Fruits of Summer, Solanum Style! Pt 2

Eggplant!  Beautiful, glossy, still-life works of art from my garden, turned into baked eggplant parmesan!  No grease, no frying, just delectable bites of crunchy, sauced, cheesy eggplant!

Eggplants, like tomatoes and potatoes, are a member of the Solanaceae family, genus Solanum.  This family is also known as the nightshade family, which includes some plants that are deadly!  But eggplant is certainly only deadly in one way: in eggplant parmesan!

For a 9x13 pan of double-decker eggplant parm, plan on at least 2-1/2 lbs of eggplant.  I used 4 lbs and went for three layers.  You'll also need the following:

Fruits of Summer, Solanum Style! Pt 1

First, my apologies for a month-long hiatus without any warning.  Gardening duties and my social life required a little attention (not to mention my work with the NH Rivers Council)!  Here in the northeast there has been minimal rainfall--at least in terms of what vegetation requires (good, long soaking rains).  So in addition to pruning/thinning, weeding, rotating crops (um, in my case, small beds) and staying on top of harvesting, I've also had to deal with the "dreaded hose" (I hate having to tap into an aquifer!).  Regardless, our heirloom tomato plants have provided plenty of fruit (as have our eggplants, but more on those in the next post, promise - they're so easy to grow and super fun to experience!).  Here's a glimpse of the varieties of tomato we're growing this summer:

Clockwise from 9 o'clock: One slice of Brandywine (super unbelievable flavor!); two slices of Cherokee Purple (not just great flavor, but unique coloring as well); one slice of Black Prince (a small version of the Cherokee, really); and two slices of Green Zebras nestled in with some grape tomatoes.  Zebras are not heirlooms, but they've been grown for a very long time without any muddling, so they tend to get sold under the same category.

And what to make to capture the essence of these babies?  You could always settle for a plate of sliced juicy toms with fresh mozzarella cheese and torn basil leaves, finished with a generous swirl of luscious olive oil and a healthy sprinkling of coarse sea salt!  (I'm drooling already....)  But how about a bowl of gorgeous gazapacho?  It's truly summer's elixir, and I have just the recipe for you in four easy steps!

Sustainable Seafood Choices

I've been dealing with brain chatter since posting the Encrusted Cod recipe, and for several reasons. But rather than go into a rant about the various potential issues surrounding Cod, I'm going to post additional information (I posted a couple of links under the Encrusted Cod recipe) on ways you can make smart choices when purchasing seafood.

Here are a few of my favorite sustainable seafood pocket guides, but first just one quick point worth mentioning- there's a lot of info packed onto these types of 'pocket guides', so keep in mind that complicated information has been somewhat simplified for the sake of the consumer.  Please take time to understand the issues! 

Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program provides ALL KINDS of pocket guides!  Choose one for your region!

Environmental Defense Fund's Oceans program has a Seafood Selector pocket guide that is easy to read at a glance.  Print  your own copy here.

I also appreciate Blue Ocean Institute's Seafood program. Their Seafood Guide (image file is HUGE, so I used their site logo only) can be downloaded for printing. You can opt for their online guide, or request free pocket guides by mail, or utilize their iPhone service called 'FishPhone' (text messaging for all other cell users).  Visit their website today!

Lastly, last fall I completed the online Green Chefs, Blue Ocean sustainable seafood training program (~2 hours). It's still available for free, but word is it won't be for much longer. I highly recommend it; I learned several new things about fish/shellfish farming, but more importantly learned how to effectively promote sustainable seafood.

Fish Gone Mad... Madhouse, That Is!

My twice-a-year Potato Chip Encrusted Dayboat Cod

For 2lbs of fresh, local, sustainably harvested* white fish fillets (serves 4 hungry adults), finely crush three healthy handfuls of your favorite potato chip (at the moment ours happens to be Madhouse Munchies' Sea Salted from VT) and add to a handful of panko crumbs (aim for a 2-to-1 ratio by weight).  Add a Tbsp or two of melted butter--not too much, as the chips provide some fat--and whatever herbs you like with fish.  I used a blend of dried tarragon and dill, and minced fresh lemon-thyme.

True Baby Carrots!

Botanical Interests' Daucus carota var sativas!  :~)

Here are a few of the first of my 'Little Finger' carrots, started from seed back in late April.  My first ever homegrown carrots!  Their seeds are miniscule and like to be soaked in water for 12 hours before planting.  Sowing the seeds--which aren't much bigger than one of these dashes--is made easier by the fact that four or so are planted per inch in rows roughly a foot apart.  Thinning occured once their greens were a good inch high.  I pulled a few around day 50, but the ones above were pulled on day 60 (seed packet states 57 days).

From all that I've read on the subject, carrots like deep soil mixed with lots of compost and peat.  So I mixed LOTS of compost and peat deep into the soil (7-8" down), achieving (I think) a 50/50 mix-to-soil ratio overall.  I've read that the small forking as seen on a couple carrots in the picture above could be due to old roots or small stones in the soil.  That is, as the roots of the growing carrots extend down into the soil, they are easily inhibited by the smallest of obstacles.  But the forking could also be due to excess nitrogen (N), which I may have unintentionally contributed to (more about that in a bit).  Regardless, these "true" baby carrots, which average 3-1/2" long, are sweet and tender.  While they are purported to be perfect for pickling/canning, they'll never get that far between our snacking on them, eating them in salads, and treating our dog!  Read on for info on companion planting and nitrogen info!