KELLY * August 10 * Dinner
So, at it turns out, I'm not actually very bright during the summer. I was actually somewhat productive today, but apparently my attempt to be so led to me becoming wholly oblivious of my own surroundings. Liz was pretty sure that the apartment (that I had been sitting in all day with no A/C or open windows) felt like a sauna. She said I was bright red and needed to hydrate. Well, this is not unusual for me. That said, despite my overall obliviousness, I did do some online research to figure out something to have for dinner. What to do with tomatoes and eggplants? Hmm. Well, I found this recipe for stuffed eggplant. Liz had to switch things up a bit (as our eggplants lacked a bit of bodily integrity/size and could not serve as a boat for stuffing). Anyway, I stand by tonight's dinner. I loves me a tomato, so if you want to stuff things into a tomato and give them to me, I will take them! (Have I mentioned that Liz is useful?) We differed on our opinions regarding the dish. She felt that the stuffing was not as good as the veg that she cooked outside of the tomato and I thought the stuffing was naught but tasty tomato-y goodness. I think she was just cranky because the apartment is BLAZING!!!
ELIZABETH * August 10 * Dinner
It's not so hot now that I opened all the windows and turned on a fan or two. The absent-minded professor really doesn't notice a thing when she is working. It was dang hot in the kitchen though, with the oven on and water boiling! Again, like last night, discoveries were made, with room for improvements next time. We served the stuffed tomatoes with spinach-ricotta tortellini from Galucci's Cleveland, with a light Aglio e Olio sauce of lemon infused olive oil, crushed chilis, chopped garlic, salt and pepper, and grated pecorino romano. As always, there was NOTHING wrong with this classic. The tomatoes themselves were made as follows:
Two sizeable tomatoes (Angelic CSA) - core and drain in a colander while you make:
Chopped garlic scapes (probably the last of the season) and a sliced leek, both from Angelic CSA, sauteed in olive oil with crushed chilis, salt and pepper.
Diced zucchini and 2 baby eggplants (Angelic CSA), the guts of the above tomatoes sans seeds, added to above.
When veg is tender add 1 tbsp each fresh thyme and fresh parsley, chopped, and some grated pecorino romano cheese.
Stuff tomatoes with mixture, place in baking dish. Surround with remaining veg, and sprinkle the whole with breadcrumbs. Bake 30 min at 350 and serve with more grated cheese, salt and pepper, with tortellini on the side.
I will agree with the good Doctor K that this was pretty good, but in fact the veg in the baking dish surrounding the tomatoes were better than the stuffing inside, even though they were the same stuff. I think the reasons for this were twofold - I enumerate the folds here:
1 - Because the veg in the pan were exposed to more heat and not stuffed in a tomato, they cooked more, became more succulent and tender, and tastier.
2 - Because the veg in the tomato were in the tomato, they not only cooked less, but they got a little wet due to tomato water. K thought they tasted tomato-ey. I just thought they were wet.
I think both folds could be addressed a) by not stuffing this veg in tomatoes at all but just roasting it and eating it yum or b) roasting the tomatoes longer and/or at a hotter temp. I think this would help evaporate some more tomato water and cook the veg more.
Also, although garlic scapes and leeks are lovely and delicate, in this dish I missed the punch of real live garlic (lots of it) and full-force onions. I took some of the Aglio e Olio and drizzled it on the tomato stuffing and it was seriously improved. I'm sure the addition of the extra oil didn't hurt, but the garlic really enhanced the tomato flavor. In short, we ate it and it was good and good for us, and we used up alot of veg, which was truly necessary. I would make again with some adjustments. It WAS very pretty though! A nice summer meal, especially if you have AC!
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