The Joy of Good Friends...

Our friends Pete and Jill live down the street from us in Madison. Until we added the Chicago "pad" we got together so often for meals that the neighbors joked that we had some kind of underground tunnel that went between our houses. Truth be told, if we thought we could get away with it we probably would have built that tunnel for winter travel back and forth. It started with Sunday night dinners once in awhile and escalated. I think there were a few weekends where we might have had up to 3 meals together but we usually kept it to one a week or so.

Lately it's been like the drought! We hardly get to see Pete and Jill. We have to depend on email most of the time to keep up with each other and believe me, email tastes nothing like dinner!

Speaking of dinner, our meals have ranged from the fanciest to the simplest. Pete and Jill are both talented cooks. Pete is a true renaissance man. (At least that's what all the ladies call him behind his back). This guy not only cooks, he paints, he gardens, he's a musician; you name it. And he not only dabbles in the stuff, he excels at all of it!

When Pete cooks I never see him use a recipe. He just seems to decide what he's hungry for and off he goes to the grocery store or to the farmer's market. He's also a master at taking leftovers and turning them into something grand. When I was working on this week's column I told Pete I wasn't sure what I was going to write about. I told him I had not been very hungry this week so I had not dreamed up any new recipes and I was getting close to deadline so I better get a move on. He said, "I'll share my recipe for grilled eggplant soup if you want it". Perfect! He not only bailed me out of my deadline dilemma but he's giving you one of the best soup recipes on the planet! I hope you enjoy it. Notice his extra little comments at the end of the recipe too. And bless his heart, I bet this is the first time Pete ever wrote down this recipe. I owe him. Thanks, Peter!

Pete's Grilled Eggplant and Tomato Soup

Ingredients:
2 large eggplant (or 4 small)
one half cup olive oil
2 large yellow onions
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp gray salt or sea salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
8 large (or more) garden
tomatoes, diced. (Damaged, bruised are fine!)
Juice of one half of a lemon
6 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
thin lemon slices
sour cream
Italian parsley for garnish

Instructions:

Peel eggplant, and cut in half-inch slices, lengthwise. Arrange on hot grill and cook until lightly charred on both side, (about half-black) Remove from grill and let sit on cutting board until cool. Cut into small pieces, 1" or less.

Heat olive oil in large soup pot and add onion, stirring until translucent, on medium high heat. Add garlic, salt, pepper and herbs and cook another 2 minutes. Add eggplant and cook 5 minutes, stirring to prevent sticking. Add tomatoes, lemon juice and stock and bring to a boil. Cook at a low boil for 30 minutes, covered. Remove from burner and let cool. In several batches, put mixture into a blender or food processor and blend until you get a rich brick red-orange color and it is smooth and chunk-free. Return to pot and reheat when ready to eat. Float a dollop of sour cream on a lemon slice in the soup and garnish with Italian parley or other fresh garden herbs.

This is a great late summer and fall soup because you can use excess garden produce, and less-than-perfect specimens. I make it year round and serve it with good crunchy bread and some Wisconsin specialty cheese. It freezes beautifully, and one doesn't have to be exact in the ingredients. If I have leftover zucchini or other vegetables, I throw them in the mix. People remark about the lovely color, an orange-red brick color, with flecks of black from the charred eggplant. It is very healthy, and even people that don't like eggplant think it's delicious. Best of all, it can be made entirely with local produce!