Catching Up, Part 2...

Week 6
Japanese Eggplant
Green Beans
Fennel
Turnips
Summer squash (went with zucchini this time)
Cucumber
Sunjewel Melon (first time seeing one of these)
Basil
Carrots (these were purple!)
Beets

We were gong away over the weekend, so I wanted to use the most perishable items. I figured those were the eggplants and zucchini.

I found a recipe in Everyday Vegetarian Cooking ("Six Books in One!") that I'd picked up a while ago in the bargain bin at Barnes & Noble for $9.98 (price sticker still on it). I'd marked lots of recipes but never got around to trying any of them. This was the day! Conveniently, one of the "Books" (more like chapters) was on "Spinach, Eggplant, and Zucchini," so I started there. However, I found the winner in the "Mixed Vegetable" section (I'm sorry, "book"): "Vegetable and Polenta (Cornmeal) Pie." It was published in Australia, so included British and American names for some of the veggies: Eggplants (aubergines)," "Red capsicum (peppers)," and "Zucchini (courgettes)." I think I may have liked zucchini better if I knew it as "courgettes."

So you're supposed to cook the polenta (and add parmesan), then chill it in a pan in a fridge, then cut it into wedges to place on top of the cooked veggies, which would then be baked in the oven. Forget that, I said. It may look a bit less pretty, but I opted to cook the polenta, add the parm, skip the chilling step, then just spread the polenta on top of the veggies. Along with the zucchini and eggplant (which I salted first), tere was onion, garlic, the aforementioned peppers, and canned (well, boxed in this case) chopped tomatoes. (I skipped the mushrooms, since we didn't have any.)

Veggies were cooked in a pot for 20 minutes (covered), then transferred to a pie dish, covered with the polenta, and baked for 20 minutes till it got crispy.

I perhaps made a few more veggies than intended, or maybe I should have drained the tomatoes, but it ended up bubbling over the edge of the pan. I smelled burning, went to check on it, noticed the smoke in the oven, and quickly opened the window and door and turned on the fan. Alas, it was too late, as the smoke detector confirmed that it is in fact good at detecting smoke. It was just some drips on the bottom of the stove, and the dish itself was fine.

And quite good! I even liked the zucchini part. Maybe because I told myself they were courgettes...