alexpgp | Eggplant caviar!

Back about the time Galina first came to join me in the United States, we lived in an "apartment" in the basement of a house on 84th Street in Jackson Heights. As it turned out, just two doors away, there lived an old lady, a Russian emgigré, by the name of Maria Nikolaevna Rennenkampf.

Rennenkampf is apparently an illustrious surname in Russian history, as the family produced a number of generals and other important figures, but Maria Nikolaevna took us under her arm, so to speak, and gave us what help she could.

It turned out the old woman loved to throw parties, and I am told that her New Year's parties were legendary, both in terms of the people who were there and the chemistry they created. Here's a photo of one such party that probably dates from my early childhood.

Granted, at the time we knew her, she was at that point in life where she was no longer "that strength that in old days moved earth and heav'n," but she could put together one heck of a Sunday lunch.

And I was introduced to "eggplant caviar," a dish with the consistency and appearance of black caviar (if you sort of defocus your eyes), but with a decidedly vegetable taste.

Basically, the dish consists of eggplant that's been cooked and chopped, and then combined with other ingredients (golden brown onions, finely chopped green pepper, tomato sauce, garlic, dill) to create something that works as a side dish or a dip (although who knows? It may be that it's intended as something else!).

I mention this becaue the eggplant that I planted last spring has somehow, miraculously survived—and flourished!—so that today, I went out to the "garden" and picked four of the best eggplants and brought them inside to follow a recipe I unearthed some time ago.

The recipe was spot on. I liked it. So did Galina.

Cheers...