Cooking On The Couch With Chris Manzo

NEW YORK (WLNY) -- Season five of The Real Housewives Of New Jersey picks up where Hurricane Sandy left off.

The storm also delayed the opening of the Manzo's latest restaurant venture, Little Town N.J. in Hoboken.

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Chris and Albie Manzo are taking a page out of their parents' book and putting what they learned at The Brownstone to work in their own restaurant.

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Chris stopped by The Couch to serve up his Grilled Eggplant Caprese Salad - a local, fresh take on the classic dish (serves 4 as an appetizer or salad course).

Ingredients:

1 medium eggplant
2 medium fresh-milk mozzarella balls (3" across)
2-3 ripe tomatoes (Jersey, beefsteak or vine)
1 c. Balsamic vinegar, reduced by ½ (or 8 Tbsp prepared Balsamic glaze)
1 c. freshly made or prepared basil pesto
Kosher Salt and Fresh Pepper to taste.

Method:

1.    Slice eggplant into 8 even slices (about ½" thick), brush with olive oil, season with Salt and pepper. Grill eggplant slices on a grill or in a grill pan until softened and skins are lightly charred. Let cool to room temperature.
2.    Slice tomatoes & mozzarella into 8 slices, each at about ½" thick
3.    Divide pesto across 4 shallow bowls (2 oz. per serving).
4.    Place a slice of eggplant on the pesto, follow with a slice of tomato, then mozzarella. Continue stacking across all 4 plates until each plate has 2 each of alternating eggplant, and 2 each of tomato and mozzarella slices (last one on top should be mozzarella)
5.    Drizzle 2 Tbsp of balsamic glaze over the top of each stack in each of the 4 bowls. Season with more fresh-cracked pepper to taste. Serve immediately,