July 23, 2026 - Dinner!

 Today I seemed to put a little more effort into dinner than I have been. Maybe it's because I've not canned anything this week and I've gotten some rest! The main reason I made what I made is that Debbie shared an Instagram  . . I don't know what you call it - one of those short videos, of a lady making this eggplant dish. I think it's called Eggplant Milanese. I found this recipe and it looks a heck of a lot easier than what I did. The recipe I made started with wrapping the eggplants in parchment paper, then wrapping that in foil, roasting at 400 degrees for 40 minutes (according to the recipe). My eggplants were big so it took about an hour. With this heat, the oven at 400 for an hour was brutal. I went out to water this morning and those darned eggplants just won't stop! I picked 12 late last week and this is what I picked this morning. Off THREE plants! 

Then .. the tomatoes! There are so many of these little tiny tomatoes. The big tomatoes are doing good too but these little ones - except for a couple that I planted for Cooper . . they all came up volunteer and there are hundreds of them. They're even outside the fence! 

Those tomatoes came off three plants and there are probably 100+ plants. Next year, I will be much more careful about removing 99% of them.

I told Vince I was going to pick a bunch of them, give them a quick run through the blender and try making a sauce from them. Grinding tomato seeds usually causes the sauce to be bitter but I figured as sweet as these tomatoes are, it might be ok. 

I ended up with about 7 cups of tomatoes. The sauce simmered for an hour or so and it was more bitter than I had hoped. I read that adding carrots might help "tame" the bitterness. I knew I could add a bit of sugar but those tomatoes were almost candy sweet so I didn't want to make it any sweeter. I did add a bit of baking soda which was also suggested as a cure for the bitterness. When Vince got home, I asked him to taste it to see if he was ok with it. He loved it. That husband of mine - he does love pasta sauce. I'm not sure there's anything I could do to a big bowl of tomatoes that would make him not like it, which is NOT the way I feel about it.  :)

I roasted three eggplants and according to the video I watched, the peelings would slip off. They did. Then I would gently mash the whole eggplant to be about 1/2" thick. I did. Then I would dip it in bread crumbs and fry it. That wasn't so easy. The eggplant was a big, floppy, fragile hunk and by the time I got it breaded, trying to get it into the hot oil without kinda tossing it in and hoping for the best was about all I could figure out to do with it. 

Next I put mozzarella cheese over it and stuck it under the broiler for a minute, added fresh basil and tomatoes and served the red sauce over beef ravioli. Vince seemed really pleased with it and that makes me happy. I loved the eggplant but do believe the linked recipe will be much the same but way easier.