Stuffed Eggplant

These days I’ve been cooking light and as easy as I can. The new gardens are taking more time than I expected, but I find myself unable to leave them once I get working. At the end of the day the last thing I want to do is prepare a large dinner meal. But on the plus side, the spinach and ruby chard are just about ready to pick! Here’s a dish that I make often and so simple to prepare or can be made ahead and heated just before serving. You can add any veggies you like to this dish. I used mixed sweet peppers, shallots, and garlic along with some frozen corn I had on hand…along with the star of this dish, the eggplant. I prepared this early in the morning, so I could just pop it into the oven at dinnertime.



· 2 medium eggplants
· ½ cup frozen corn
· 2 shallots finely chopped
· 3 garlic cloves, minced
· ¾ cup diced sweet peppers
· 2 TBLS olive oil
· 2 TBLS minced fresh parsley
· ½ tsp summer savory, minced
· 1/4 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
· sea salt & ground pepper to taste
· 2 oz crumbed feta cheese
· 3 oz shredded fontina cheese
· 1 egg, beaten
· 1/2 cup water




Directions:
Cut eggplant in half lengthwise; remove pulp, leaving a 1/4-in. shell. Cube removed pulp and set shells aside.
In a large skillet, saute the eggplant pulp, corn, shallots, peppers and garlic in oil until peppers are just tender. Stir in herbs and seasoning. In a separate bowl mix cheeses and one beaten egg together. Add cheese mixture to sautéed vegetables. Spoon mixture into reserved eggplant shells. Sprinkle with paprika. Place in an ungreased baking dish and pour water into bottom of pan..
Cover and bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until heated through. Uncover and bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is lightly browned. Enjoy!

Summer Garden Ragu

Summer's here and like most cooks, I'm faced with the 'what will I do with all these excess garden veggies'? I'm not certain all the rains we have been seeing is helping things along just a mite.. but I can't recall ever having so much zucchini, squash and eggplant, at least not all at ONCE!

As I picked over each plant the other day, I was reminded of an old Italian neighbor, Mrs. Savero. She was kind of a throw back in time, sort of a young Sophia Loren, if you remember those days, and wore many familiar 'Sophia' dresses while gardening! She was quite the site and of course many of the local fishermen would be happy to visit and bring her the 'catch of the day'. In exchange she always offered up her best garden vegetables. My Dad was among these fishermen. I remember him coming in one night with this large toureen filled with this marvelous smelling concoction, given to him by Mrs. S. It was one of the best vegetable dishes I've ever eaten, and have made it every summer for over 30 years now. The only difference is, I usually wear a sports bra and running shorts when I'm in the garden, though always bare footed, seldom a low cut, off the shoulder dress!{wink} So, if you have abundant summer veggies growing in your gardens, try this delicous dish! Here's my version of Mrs Savero's Summer Ragu.



· Veggies from the garden:
1 Eggplant, 2 cups green beans, 2 yellow squash, 2
zucchini, 1 red pepper, 1green pepper, 8 Roma tomatoes, 2 small new potatoes.
Cut all vegetables bite sized & set aside. Cube eggplant and set in colander
and sprinkle with salt after each layer. Allow to set 20 minutes or so and
rinse well. Pat dry, squeezing out excess moisture.

· Saute in a large pan ½ cup extra virgin olive oil:
2 chopped onions, 5-6
garlic cloves, 1 cup mushrooms. When onions are nearly transluscent add ½
cup dry white wine, a good sprig of fresh thyme, and 5-6 torn basil leaves.

· Toss in all the vegetables now along with 2 TBLS marinara sauce or tomato
paste, Italian parsley, 2 tsp sugar, ground pepper and sea salt & the juice
of one lemon . Allow this to simmer for an hour or so until vegetables are
tender, but haven’t lost their shape.

Serve this ragu warm or room temperature, with lots of Pecorino cheese. You’ll be eating bowlfuls of this dish.. it’s that good! ;) Enjoy!