This is my third year growing/maintaining a vegetable garden. My mom has always told me that some crops will be better than others on certain years. Of course that makes sense, but this is the first year I've actually had the opportunity to make that observation myself, and it's been bittersweet. To date I have not harvested any zucchinis :( In previous years I've been up to my elbows in zucchini, cranking out zucchini bread, muffins, casserole, fritters, etc. like it was my job. This year the plants are healthy, and the weather has been great for growing with blazing hot days with intermittent rain, so what gives? The other day, my suspicions were confirmed. At about 3pm I observed a large (and obviously well-fed) rabbit snatching the flowers from my zucchini plants as an afternoon snack! How irritating! Short of erecting a fence around the zucchinis (our yard is already fenced in!) I've tried everything to no avail to ward off this rabbit. I've sprinkled fox urine, spritzed animal deterrent and even stuffed a few wads of cat fur around the base of the plants in an attempt to scare this bunny off. Although I've been unsuccessful in salvaging any zucchini flowers I still remain hopeful each time I see a new flower thinking "maybe this one will make it". But that blasted rabbit always wins. I'm starting to feel like I'm in a Bugs Bunny episode and I'm Elmer Fudd. *Sigh*
On a brighter note, my cucumber plants are really thriving. Last year I harvested 4 stumpy, lumpy cucumbers. This year I've already harvested 5 perfectly tubular and delicious cukes and there are many more flowers on the vine. So today's recipe is brought to you by our bountiful cucumber crop. This salad is quick to throw together if you plan ahead.
I had an extra eggplant leftover from making eggplant parm. "What am I going to do with this thing?", I thought. "I don't know of any other recipes requiring eggplant. Maybe I can roast it? Or maybe I should just give it to my mom. She'll know what to do with it."
Both of my parents have been pretty sick the past couple of weeks with some sort of endless virus. I had planned to go to their house this past Saturday night and prepare dinner for them. Then my mom called Saturday morning to report that my dad was feeling better, and although she still felt pretty weak they both had a pretty nasty case of cabin fever and needed to get out. They offered to come to my house for dinner instead. This was great news for three reasons: First and foremost, they were feeling better! Second, I'd be able to cook in my own kitchen. I don't know about you, but I really love cooking in my own kitchen. It's a bit cramped, but it's what I'm used to, and, as a creature of habit, what I'm comfortable with. Cooking in someone else's kitchen is like shopping at a completely different grocery store. You don't know where anything is or if they have the same tools. Third, I was semi-relieved to not have to make the trip since I was over there once earlier in the week to make dinner after work, and I knew I'd be over again after work one night the following week.
For the menu I opted for an incredibly simple recipe of chicken marsala which was accompanied by that rogue eggplant roasted with garlic and lemon. It was fabulous! And my dad just happened to bring a fantastic Italian white wine that paired perfectly.
Ingredients
1 large eggplant (approximately 1 lb.)
3 tbs. olive oil
1 large garlic clove (or two smaller ones), pressed
Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Eggplant can be bitter and watery when baked. To minimize this, cover each slice of eggplant in kosher salt and place in a colander with a bowl underneath it (to catch the drippings) in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to allow the eggplant to "sweat".
- Rinse the salt off of the eggplant slices, and pat each slice dry with a paper towel. Set aside.
- In a small bowl combine the olive oil and pressed garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste. I used a scant 1/4 tsp of salt and a few grinds of fresh black pepper.
- Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Place the eggplant slices on the parchment paper skin side down.
- Brush each eggplant slice with the olive oil mixture.
- Bake the eggplant slices for 15-20 minutes, just enough to get crisp on the outside but not burn.
- Serve as a side dish to your favorite meals.
Yields 4 servings
P.S. Sorry there are no pictures of this one. I can't seem to find my spare memory card, and all of my larger memory cards are currently in Idaho with the snowboarding fiance and his GoPro camera thus rendering my DSLR useless :-/
Brussels sprouts seem to be all the rage lately. Have you noticed this? They're something I rarely think of, but my mom served them with Thanksgiving dinner, and they've been on my mind ever since. The other day while perusing Philly.com/food for various ideas I came across the following link: "New cookbook and a contest". I immediately clicked. Who can resist a cooking contest!? Not me. After all, it could be the gateway to increasing readership! Or at least something really delicious I didn't know about before! So I read the details which went a little something like this:
"Center City Cooks is a compilation of recipes from Philadelphia's Restaurant Week chefs. Choose your favorite recipe from the Fall or Winter edition, prepare the dish, take a photo and submit via email. Beverage recipe submissions are not permitted."
I was immediately drawn to the recipe for "Brussels Sprouts" from Square 1682 so I scurried off to my local produce store and snatched up some fresh sprouts (on sale!). Back to the kitchen I went, overly aware and slightly frightened by two sentences in the recipe: "Do not overcook! Overcooked brussels sprouts are bitter and are the main reason why some people don't like them.". No pressure...
They turned out extremely well, and I served them with a steak and some potato slices sauteed with Old Bay as shown below. I would definitely recommend this recipe and certainly will be making them again.
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