Sylvia's Scenario

How is everyone's vegetable garden's doing right now?  We've been eating a lot of tomatoes and cucumbers from our garden lately.  Last night, we had this new dish with our dinner when we invited some of Bruce's golf buddies over for dinner after their day of golf.  One of the wives brought this French Tian dish that went perfectly with our main dish of barbecued teriyaki flank steak ; a family favorite at our house.  Tian is made with eggplant, tomatoes, onions, zucchini, and lots of olive oil to make the most delicious juice from the veggies.  She also brought some crusty French bread to soak up those juices.  Frankly, I could have just eaten this alone as my whole dinner with bread dunked in the juices.  It was so addicting.   It's like a summer version of  ratatouille  that I like in the fall with all the garden veggies.  I am eager to make this Tian now. The recipe is from Dori Greenspan from her cookbook Everyday Dorie ....

This is a perfect dish right from the garden and really hits the spot when it starts getting cooler outside (like now!)    And for whatever reason, I've been feeling like eggplant lately.  Or    maybe I just feel like French food!  Ratatouille is a traditional french stewed vegetable dish originating in Nice, the french word of touiller means to toss food.  Que c'est delicieus! Serves 4     2 Tbsp. olive oil 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 large onion, quartered and thinly sliced 1 small eggplant, cubed 2 green bell peppers, coarsely chopped 4 large tomatoes, coarsely chopped or 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes 3 to 4 small zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch slices 1 tsp. dried leaf basil or 1 Tbsp. fresh basil 1/2 tsp. dried leaf oregano or  2 tsp. fresh oregano 1/4 tsp. dried leaf thyme or 1 tsp. fresh thyme 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley (In general, you can substitute one teaspoon of dried herbs for one tablespoon o...

This recipe uses those refrigerated polenta tubes that I never know what to do with!  I found one as I was cleaning out the refrigerator so whipped up this recipe to use it up.   It uses tomatoes and basil from the garden, and eggplant, although we didn't grow eggplant this year, but if you did then this would be a great garden casserole. Serves 6  (2 polenta and eggplant stacks per serving) 2 Tbsp. olive oil 4 cloves garlic, chopped 28 oz. canned tomatoes, broken up or fresh tomatoes 1/4 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes 1/2 cup basil, chopped 1-1/2 pound raw eggplant, cut into 24 (1/4-inch) slices 16 oz. polenta, from a refrigerated tube, cut into 12 (1/2-inch) slice 1.  Heat the oil in a large skillet, then add the garlic.  Saute until golden, about 1 minute.  Add the tomatoes, salt, red pepper flakes, and basil; bring to a boil.  Simmer, uncovered, until the sauce thickens slightly, about 15 minutes. ...