Eggplant

I was dismayed to read about the Boothwyn couple who claim the word "God" appeared to them on a slice of eggplant. An atheist, even I am insulted by this level of disrespect. If God really wants to appear miraculously, let's see him appear on my cell phone after I have used up all my minutes. If Verizon does not charge me an arm and a leg for the overtime call, that would be a miracle! Michael McGonigle Philadelphia

Eggplant can be the best of vegetables or the worst of vegetables. When it's good, it's very, very good, but when it's bad, it's horrid! I'm here to help you avoid leathery eggplant, soggy eggplant, bitter eggplant and grease- laden eggplant. Prepared properly, eggplant is creamy, with a melting texture and a meaty, satisfying, mouth-filling quality shared by few other vegetables. Eggplant's dramatic blue-black or ghostly white color and its striking shapes have suggested hidden magical and/or diabolical powers to some.

If Willard Horner Sr. and Willard Jr. can produce successful crops of eggplant on 15 acres, it seems illogical that my gardening partner and I can't manage to keep even six plants in good shape through the summer. When we started gardening 15 years ago, it was a breeze. We had eggplant coming out of our ears. We fried it and froze it until we never wanted to see it again. During the last few summers, however, the plants have looked wonderful until about the beginning of July.

My favorite eggplant dish is imam bayaldi, which literally translates to "the imam (Turkish priest) fainted. " Where did such a strange name come from? According to one tale, the spicy, fragrant dish was so delicious that the Imam passed out from pleasure. But another story has the Imam keeling over in despair when he found out that the cook used up all the household's precious olive oil to make it. I'd go with the latter version - I myself very nearly passed out when I saw the original recipe, calling for 2 cups of olive oil, nearly 4,000 calories.

The Lord works in mysterious ways. Even through an eggplant, perhaps. Felicia Teske of Boothwyn was slicing on Sunday a pear-shaped purple veggie that she had purchased at a local produce stand when she noticed that the seeds formed a word. And the word was God. "It's definitely there," said her husband, Paul. Unlike similar claims, you don't have to strain your brain this time, he said. You may have heard, for example, about a Jesus in a Chihuahua's ear or a Virgin Mary in the grease stain of a pizza pan. "There's no imagination here," he said.

Q. This is no joke. Could you tell me how you determine the sex of an eggplant? It has something to do with the shape of the stem end. I understand the male is sometimes bitter and it's wise to get the female if possible. Cathy Smith Sinking Spring, Pa. A. There are male and female eggplants, and you might want to select a male not because it would be less bitter but because it might have fewer seeds. But don't look on the stem end; look at the opposite end, which contains a small scar.

Calling him a "warrior for fitness," television legend Oprah Winfrey enlisted a new soldier in America's battle against the bulge: Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street. Street made a whirlwind trip to Chicago yesterday to tape a coming episode of the top-ranked Oprah Winfrey Show focusing on health and wellness. Pumped up and passionate about good living, Street talked about the city's weight problem and his plans to get Philadelphians in shape. He vowed to hire a "fitness czar" to lead the effort in City Hall.

Eggplant can be the best of vegetables or, sometimes, the worst. When it's good, it's very, very good, but when it's bad, it's horrid! Good eggplant is creamy, with a melting texture and a meaty, satisfying, mouth-filling quality shared by few other vegetables. For many people, eggplant is "poor man's meat" or "poor man's caviar," proof of its versatility. Despite its long history associated with things devilish, it has been a staple in China, India, Japan, the Middle East, North Africa, Italy, Spain and Southern France.

Cooked eggplant isn't a very flavorful vegetable. But this is actually one of the secrets of the eggplant's culinary allure, as its blandness makes it a perfect vehicle for all kinds of seasoning. Eggplant also has a natural creamy consistency that can thicken a sauce, moussaka or stew - without a speck of added cholesterol, less than half a gram of fat and barely an added calorie per serving. Though eggplant has been cultivated since antiquity, it has never gained much popularity in America.

Of all the challenges a modern restaurant can tackle, refining simple dishes may be the hardest to master. Capturing that essence in a little clay crock - a few thin slivers of lightly battered eggplant, for example, artfully layered with fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella, then wood-roasted without turning to mush - is the rustic magic of places like Badolato. That's the walled Calabrian village beside the Ionian Sea where Toto Schiavone spent his childhood watching his mama make lunch with produce picked that morning from the family farm.

An excerpt from the blog "My Daughter's Kitchen. " Eggplant parmesan has always been one of my favorite foods on this Earth. There are not too many versions I don't love, paper-thin slices stacked high, rounds breaded and fried and baked in a casserole, even thick chunks of eggplant roasted and drizzled with sauce and cheese. My daughter inherited my love of eggplant, but really preferred the traditional version, breaded and layered with cheese and sauce. But since she has celiac disease, we had to come up with a gluten-free version.

WHAT MAKES Vedge Vedge and not Horizons? Rich Landau explained the thinking behind three of Vedge's signature dishes: * Little leaves and herbs, rutabaga, smoked shiitake, pistachio, green onion. "The entry-level dish into the Vedge repertoire, but when you get into it, this is probably one of the more intricate things on the menu because of the way we put it together. "You won't just be eating a bunch of green. You're not going to taste chlorophyll. You're not going to be like, 'Wow, I'm grazing, look at me at the vegetable restaurant, grazing . . . wow, isn't this remarkable.' "The rutabaga, which is just one of my favorite vegetables in the world, we slice very thin and we roast it down in the oven with a touch of sherry vinegar, olive oil, fresh thyme, salt and pepper.

LUKE PALLADINO Age: 42 Occupation: Owner/chef of Luke Palladino Seasonal Italian Cooking, in Northfield, N.J., and Luke Palladino, inside Harrah's Resort Atlantic City. Hometown: Bethpage, N.Y. Education: 1989 graduate of Culinary Institute of America. Professional: Has worked in and owned restaurants in New Orleans; Aspen, Colo.; Las Vegas; Atlantic City, and in Italy. Personal: Divorced; father of Kera, 20; Daniel, 17, and Elli, 9. Favorite ingredients: Marjoram, sage, corn, eggplant, pork.

Of all the challenges a modern restaurant can tackle, refining simple dishes may be the hardest to master. Capturing that essence in a little clay crock - a few thin slivers of lightly battered eggplant, for example, artfully layered with fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella, then wood-roasted without turning to mush - is the rustic magic of places like Badolato. That's the walled Calabrian village beside the Ionian Sea where Toto Schiavone spent his childhood watching his mama make lunch with produce picked that morning from the family farm.

Members of the Flaim family have been growing eggplants in the sandy Cumberland County soil of their Vineland farm for 76 years, nurturing tiny seedlings into five-foot-tall plants that bear more than 20 fruits each. Most will be sold as usual to wholesale buyers or at farmers' markets. This year, 15 percent will find their way into freezer cases in specialty stores and cafeterias throughout the region. For the last two seasons, the Flaims have been processing the eggplant as breaded cutlets in boxes with the state's Jersey Fresh label, which tells customers they are eating local and is generally reserved for fresh produce.

One hot Italian At a hole in the wall called Pasto just east of City Hall you will find arguably the best Italian roasted vegetable sandwich in the city. It is called the Capriciosa. The owner Paola Chiavatti, a child of Abruzzi, bakes the rolls herself - miraculously airy, crisp-crusted ciabatta. She slices boiled russett potatoes and warms them in olive oil with sauteed onion. On goes toothsome broccoli rabe. And thin slices of eggplant, delicately egg-battered and fried. Then roasted peppers.

Grabbing a quick lunch in Jefferson University Hospital's soaring Atrium Cafeteria at 10th and Chestnut one day last week was the hospital's president, Tom Lewis, his gray hair curly, his schedule tight. He picked up his usual multigrain roll from Metropolitan Bakery, and filled a bowl at the salad bar, beyond which he could eye a tub of steamed hot dogs and an orange pool of molten cheese. Lewis isn't a doctor. But you didn't need a medical degree to know which lunch was a better bet. And indeed next to the hot dogs was a pan brimming with Lewis' vision of the kind of food he's pushing to see more of in the future - herb-roasted fingerling potatoes and green and yellow squash from family farms in Fleetwood and Quarryville, Pa. It might seem overdue and somewhat of a no-brainer to be augmenting hospital cafeteria menus (and soon patients' meals, as well)

Some of us wouldn't pay 50 cents for an eggplant. But right now on eBay the asking price for a single slice is $1,000. Of course, this isn't any ordinary disc of eggplant. It's the one that spelled GOD. A week ago yesterday in Boothwyn, Felicia Teske was in her kitchen, cutting a seemly ordinary pear-shaped purple vegetable, when she noticed that its seeds formed the letters G, O and D. (They also seemed to form an extra little O, but it's sort of floating above the other O, which might be GOOD - or not. Or maybe it's a halo.

I was dismayed to read about the Boothwyn couple who claim the word "God" appeared to them on a slice of eggplant. An atheist, even I am insulted by this level of disrespect. If God really wants to appear miraculously, let's see him appear on my cell phone after I have used up all my minutes. If Verizon does not charge me an arm and a leg for the overtime call, that would be a miracle! Michael McGonigle Philadelphia

The Lord works in mysterious ways. Even through an eggplant, perhaps. Felicia Teske of Boothwyn was slicing on Sunday a pear-shaped purple veggie that she had purchased at a local produce stand when she noticed that the seeds formed a word. And the word was God. "It's definitely there," said her husband, Paul. Unlike similar claims, you don't have to strain your brain this time, he said. You may have heard, for example, about a Jesus in a Chihuahua's ear or a Virgin Mary in the grease stain of a pizza pan. "There's no imagination here," he said.