My nonna has a blog. It's taken me awhile to admit this. I don't like to think of my nonna belly dancing or living in Canada or being named Bryanna Clark Grogan or not even being old enough to be my nonna. It really makes it hard to keep up my little imaginary relationship. My nonna is supposed to live in a cobblestoned hillside village where she keeps a mule and is a bit stooped from years of hovering over that giant simmering pot on the stove. I call her up and she gives me advice on making ragu alla bolognese or a basic genoise, and I think about how lucky I am to have a vegan Italian grandmother.
Well, yesterday, I finally had to admit to myself that there's more to my nonna than that ancient stove and pasta advice, yesterday, I allowed her to be who she really is: Bryanna Clark Grogan, vegan chef and cookbook author, Canadian mother and grandmother, no actual relation to me, and prolific blogger. She taught me to make this Palestinian lentil dish. So easy and comforting. Like every recipe of hers that I have ever followed, I imagine it will become a house staple.
Also, we made grilled baby eggplants with a roasted tomato sauce. I diced some tiny romas and peeled a half dozen cloves of garlic, added maybe a teaspoon of salt and a drizzle of olive oil and threw it in the oven at 450 for about half an hour. When the lentils were creamy, the onions were brown, and the eggplant was soft and smoky, we took the tomatoes out of the oven, spooned them over the grilled eggplant, and finished with a confetti toss of fresh basil. I like to think that my nonna would approve.
