Garden to Tummy in an Hour

This is lunch and dinner today - all fresh from my garden. I bought some goodies at the farmer's market yesterday, including an eggplant, only to discover that I had not only some baby ones, but a couple of full grown ones as well in my own little garden. I'll have to find a home for the one I bought yesterday.

I came right inside and cooked up the tomatoes, chives, oregano and basil with some olive oil and garlic, and some onions I bought at the farmer's market yesterday into a sauce.



If it doesn't look as red as you would expect, that's because it's made from real tomatoes, without any red food coloring added in.

I cut up one eggplant and sprinkled the slices with salt and pressed them to get some water out of them. However, I didn't let them sit for two hours, as is always suggested. But, they didn't need it.

I dipped the eggplant slices in egg and dredged in flour with salt and pepper, and fried in a little olive oil. By the time they were done, the sauce was ready to be pureed. I layered an eggplant slice with some cheese and then poured the sauce over all. Naturally, I added freshly grated parmesan on top and garnished with some tomatoes and a basil leaf, and sprinkled with fresh chives.



It was delicious! I mean, really, really, really delicious. Even though I'm alone in the house, I exclaimed, "That is good!" outloud to myself when I took the first bite.

I am becoming more and more devoted to the idea of having food as recently picked as possible. There's a world of difference in how it tastes. If I'm not careful, I'm going to be canning before I know it.

Obviously, I need a bigger garden. This fall I think I will take the side of my yard where the garden is and get rid of the grass so I can put more garden in next year.

Oh... and dessert... the rest of the fresh blackberries from the farmer's market yesterday. Yum!