They say that spinning (a stationary bike that you simulate a bike ride on, in a group, with a leader) burns 800 calories in one hour. We probably consumed at least that, during our “Spin and Eat fest” with fellow spinners, Kyuhee and Gilles. We met at the club and I had prepared dinner in advance which was an Eggplant Parmesan recipe that I followed from the March 2010 edition of Bon Appetite, and a Seafood Neapolitan served on a fancy Tagitelli. At this point I was planning on serving Ben and Jerry’s ice cream for desert and had not made anything else. However my friend Kim Vollers was at spin class, the desert professional, and I called over to her across the room from my spinning bike asking if she had a quick recipe that I could whip up when we got home. Of course she did and it was Chocolate Cream pie. I did not have whipping cream for the top so I discarded the idea, but Kyuhee who was spinning next to me, latched on to the thought of Chocolate Cream Pie for desert. Kim repeated her recipe as I recorded it in my brain. Then Bonnie, our spin teacher, got us started burning our 800 calories. After spinning, I rushed home to shower and whip a chocolate cream pie together and Kyuhee and Gilles picked up the whipping cream giving me a few extra moments to get everything prepared.
Eggplant Parmesan:
Recipe is from Bon Appetite: However I have made my substitutes:
2 Large Eggplant trimmed and cut length wise into ¼ “ slices
1 container of Cabot Dairy Cottage cheese
¾ of pound of washed and dried baby spinach2 eggs
11/4 cups of Parmesan cheese
15 oz of freshly made tomato sauce
8 oz of fresh mozzarella
Olive oil
Salt the egg plant and place in the colander with something heavy on it for 1 ½ hours.Rinse the salt off well. Then press the excess water out of it.
Sauté the spinach quickly in olive oil and press the water out of that.
Place the strips of eggplant on a cookie sheet and brush both sides with olive oil. Place in a hot broiler for 3 minutes on each side.
In a mixing bowl mix the cottage cheese, spinach, eggs and ¾ cups of parmesan.
Stuff the center of the eggplant folding the strips in half, with the cheese mixture and place in a greased baking pan. After all the strips are stuffed, pour the tomato sauce around it and place the pieces of mozzarella on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
Seafood Neapolitan is a entre at one of my favorite restaurants in Naples, Florida. It was the happening place on 5th Ave in the early 90’s and all of the other restaurants that are there followed their lead. I went there with my brother Charles and his wife Heather on a recent trip to Naples and had my old favorite. It inspired to duplicate the flavors when we got home. It is actually a very light dish with a nice seafood broth.
Seafood Neapolitan:
2 pounds of PEI Mussels rinsed (hi Irene)
2 cups of white wine
4 garlic cloves crushed
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 pound of peeled and deveined shrimp
Olive oil
Bunch of fresh Basil
Pour the wine in a large deep pan add garlic, half of the basil, the tomatoes.
Bring to a boil and add the mussels.
When the mussels open remove them.
In a skillet cook the shrimp for a few minutes in olive, about 4 minutes.
Reduce the liquid in ½ in the pan that the mussels cooked in. When the liquid has reduced add the mussels back in and the shrimp. Serve over fresh pasta and garnish with fresh basil.
Chocolate Cream Pie in 10 minutes or less from Kim Ann Vollers
2 Cups of Milk
3 Tablespoons of Corn Starch
½ cup of Sugar
4 egg yolks whisked
¼ cup of sugar
3 squares of unsweetened chocolate
1 tsp. of Vanilla
½ tsp of salt
Heat the milk up in sauce pan with the ½ cup of Sugar and the corn starch. Stir until mixture becomes hot and bubbly and thick. Turn off the heat. Whisk the egg yolks with the ¼ of sugar and add ½ cup of the thickened milk, then add everything back into the pan and the chocolate and vanilla and ½ tsp of salt. Turn the heat on and stir until the entire mixture is thick. Put into a baked pie crust and top with whip cream. It is delicious.
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