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[Posted by Ruth]
The late summer/early fall boxes have been brimming with great stuff. Eggplants, leeks, ripe tomatoes, the sweetest corn of the year so far and more. I wanted to put a meal together that let me dive right into the box this week. The eggplant, leeks and tomatoes definitely seemed to belong together and I'd been reading a lot about oven frying eggplant slices, so I decided on a deconstructed version of Eggplant Parmesan.
Deconstructed Eggplant Parmesan
serves 4
1 recipe Oven Fried Eggplant, see below
1 recipe Tomato/Leek sauce, see below, or your favorite sauce - it should be quite thick
8 oz smoked mozzarella or fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
Heat oven to 375. Leave the eggplant slices in the pan (see below), spoon sauce on top, enough to cover, top with sliced cheese and bake until cheese is bubbly; about 5-10 minutes, depending on how warm everything already is when you put it in the oven.
First to the oven fried eggplant. Is it just as good as pan fried eggplant? Of course not. Don't be an idiot. Fried is crisper and better. But, unless you're working hard at gaining weight, why not find a good alternative? I was intrigued by the recipes that incorporated mayonnaise and wanted to try that. I didn't think it was worth the bother to coat both sides and flip over half way through cooking and decided to also add some cheese to the mix. We all liked it that way so, for me, this one is definitely a keeper.
Oven Fried Eggplant
2 medium/large eggplants, peeled and sliced into 1/2" discs
Salt and pepper
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1/3 to 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
2 T olive oil, plus more for greasing pans
Preheat oven to 375 and grease 2 heavy jelly roll pans. Toss the sliced eggplant with a little salt and pepper and set aside. Blend the mayonnaise, bread crumbs, cheese and olive oil. Season with a bit more salt and pepper to taste. Spread the mayonnaise mixture on one side of each eggplant disc. Spread enough to cover fully but not too thickly. Place uncoated side down on greased pans and bake at 375 for 35 to 45 minutes, rotating the pans once or twice to ensure even browning. When topping is nicely browned and eggplant is cooked through remove from oven and let sit a while before trying to handle if you are using these in a different recipe.
For our version, I made a fresh tomato leek sauce and we topped it offt with smoked mozzarella. The verdict on the smoked mozzarella was split. Half of us preferred the flavor and the other half would have preferred the less dry fresh mozzarella.
Tomato/Leek Sauce
This was a good way to use the herbs our CSA provided us to plant earlier in the season
4 or 5 Large ripe tomatoes, cored and diced
2 large leeks, white part only, halved and sliced thinly
2 T olive oil
2 sprigs rosemary
6 sprigs oregano
1 small bunch fresh basil
5 sprigs thyme
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 T honey
Salt and Pepper to taste
In a heavy pan, heat the olive oil and add the leeks. Cook over medium heat, stirring often until they soften. Add the diced tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a steady simmer and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally until thickened. To use to top the eggplant discs, cook until most of the liquid is evaporated and the sauce is quite thick.
[Posted by Ruth]
In the last couple of weeks we've gotten quite a few Jalapeno and other hot peppers as well as a bag of tomatillos. Time to go a little Mexican with the farm share, especially since our older son, who spent 2 1/2 years in South Texas, was home for a visit.
For the salsa, I wanted to get a roasted flavor without the fuss of trying to grill the tiny tomatillos so I pan roasted the tomatillos and tomatoes and liked the outcome. A bonus with the salsa was that the next day I added a few more tomatoes and a cut up cucumber to the leftovers and came away with pretty decent gazpacho.
Roasted Salsa
1 small package tomatillos, husks removed
2 medium tomatoes
1 jalapeno pepper, or more to taste
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup Cilantro, chopped
1/4 tsp chipotle powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
Heat a dry heavy skillet on high heat until a drop of water bounces around when dripped on it. Add the whole tomatillos and keep moving in the pan. They will quickly brown/blacken. Remove when they have a fire roasted look and smell, before they cook enough to begin to break apart. Set aside.
With the pan still on high head, add the two whole tomatoes and roll around until the skins blacken. Again, remove before they begin to to cook down. Set aside.
While the tomatoes and tomatillos are cooling chop the onion and cilantro. When cool, coarsely chop the tomatoes and halve or quarter the tomatillos, depending on their size. Add to the onion mixture and stir in the rest of the ingredients. Let rest for at least a half hour for the flavors to develop and for the tomatoes and tomatillos to give up their liquid.
Bonus Gazpacho the next day.
Add a couple more tomatoes (no need to roast them) and a large cucumber, peeled and cut into small chunks. Adjust seasoning and chill for at least an hour.
Jalapeno Poppers
These are best done outside on the grill
For the Jalapeno poppers we played with using all cream cheese or all goat cheese and decided that a mixture of both would probably be perfect.
Jalapeno peppers, or other hot peppers
Thick sliced bacon strips, cut in half crosswise
cream cheese, goat cheese or a mixture of both (we liked a ratio of about 1 part goat cheese to 2 parts cream cheese)
Note: if you mix the cheeses, soften them first, blend well and then chill them for about an hour before filling the poppers. The stiffened cheese will be less likely to fall out of the popper when grilling.
Wooden toothpicks, soaked in water for 1 hour
For 7 or 8 Jalapenos we used 4 oz cream cheese, 2 oz of goat cheese and about 3/4 lb of bacon.
If the Jalapenos are very hot cut them in quarters, lengthwise, remove the ribs and seeds. Place a hunk of the chilled cheese inside the pepper, roll the bacon around it, taking care to fully cover the cheese. Secure with toothpicks.
Grill over hot coals, turning gently to evenly brown the bacon. You will loose some cheese as it melts, but if you are gentle and have wrapped the bacon well enough, you shouldn't loose too much.
By the way, if you are a contact lens wearer like me, wear gloves or get someone else to cut the peppers. Every time I forget to do this I wind up red eyed and angry at bed time when I try to take them out.
[Posted by Ruth]
With the arrival of the cooler weather, I've been getting reacquainted with my oven. The fist pie is a long time favorite of mine that I first had at my sister Phyllis' house. This is one of the tastes I think of when I think of summer. You have to make it when there are good, ripe tomatoes to be had. It's fast and simple and is a great picnic dish.
Tomato Pie
1 unbaked Pie Crust (you can refer to the "Veggies Night Out" post from 6-18-10 for my pie crust recipe, use your own, or use a prepared pie crust) I do this in a large, 12" pie plate. Alternately, you can use a tart pan - just do only 1 layer of tomatoes if using a tart pan.
Approx 2 T flour (Wondra if you have it),
2 or 3 ripe tomatoes, sliced (if they are very juicy tomatoes, remove the seeds and pulp)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 cup grated cheddar cheese, white looks better in the finished product
Approx 6 T mayonnaise (as much as you need to place even 'dots' over the top)
Preheat oven to 375. Sprinkle flour in bottom of pie shell. Use more or less depending upon how juicy the tomatoes are. Arrange tomato slices in 1 layer, slightly overlapping. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and about 1/3 of the cheese. Put a second layer of tomatoes on top of the first, sprinkle with salt and pepper and the rest of the cheese. Dot the mayonnaise all over the top of the pie. Bake until top is browned and bubbly, approx 30-40 minutes. Let cool to room temperature and serve.
The second pie I made this week was a cabbage pie from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. We were happy enough with the results but think this one still needs work. It is a cabbage pie with a biscuit-like topping. The filling was very good but I would have liked the crust to be a bit more biscuity and less eggy. My husband liked the crust the way it was, so who knows?
Cabbage Pie adapted from "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian"
1 small/medium head cabbage, shredded
1 small onion, chopped
4 T butter
1 tsp caraway seeds
Salt and pepper to taste
Top and Bottom
3 eggs
1 cup whole milk yogurt or sour cream (I used Greek yogurt)
3 T mayonaise
1/2 Baking Powder
1 1/2 cups flour.
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup shredded Gruyere Cheese
Prereheat oven to 375. Melt butter in large skillet and cook cabbage and onions over medium heat until softened, but not browned. Add salt, pepper and caraway seeds.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, combine yogurt and mayonnaise. Whisk in the eggs. Add the flour mixture and mix just until incorporated.
In a 9" x 12" glass baking or casserole dish, spread a little bit less than 1/2 of the biscuit mixture on the bottom. Sprinkle 1/2 the cheese over the biscuit. Top with the cabbage mixture and then the remaining cheese. Spread the remaining biscuit mixture over the top. Try to cover the entire top. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the top is puffed and shiny brown. Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes before serving.
This also reheated well the next day.
Here is the week 15 haul. We got edamame, which was a cool surprise!
[Posted by Ruth]
Wrapping up week 13 and in the midst of yet another heat wave, I did a sauce earlier this week that wound up being very good both hot and cold. It's kind of the love child of Pasta Primavera and Gazpacho.
This recipe represents what I had kicking around near the end of Week 13 but you can really add any late summer vegetable you like here. The key is to keep the cooking to a minimum to maintain the color and crispness as well as the fresh taste.
Pasta 'Primaspacho'
Serve hot over pasta as or as a cold soup. This makes a large batch, enough for a hot meal 1 night, a cold meal the next night and some to put away to have another time
2 Zucchini, cubed
2 Summer Squash cubed
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
4-6 cloves garlic, crushed
4 ears corn, cut from cob
Olive oil
4-6 cups peeled, roughly chopped ripe tomatoes, seeded as well if they're very juicy
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
1 T honey
Salt, Pepper
Fresh basil, mozzarella cubes or shaved Parmesan and red pepper flakes as desired for garnish.
Al dente pasta if serving hot.
Heat oil in large heavy pan. Gently saute the onions and garlic until garlic is fragrant. Add Zucchini and squash and cook over medium heat until it begins to lose its raw appearance. Stir in the corn, tomatoes, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook until the vegetables are tender but still a have some bite to them and some of the tomato liquid had evaporated. Stir in the honey. If serving hot, place pasta in deep bowls and top with sauce and cheese, basil and red pepper flakes, if using. It will be a soupy sauce so it's best served with a smaller pasta and spoons. If serving cold, serve as a cold soup with the same garnishes. You can place a slice of French or Italian bread in the bottom of the soup bowl before serving if you like to absorb some of the liquid and thicken it a bit. We really liked it hot the first night but both liked it even better cold the second night.
Here, by the way, is the Week 14 haul. There are actually 12 ears of corn, but they are not all in the shot. It was just too hot to unpack them all!
This is the first time I've been disappointed with the corn.
I'm not sure if it's the variety or that it's late in the season. The ears are all very large and the two that we had last night, just quickly boiled and served, were starchy and didn't have much flavor. The remaining ears will need some jazzing up this week.
[Posted by Ruth]
In addition to this week's terrific looking haul...(loved getting some fennel and thought the tiny watermelon was the cutest thing ever)
[Posted by Ruth]
I've become someone who looks forward to coming home on a Thursday and photographing the vegetables.
It's not all that weird. They really are beautiful. O.K., maybe it's a little weird.
This week's box contained:
6 ears sweet corn
2 large eggplant
1 bunch dandelion greens
5 lbs tomatoes
2 sweet Italian peppers
1 pint yellow grape tomatoes
2 summer squash
1 zucchini
2 lbs potatoes
4 small eggplant
3 cucumbers
1 bunch beets
2 onions
1 head garlic
1 bunch kale
and the Wave Hill bread share
Since there was so much eggplant and tomatoes and those beautiful peppers this week, I decided to make ratatouille. I like Jacques Pepin's method in his book "More Fast Food My Way" of just putting everything into one pot and simmering. Much simpler and quicker for a weeknight meal. I remember reading somewhere else to add lemon juice and some honey after cooking. This made a huge difference. The lemon juice brightened the flavors and the honey added depth rather than obvious sweetness. Whatever ratatouille recipe you use, I really recommend trying the addition of some lemon and honey at the end.
Ratatouille with a twist
Approx 1 lb eggplant (use the thinner, Japanese type if possible) cut into 3/4" chunks, skin left on
2 small/medium zucchini, cut into 3/4" chunks
4-5 large tomatoes - roughly chopped
2 Long sweet Italian peppers, seeded and coarsely chopped
2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
1 small head garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 tsp salt or more to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1/3 cup olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
2 T honey
Put all ingredients except the lemon juice and honey in a large, non reactive saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture begins to bubble. Lower heat, cover and cook for approx 30 minutes. If there is more liquid than you want at this point, remove cover, raise heat and cook some of the liquid off. Watch carefully and stir regularly at this point to avoid sticking/burning on the bottom of the pot. Remove from heat and adjust the salt/pepper to your taste. Stir in the lemon juice and honey. Serve warm or, more ideally, at room temperature.
