.

      So I've been doing a bit of brainstorming and looking through Epicurious recipes. Here are the options that I've come up with:

      Chilaquiles: This Mexican casserole, which originated as a way to use up leftover tortillas, can make a filling dinner when a protein like beans or turkey is included. In Mexico, it's also popular topped with a fried egg, for a

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    • Celebrate Bastille Day with French Recipes

      France has been having a hard time in the news lately, with finance scandals dogging President Nicolas Sarkozy's government, a controversial law that bans women's veils about to be passed, and, of course, that painful-to-watch World Cup meltdown. But there's no denying that, when it comes to culture, no one else can match the French. So, in honor of Bastille Day today, why not toast la gastronomie Francaise with a delicious French meal?

      Since Bastille Day falls in the middle of the summer, I like to mark it with southern French foods that are perfect for hot weather. Maybe some ratatouille to showcase the season's ripe produce. Or a soupe au pistou full of fresh summer herbs. Add a chilled French rosé and you can almost imagine that you're at a pique-nique in a Provençal lavender field...

      If those recipes don't strike your fancy, we have dozens of other ideas for holiday menus and recipes. Or share your favorites below-will you be celebrating Bastille Day and, if so, how?

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    • 26 Sweet and Savory Recipes for Tofu

      We've loved soybeans for a long time. Domesticated by the Chinese for more than 3,000 years, tofu, soy's most well-known byproduct, was first created by the Chinese more than 2,000 years ago. Tofu made its way throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia, gaining a foothold in many different cuisines. Nowadays, it's clear that this dietary staple of many a vegan and vegetarian-as well as other forms of soy such as edamame and soy milk-has made its way into the dietary mainstream.

      For anyone wishing to incorporate more soy into their diet, tofu is a good choice. High in nutrients (iron and protein) and low in fat, tofu can mimic the texture of other foods and add either lightness or meatiness to a dish. Need a soup or cake to be creamy-smooth? Tofu can do that. Want something thick and meaty without eating meat? Reach for the tofu. Uncooked, tofu is edible, though many find it bland. The same blandness makes it the perfect ingredient to take on different flavors through various cooking

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    • Frozen Yogurt Taste Test

      We sampled 27 varieties of frozen yogurt and found 3 to be the cream of the crop

      With the explosion of high-end frozen yogurt stores in every city and the continual rollout of frozen yogurt-type desserts made with nondairy ingredients, we decided it was high time to roll up our sleeves, grab some spoons, and start tasting to decide which frozen yogurt really is the best. No sooner did we embark on our research than we realized this was going to be as complicated as the rules for the World Cup: There are many variations on the market, including low-fat; low-cal (although frozen yogurt is already generally much lower in fat and calories than ice cream); nondairy, from every imaginable source (hemp frozen dessert, anyone?), for those with a dairy, soy, or gluten allergy or intolerance; supermarket products vs. yogurt sold at chain eateries; and a multitude of flavors and degrees of tanginess. We also kept an eye on brands that call themselves frozen yogurt but lack active yogurt

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    • Twilight Fans, Would You Buy a Vampire-Themed Cookbook?

      The Vampire craze just keeps on going. Attractive bloodsuckers are so popular, in fact, that at least two new cookbooks are devoted to the topic. Both are called Love at First Bite and both are flying off shelves.

      A vampire-themed cookbook is an odd idea. I won't claim to be a vampire expert, but from what I understand, vampires eat blood not food. Thankfully these books are aimed not at actual vampires (if they existed, of course) but rather the people who love them. This includes not just "twihards," but fans of True Blood and The Vampire Diaries as well as Anne Rice devotees, people who own the Buffy the Vampire Slayer box set, folks who enjoyed Let the Right One In, and all the people that were into vampires long before anyone even considered the Team Edward-Team Jacob conundrum. Speaking of vampires in pop culture, Love at First Bite is also the name of a 1979 movie starring George Hamilton as a recently exiled Dracula looking for love in Manhattan (I haven't seen this

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    • Blueberries: Good for You & Even Better With Fat

      As someone who thinks Americans are too easily gulled by Big Food's health claims, I'm happy to see signs like this one, from Kernan Farms in South Jersey, popping up at New York Greenmarkets. Growers can't emphasize the obvious too much: Fruit is good food. Especially with the recall of sugar posing as cereal.

      And when you see all the pluses for blueberries, it's easier to justify not wanting to just eat them like popcorn. I like them well enough on their own but always think they're even better in muffins. Or lemon poundcake. Or pancakes. Or, best of all, a sour cream-loaded cake on a shortbread base, like this one. The nutrients have to balance out the dairy.

      The simplest way to dress them up, though, comes from one of the only coffee table cookbooks I keep shelved in the kitchen. "Jeremiah Tower's New American Classics" is a surprisingly accessible collection of recipes from one of the groundbreaking stars of California Cuisine. (His memoir is a pretty juicy read.)

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    • Nothing Cooler Than Coulis for Hot Summer Weathe

      We're coming off a four-plus day heat wave in New York City, the second one in two weeks, and heading into two weeks of steamy weather hovering around 90 degrees and I'm sorry, do I sound like I'm complaining? I mean, is there anything worse than someone with a roof over their head, air conditioners running and an indoor job moaning over the weather? Of course not, so complaining I'm not doing. What I am doing is my best to avoid the kitchen, the stove, the oven and all of those terrible heat-producing areas where I make my living and occasionally feed my family.

      But this doesn't mean that there's nothing worth cooking as we're also in the midst of the peak berry weeks in New York, and the markets are flooded with a gorgeous array of tart and tiny berries, blue- and rasp-, black- and goose and then some. This also means that home cooks, recipe writers and pastry chefs in kitchens throughout the city are applying baking them into pies, cobblers, cakes and tarts and really, I wish

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