Thursday, September 17, 2009

Last Night's Dinner

Last night I used several items from my CSA box.  The main portion was made with eggplant and peppers.  It is Eggplant Casserole with Olives, Bell Pepper and Cheese from Farmer John's Cookbook.  This isn't a quick recipe as it takes almost 2 hours to make but it is easy.

Ingredients:
Eggplant (I use more or less depending on what came in the box)
Sweet and hot peppers (the more colors the better)
1 C. Tomato Sauce
1/3 C. Black Olives sliced
3 eggs
1 C. Ricotta Cheese
3/4 C Parmesan (I use a mix of Romano, Parmesan and Asiago)
Fresh Basil, chopped
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Slice eggplant into 1/4" slices and brush both sides with olive oil, lightly season with salt and pepper.  Arrange slices on a baking sheet.  Bake until eggplant is soft and golden, between 10 to 20 min.  Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Reduce oven temp to 350 degrees.  Cut peppers into chunks and toss around in a bowl with some olive oil.  Spread the pepper chunks onto a baking sheet. Bake 10-15 minutes.
In a bowl, mix ricotta, eggs and half the parmesan cheese together with the basil and salt.
Lightly grease an 8" or 9" square baking dish with oil. 
Layer the veggies and other ingredients this way:
1/2 the eggplants slices
1/2 the ricotta mixture
1/2 the tomato sauce
all of the peppers and olives
1/2 the ricotta mixture
1/2 the tomato mixture
1/2 the eggplant
the rest of the parmesan cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees until cheese has melted and browned for about 45 minutes.

I served this with some Naan (our favorite quick bread), fried okra (sliced okra tossed in corn meal and fried in peanut oil) along with the rest of the Arugula in a salad.

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