Cooking on Vacation pt.2

Hello and happy Thursday. 

Thank you to everyone who made yesterday's little *migration* so effortless and welcoming. And to all who flagged the tiny bugs (printing function, URL glitches, etc.): they are all currently being addressed! It truly takes a village and we (the fabulous team and I) are so grateful for everyone who gave the most useful feedback. This website is for you, and we want you to use it, so keep it coming: qcc@alisoneroman.com

So: Cooking on Vacation. It was our last night in Sicily and I was getting rid of the last of the vegetables because wasting food fills me with a very specific and extreme type of anxiety. As mentioned here, this is a very sort of fridge clean out meal, making do with what I have. It’s the way I cook more often than not, a real Something from Nothing situation. As is often the case with this style of cooking, not everything for this particular meal needs or warrants a real recipe– in fact, almost nothing does. But what I can tell you is this:

Pork Chop with Red Onion and Lemon

I seasoned a 2-inch thick pork chop with salt (there was no pepper in the house) and let it sit for an hour or two. I grilled it over high heat for about 4–6 minutes per side, flipping every 2 minutes or so to avoid clear grill marks. At the end, I like to give it a kiss on the grill fat cap side down. This gets you a pork chop that’s beautifully golden brown on the outside, delightfully medium-rare (pink-ish) on the inside. When it was still warm, I sliced it (with a “knife”), scattered thinly sliced red onion over top and finished it with lemon juice and parsley. The red onion softens from the warmth of the meat, the pork and lemon juices mingle, the parsley, well, it stays leafy, spriggy, coarse. It’s a nice way to serve nearly any simple grilled (or, if you wish to sear!) meat, I think. 

For baby: The baby liked to gnaw on the bone (Solid Starts approved). 

Tender Zucchini with Lemon and Parmesan

I was going to grill the zucchini along with the eggplant, but something about mixing the two makes me think of the bad vegetarian option at a poorly catered wedding. These days, I’m very into steamed or boiled vegetables (sexy), and since I was already boiling potatoes, I thought: let’s boil that zucchini (hot).  

Zucchini, as we all know, when cooked becomes impossibly soft and tender. Some might even call it: mushy, a word we rarely aspire to when cooking (unless, see: baby). We often try to fight this by frying it to make “chips” or “fries”, slicing and serving raw or worse, turning it into….zoodles. But what if we gave in? What if we indulged in the tender, the soft, the mush?

It’s pretty great. Especially when warm*, doused with fresh lemon juice, finished with olive oil and crunchy salt. Later, when making this at home in New York (because I started to crave it), I found Parmesan was an excellent addition*.

*Must be eaten warm, is significantly less delicious once room temperature. 

**Really must be eaten warm.

To do this, bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Cook about 1 pound of zucchini until tender and very, very soft, 4–6 minutes depending on the type of zucchini. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a serving bowl. Immediately douse with about 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, drizzle with some olive oil, sprinkle with flaky salt and black pepper, and shave a bit of Parmesan over, if you want. I have made this three times in the last two weeks with nice, tiny, compact zucchini, which is almost cheating (but I promise it’s also good with the large, scary kind). 

For baby: The baby liked this. No adjustments. 

Buttered, Boiled Potatoes with Anchovy

I am shocked nobody commented on me peeling the potatoes in this video. When have you ever known me to peel a boiled potato? Can you imagine 2019 me peeling a boiled potato? 2025 me peels boiled potatoes, but only when she boils them in such a way (perhaps too much) that they become so tender the skin nearly starts to peel right off, so she thinks: why not, let’s finish the job, let’s peel these potatoes. Turns out, the potatoes were elegant and delightful! 

To make these, bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Quarter about a pound of Yukon Gold-style potatoes lengthwise (think wedges, not chunks) and boil until very (very) tender– nearly falling apart– 12–14 minutes (keep cooking if not tender enough). Drain them and while still warm, starting at the pointy end, gently peel the skin right off (it should come off in one nice piece pretty effortlessly). Place in a little serving bowl or plate and while still warm, dab a little butter onto them so it melts into, on and around the potatoes, season with flaky salt and black pepper and drape a few anchovies over. 

For baby: The baby liked this. No adjustments. 

Roasted Eggplant with Capers and Garlic

Part of the human experience of cooking dinner with no plan in place is that sometimes things don’t work out. This isn’t the first time I’ve tried to make grilled or roasted eggplant work with fresh tomatoes and not the first time I’ve thought after the fact: “does this work?”. In theory, yes, it always works: juicy, garlicky tomatoes dressing nicely charred, tender eggplant, yum. But If I’m honest, I can’t get past the red color plus bulbous nature of a small, round cherry tomato, which, when combined with purple eggplant, reminds me of the circus or clowns. It’s the square plate of food combinations. Furthermore, while I’m generally a huge champion of raw and roasted, raw and grilled, texturally, cooked eggplant simply demands a cooked tomato. Henceforth, let it be so! 

Anyway, I’ve revised this dish for your pleasure below– both to revise my error (clown food) and adjust for the cooler weather (let’s roast, not grill). The recipe below will not match what or how I cooked in the video, but let’s appreciate both for their own unique perspectives!

Ingredients

• 1 lb. globe eggplant, sliced about ½” thick
• ¼ cup olive oil, plus more
• Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons capers, drained
• ½ cup parsley, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 425°F/218°C. Season eggplant on a rimmed baking sheet with salt and pepper. Drizzle with ¼ cup olive oil, maybe more if it still looks thirsty. Remember, eggplant is insatiable. Scatter with capers and roast, flipping eggplant once, until deeply browned on both sides, 35–40 minutes (alternatively, you can grill the eggplant sans capers over high heat, flipping rather frequently until deeply browned and totally tender, 10–15 minutes or so). 
2. Once eggplant comes out of the oven (or off the grill), transfer to a serving plate or platter. Scatter with garlic and parsley (and, if you grilled, capers) and finish with more olive oil if you like.

Tomatoes on The Side 

Simply cut the tomatoes, season with salt and add a little raw, finely chopped garlic. Let them sit for as long as possible and pray that they are ripe and or naturally juicy enough to give up even more juices as they sit. If so, they will create their own dressing– a beautiful, saucy miracle. Do not, I repeat, do not scatter them over your roasted (or grilled) eggplant. 

For baby: The baby is obsessed with (specifically, the inside of) tomatoes. 

Old Bread

No last meal on vacation is complete without a nub of Old Bread. Best if it was never properly wrapped or stored, slowly torn or nibbled at (never sliced) over the course of your trip. Use this old bread to soak up the juices left behind your pork chop and, god willing, your tomatoes. 

For baby: The baby (really) liked to gnaw on the bread. The Old Bread became a good toy the next day, free idea! 

For those that are interested in what, exactly, we did bring on this trip to Italy to make our lives easier with a baby, I’ll be sending that out next week (it wasn’t that much stuff, honestly). 

Thank you and see you then!