Team Edward or Team Jacob?

I have never really understood the Twilight phenomenon. A story about a whiny girl madly in love with a moody, aloof and slightly stalker-ish vampire? No thanks. A badly acted film series punctuated by poor attempts at humor and even poorer attempts at creative cinematography? I’ll pass. Gaggles of screaming and crying girls fighting over which mythical creature, vampire or werewolf, is stronger, nobler and looks better shirtless? Definitely not for me.

Please don’t get me wrong, I do have a healthy appreciation for cheesy cinema; one of my favorite movies is “George of the Jungle” (seriously). But I draw the line at movies that portray women as victims of their love and portray vampires as sparkly. Because, let’s be honest, I don’t think Bram Stoker, Anne Rice or Richard Matheson would approve.

BUT, I will say this: if you are in need of a good laugh, the latest “Twilight” is sure to fit the bill. This is precisely the reason that last Wednesday, I got together A and A for a potluck dinner and an exclusive screening of “Breaking Dawn”. It is always lovely to have a meal with A and A, both talented cooks who have a propensity towards culinary experimentation, as well as refined palates. For our main meal, A made sweet potato rounds, charred on the outside but with deliciously creamy flesh, topped with a “salad” of celery, shallots, parsley, pecans and cranberries and dollop of goat cheese - the recipe is here: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2010/11/sweet-potatoes-with-pecans-and-goat-cheese/. Somewhat coincidentally, I made a similar dish to A’s, thick discs of roasted eggplant topped with salty feta and a bruscetta of tomato, mint, red onion and capers; the recipe is below. A rounded the light, fall-ish meal with delightful homemade cookies from Malaysia, teaspoon-sized spheres covered in powdered sugar that had the texture of shortbread but that melted away on your tongue; they went particularly well with mint tea and fresh fruits. What a gastronomic way to start the movie, which exceeded our expectations in the “unfortunate facial expressions” and “bad one-liners” categories and kept us laughing for two hours.

So I guess, in the end, there are some good things that came out of the Twilight phenomenon, including a lovely evening with even lovelier friends and a terrific meal.

Roasted eggplant with tomato and mind

Adapted from smittenkitchen.com

Ingredients

-       2 medium-sized eggplants, cut into 1 inch thick rounds

-       3 firm tomatoes, deseeded and diced

-       1/3 cup finely diced red onion

-       2 tbsp + 4 tsp olive oil

-       2 tbsp capers, drained

-       3 tbsp fresh mint leaved, minced

-       2 tsp red wine vinegar

-       ½ cup feta, crumbled

-       Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1.     Preheat oven to 425 F. Generously oil 2 large baking pans with 2 tbsp olive oil and arrange eggplant rounds on them in a single layer.

2.     Sprinkle with salt and black pepper and bake for 15 – 20 minutes, or until the bottoms of the eggplant rounds are dark and slightly puffy, and lift easily off of the pan.

3.     Flip eggplant rounds, sprinkle with salt and pepper and return to oven for 10 – 15 minutes, until the second side matches the first.

4.     Meanwhile, prepare the salad by combining all the tomatoes, onion, capers, mint, red wine vinegar, 4 tsp olive oil and feta, and add freshly ground pepper and salt to taste.

5.     Top eggplant rounds with salad and serve immediately.