1000 pizza doughs

Buy Local Challenge Week: Sort of Like March

The challenge started on a weekend, when I was in my cooking groove. Not rushed at all. I was calm and relaxed and made it to not one but two farmer's markets over the weekend. I was ready.

Then Monday set in. Followed by Tuesday, Wednesday... well, you know, all those days that you have to show up for work.  I started this blog on Thursday at which point I had forgotten to pick up my CSA vegetables (oops), forgotten to pick up a prescription (double oops) and forgotten to do something for my boss (gulp).  And, sadly, I had even written that last one down.  It just hasn't been one of my better weeks. So for me, this challenge started with a roar, and finished with a whimper.

I was glad that I bought a lot of fruit from the farmers markets for snacking during the week, and that I only set my goal to eat one local thing a day. I've actually met that goal, and was very pleased with the weekend's dinners.  Want to hear about them?

(Oh good, you're still here!)

Saturday: Indian food night!

• Pea and potato curry, using CSA potatoes, garlic and tomatoes
• Squash blossom and broccoli pakoras (like tempura, but with curry) - using squash blossoms from the farmers market (Tomatoes, etc. farm), served with a cilantro-mint chutney (mint from CSA)
• Homemade naan - not local, but King Arthur flour is the best

It took me more than 3 hours to prepare the meal above. Pretty sure I burned enough calories to cancel out all the deep-fried deliciousness. (Well, maybe not, but it was totally worth it!)

These beautiful squash blossoms...

...made awesome pakoras!

Here's the whole feast.

 

Sunday: Southern style cookout

• Grilled chicken breast w/BBQ sauce (from a bottle - wasn't in the mood to spend 3 hours in the kitchen again quite so soon)
• Grilled corn on the cob, from the farmers market
• Baked beans - real, honest-to-goodness cooked-for-9-hours baked beans, with molasses, brown sugar and tomatoes
• Cucumber and tomato salad, with CSA veggies

Monday: The downhill slide begins

• Leftover curry for lunch, and a farmers market peach as a snack
• Banana sandwiches for dinner (not local, but a childhood favorite)

Tuesday: Mmm... cobbler...

• Used rapidly deteriorating peaches and blackberries from Saturday's market to make a cobbler. I had intended to make a pie, but on a weeknight... ain't gonna happen. Cobbler was OK, but tasted a little off. Not sure if some of the fruit had turned already, or if I just did it wrong.
• Also sneaked some yellow squash into the tomato sauce for pasta at dinner. Almost managed to convince my child to eat it... almost. 

Wednesday: More sandwiches

• Sliced a giant tomato I bought at the Urbana farmers market. It was exactly bread-sized, and was fantastic in its juiciness with some mayo and provolone. 
• Finished the rest of the farmers market blackberries and some cherry tomatoes for snacks

Thursday: <crickets chirping>

• Today, just some CSA cherry tomatoes for a snack. 

Friday: 

• Tomato slices (one of the best ways to eat fresh tomatoes, I think)

Saturday:

• No idea... it's now a week later, and I just can't remember. I think I made a tomato, basil and mozzarella salad, but don't really remember for sure. (I had written everything down until that point.)

If nothing else, this week made me think more than usual about where my food comes from. I've resolved to try to eat something local every day through the fall, which should be easy with a regularly replenishing CSA supply.  It's so easy to fall into old patterns, though.  So I've gotten a "vegetable board" thanks to this idea from BittenWord, so I can remind myself what's in the crisper.

(Yes, we have a Viking ship on top of our fridge. Doesn't everyone?) 

Buy Local Challenge Week

Whew! Thought I missed it there for a minute. I stopped by the Common Market after work because I am addicted to their carrot cake needed to buy a few assorted items. Bless them, they had clearly labeled Buy Local Challenge signs all over the store AND some local items were on sale, including two of my favorites: Dublin Roasters coffee and Michelle's Granola.  (Since I still have approximately 6 gallons of granola from the last batch I made, had to resist, but if you go, try the pumpkin spice flavor.) 

The Common Market labels local items year-round too. I swear some of the signs said it started yesterday. And well, let's just say yesterday was not a vegetable-eating kind of day for me. It was more a pulled pork sandwich sweet potato fries homemade pizza bring me a beer kind of day.  So, thankfully, it looks like the correct dates are July 17 - 25, 2010.

 

So what is the Buy Local Challenge? Simple. "I pledge to eat at least one thing from a local farm every day during Buy Local Week." That's it. Just one thing a day, for seven days.  Stock up at the farmer's market, use your CSA produce, head over to the Common Market or MOM's, or eat at a restaurant that features local produce (in Frederick Isabellas, Acacia, Cafe Nola and Volt come to mind, but there are plenty more).

Fair warning: you'll have to think more than usual about where your food comes from to do this. And it's not as easy as it sounds, but if you keep it simple, you'll manage just fine.  And keep a couple local fruits on hand for snacking, in case you run short on cooking time, motivation, etc.  If you run out of cooking ideas, go with pasta. It goes with most vegetables.  Dinner tonight was CSA squash, garlic, basil and cherry tomatoes tossed with whole wheat linguine, parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and a little olive oil, white wine and lemon juice.  I'm a little early for the challenge, but it was a great simple dinner!

So are you in? Who's up for the challenge?  Take the official challenge, or just try to eat one local thing each day for a week.  I'd love to hear how it goes! 

CSA Recipe Roundup

During CSA season, I write the weekly newsletter for the Summer Creek Farm CSA in Frederick, Maryland.  Since a few people have mentioned that they've come to the blog looking for the recipes I tweeted about, here's a recap of the CSA recipes so far this year.  Each link goes to the archive of that week's e-mail newsletter (feel free to sign up -- no CSA membership required!).  Each week also includes some information on one featured CSA item in season that week.

• Basic pasta with broccoli rabe - featured item: broccoli rabe
• Tabouleh and raita - featured item: mint
• Garlic scape pesto - featured item: garlic scapes
• Garlic scape hummus - featured item: romaine lettuce
• Pea and potato curry - featured item: potatoes
• Stir fried shrimp and snow peas - featured item: snow peas

This week we have a CSA break (so the farm can harvest wheat), so I'll be taking the opportunity to visit the new downtown Frederick farmers market that Wednesday instead. 

Above: pea and potato curry, from Devra Gartenstein's The Accidental Vegan. The recipe is posted here on Google Books.

Garden Check-In

When I wrote the first post about my rookie garden, I didn't really believe it would actually grow.  I wanted to believe, but having killed too many houseplants, I was lacking a certain confidence. Now, look at it!

Yes, there are some things that likely won't make it. A tomato plant, probably, and those eggplants aren't looking too spry.  But the dill looks great, and most of the lettuces are coming along nicely.  I planted some salad bowl lettuces a few weeks before the garden, and they are rapidly approaching harvest. (Snipped a few leaves for small salads the other night - tasty!)

Based on my research, these should be "cut and come again" lettuces.  But just in case, I'm planning to plant a second round of seeds soon in more containers so we'll have fresh salads later into the summer.

My rose bush is doing well in its fourth (I think) year now. It's always at its best now, before Japanese beetle season (how I loathe those little buggers).

Are you gardening in a small space?  If so, you might enjoy this story from NPR's Science Friday interview of the Cheap Vegetable Gardener.  Happy planting!

Made in Frederick Gift Basket

Every year for our company holiday party, each member of management donates a gift basket that means something to them personally, and an employee is drawn at random to win the prize.  For example, our CFO has donated a "basket of cash" for several years running, and another manager--an avid home brewer--donated a beer basket. 

This year, I have enjoyed learning more about all the great things that are grown and made in Frederick County, Maryland, so I decided to do a "Made in Frederick" basket.  I have been slowly gathering the items for my basket for about a month, thanks to some great suggestions from my Twitter friends.  (I could have found more too, but the party's tomorrow!)

So, what might you find in a Made in Frederick basket?  (Note: the actual basket, as far as I can tell, was not made in Frederick.  It is recycled from a very nice gift of wine and dark chocolate I received last year from some people who obviously know me very well. The cat is not happy about this, as she rather enjoyed sleeping in this particular kitty-sized basket.)

• Elk Run Vineyard wine - I chose a chardonnay, since that's all the liquor store was offering, and I didn't have time to visit the vineyard. (Making this basket could really be a full-time job.)
• Flying Dog Double Dog Double Pale Ale - I sent my husband out for this one, with the request only that he didn't choose the Raging Bitch... this is a work party, after all.
• Dublin Roasters Guatelmalan Antigua artisan roasted coffee, hand-roasted in New Market, Md. I was hoping for some Highlander Grogg, but the selection is whatever's been recently roasted.  I also picked up a couple other items for the basket in their cute little store, including:
• Local honey from Bill McGiffin's apiary in Mt. Airy, Md., and
• A selection of Seven Angels lotions, made in New Market. I think I've seen them at farmers markets too.
• While in New Market, I stopped at the New Market General Store, hoping for something small by a local artist. I found McCutcheon's Buttermilk Pancake and Waffle Mix, and some Swedish fish (for my husband, not the basket).
• And what basket would be complete without chocolate? First, a variety box from Perfect Truffle in Frederick's Shab Row.
• Finally, my personal favorite, a Raw Bar (with cocoa nibs) and an Espresso Bar from Zoe's Chocolate, a relatively new addition to downtown Frederick.

Here are some photos of my adventures along the way:

Dublin Roasters - very cute, but easy to miss if you aren't looking closely. (Their coffee is also available at the Common Market in Frederick.) It smells heavenly in there. If you think heaven must smell like freshly roasted coffee, which I do.

 

New Market General Store - it's like a trip back in time.

 

A sampling from Perfect Truffle (this was similar to the one in the basket, but was for, um, personal consumption). My husband loved the cayenne flavor (the red one).

And, finally, at Zoe's, where I had some assistance with my selections.

 

Now, I'm finally in the holiday spirit. (See, all it takes is chocolate...)

Dinner in the Kitchen at Volt

Last week, my husband took me out for a lovely dinner knowing that I was unlikely to pay much attention to him during the meal.  In fact, he's the one who encouraged me to blog about it. (Did I mention he is awesome?)

We went to Volt.  Three letters describe the experience on several levels: Wow. First, for the food. Then for the wine pairings. Then for the service. And last, of course, for the bill. We can't afford to eat like this every day (or maybe even every year), but I'd say it was worth every penny. It was a bit dark in there and I had the flash off, so as not to disturb the other diners, so the photos came out a little dark, and they really don't do the food justice - this art is meant to be eaten.

The meal started with the cutest little amuse-bouche. I can't remember what they said these were, but they were cute. And really tasty. (The top right one used to be the one at left... couldn't wait!)

    

I love that Volt uses local ingredients whenever possible, and I know they get a lot of produce from Farmer Rick at Summer Creek.  So given the choice between the kitchen menu and the market vegetable menu, I went with the all vegetarian option.  To me, a good chef can make magic with just vegetables.  By that standard (and probably a lot of others) Bryan Voltaggio is one heck of a good chef.

My first course was a shitake veloute with pinenut sabayon (which, if you work in computers, apparently has something to do with gnomes, or maybe I've just been reading too much Terry Brooks?) paired with a chardonnay.  While I've never cared for mushroom soup, this one was pretty good.  And I've never had a proper wine pairing until Volt. That much was evident upon the first sip. The wine intensified the flavor of the soup, and didn't overshadow it.  I have to say though, I liked my husband's soup better (he got the regular kitchen menu): a potato leek chowder with sea urchin. (Not something I've ever put in my potato leek soup...)

 

Next up was one of my favorite dishes: a Cherry Glen Farm goat cheese ravioli with butternut squash, sage brown butter and chanterelle mushrooms (left, below), paired with a gruner veltliner. Note to self: learn to make brown butter. Hubbie had a Hudson Valley duck liver (right, below) with seckel pears, pistacio, anise and vanilla brioche bread.

  

Next up, yellow oyster mushrooms with pea leaves, black forbidden rice, cardamom spiced carrot broth and ginger glazed carrots (left, below) paired with a pinot noir. Hubbie had the Nantucket Bay scallops served over a similar rice mixture (right, below). Another thing I had apparently never tasted before that evening: a properly cooked scallop. I actually thought I didn't like them (these were divine).

     

Next came the pork trotters, which were my husband's favorite (didn't manage a bite or a photo... wasn't quick enough!) and I had some tender chickpea gnocchi with calypso beans, petite red ribbon sorrel and more sage brown butter (pictured below), with a Botani muscatel seco. These were the prettiest beans I've ever eaten!

The final dinner course was Pineland Farm beef strip loin for him (left, below), and variations on eggplant for me including caponata, parmesan, zhatar, roasted pepper and beluga lentils (right, below), paired with a big Argentina merlot.

    

So pretty.  And it tasted even better! Next up, we got the optional selection of artisan cheese to share.

 

I saw that Highlander Grogg from Dublin Roasters was on the coffee list, so of course I had to have a cup. Came with its own little coffee press!

And, what meal would be complete without chocolate? The "textures of chocolate" included a dark chocolate ganache, milk chocolate ice cream, and chocolate caramel, paired with a Broadbent colheita madiera. I also seem to remember some chocolate dust, although after all that wine sampling, it's possible I was imagining things.  

Now that's my kind of art.

Finally, when we couldn't possibly eat any more, out came the cutest little ice cream sandwich cookies ever.

They almost followed us out to our car with more food -- the bill came with muffins to go!  I grew up with no idea that macaroni and cheese wasn't supposed to come from a box, so fine dining critic I am not. The critics give Volt decent reviews too. And why wouldn't they? Great service, charming location and absolutely fantastic food.

From what I hear, it's getting a bit difficult to get a reservation, so call way ahead if you want to go, especially if you want to sit in the kitchen. And trust me, you want to sit in the kitchen.

Easy Potato Leek Soup

I picked up the last CSA box yesterday from the Fall extension, and reality started to set in.  Winter is coming, and we're about to have a vegetable drought.  (Admittedly, some in my house who are squash-averse are taking this better than I am.)  Here's the last of my Fall CSA harvest, although I did sign up for a special Thanksgiving basket too, since I will be cooking this year (woo hoo!).

I cannot wait to eat that broccoli.  Farmer Rick's broccoli has no equal (really).  And he tells me that people are already signing up for next year!

So, what's in season in the winter in Maryland?  Potatoes. Kale. Potatoes. Kale.  Well, you get the idea.

One thing that makes this transition a little easier is this soup.  It's really simple, especially if you have an immersion blender.  I've been making this so long, I don't remember where I got the recipe, as it now lives only in my head.  I do remember that the tip for how to clean leeks came from Tyler Florence.

Easy Potato Leek Soup

Makes 4 servings in about 45 minutes.

•     3 large leeks
•     1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
•     1 pound potatoes, white or Yukon gold (4 to 6 medium-sized potatoes)
•     3 to 4 cups vegetable or chicken stock*
•     1 teaspoon dried thyme
•     Salt and pepper, to taste
•     Paprika, for garnish (optional)
•     Chives or scallions, for garnish (optional)

 *Note about the stock: the stock is a critical part of this dish, and gives it a lot of its flavor.  This is not the time to try a bargain stock, or use one that you don't love the flavor of.  It's much better if you use your own homemade stock, but for store-bought I like Pacific or Kitchen Basics.

Slice the white and light green parts of the leeks into thin rings, and swish around in a large bowl of water, to remove dirt and grit.  Dry with towels.

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan (3 quarts or larger) over medium heat.  Add leeks and cook, stirring, for about 8 minutes, until tender.  (If they start to caramelize, that’s OK—it just adds flavor.)

Meanwhile, wash and peel the potatoes.  (Monkey optional - my daughter insisted that he was "helping.")

Cut potatoes into 1/2-inch dice.  When leeks are tender, add potatoes, thyme and stock (enough to just cover potatoes) to the pot, and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer uncovered about 20 minutes, or until potatoes can be easily mashed with the back of a spoon.

Puree the soup using an immersion blender (a regular blender would work too, just be careful when pouring hot liquid).  Add salt and pepper to taste and serve garnished with paprika and/or chives. Goes well with grilled cheese (pictured, "the basic" - a standby of the picky kid).

Still looking for new in-season ideas for cooking this winter... What are your favorite winter soups or dishes?

Pumpkin Pie: Sanity is Overrated

Continuing the theme of doing things the hard way, I decided to make my first ever homemade pumpkin pie using an actual pumpkin.  I found this little guy at the store, labeled as a "pie pumpkin" and just couldn't resist. 

Plus, he was local and organic. And I don't know why, but I named him Henry.  This made it much harder to cut him open... (and yes, I may have finally and completely lost it. Meh. Sanity is overrated.)

 

(Sorry Henry.)  Then I quartered and roasted him at 425° for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.  And poked him with a fork, to check for doneness.

 

And then, the real fun began.  Scoop out the tender flesh, put into food processor, and WHIRRRRRR it until smooth.  Actually, at this stage it looks and smells exactly like baby food.

To make pie with fresh pumpkin, it has to be strained through cheesecloth to remove excess water.  This takes at least another 45 minutes or so.  After straining, a 3 pound 4 ounce pumpkin produced about 1 cup of puree.

The fresh puree is picture above at left next to a can of pumpkin, right.  Why?  Because my recipe called for 2 cups of pumpkin, and poor Henry only made one.  Rookie mistake I suppose.  

Anyway, here's the end result.  It never completely set, even after refrigerating, and I am guessing that the fresh pumpkin just added too much extra moisture/variability in the end.  I also made an apple and raspberry pie that day too (what can I say... I like pie!).

Here's the recipe, if you would like to try the pumpkin pie.  This is slightly adapted from Mark Bittman's recipe for pumpkin pie from How to Cook Everything, which has been my favorite cookbook since the moment I laid hands on it.

Pumpkin Pie

Makes 1 9-inch pie in about 1 1/2 hours, not including making pumpkin puree (add another 1 1/2 to 2 hours).

Ingredients:

1 9-inch pie crust, placed in 9-inch pie pan and chilled (I also use Mark Bittman's flaky pie crust recipe)

3 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Pinch ground cloves

Pinch salt

2 cups canned or fresh pumpkin puree (I used one cup fresh and one cup canned)

2 cups half and half or evaporated milk (I used half and half)

 

Prebake the crust, pricked with a fork and weighted with pie weights (or dried beans) at 425° for 12 minutes.  Remove weights and bake at 350° for another 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and set aside in a warm place.

 

Meanwhile, beat eggs with sugar, then add spices and salt.  Stir in pumpkin puree and half and half.  Warm this mixture in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until hot (do not boil).

Put the pie crust on a baking sheet.  Pour hot pumpkin mixture into the still-hot crust and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the mixture shakes like Jell-O, but is still quite moist.  Cool on a rack and serve warm, or at room temperature.

p.s.  Sorry I haven't blogged in a while.  I have been cooking like crazy, but after long days of staring at the computer at work, I've been sort of computered out by the time I get home.  Any other bloggers have this problem?

The Great Tomato Massacre

A short while ago, it seemed like a brilliant idea to procure 20 pounds of fresh, organic late-summer local tomatoes from my favorite farmer.  A stroke of genius, I thought.  Fresh tomato sauce (via the freezer) in the dead of winter.  What could be better?

And then, on a Wednesday evening, reality set in.  It came in a large box that smelled faintly of a rogue tomato gone bad.

 

"You should probably cook these today or tomorrow," said the farmer. On Wednesday night. In the middle of my workweek.  (Sigh.)  So, dutifully, Thursday after cooking dinner, began the great tomato massacre. (Insert creepy music here...)

Did I mention that I had never actually made fresh tomato sauce?  So, I decided to try two different sauces.  Kind of like airline fuel hedging, but for tomatoes (sorry, random MBA reference... sometimes I wonder if I should have just gone to culinary school instead).  So, with two sauces, at least one is bound to turn out OK, right?  Um... right... (Insert dripping sarcasm)

Fresh Tomato Sauce

For the sauces, I turned to my trusty copy of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison, where I found a recipe for Fresh Tomato Sauce that promised to take about 20 minutes, did not require peeling the tomatoes first, and provided a great way to use my wilting CSA basil.  Here's the basic gist:

• 3 pounds ripe tomatoes (I approximately tripled this entire recipe)
• 3 tablespoons chopped basil
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Place roughly chopped tomatoes in a heavy pan with basil.  Cover and cook over medium-high until the tomatoes break down (about 10 minutes), being careful not to scorch. Then pass tomatoes through a food mill.  If you want the final sauce to be thicker, return it to the pot and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until it's as thick as you want.  Season with salt and pepper, and stir in the oil.

So after all that, and about a half hour of simmering, I got this: a watery, seedy tomato soup.  And the food mill pass-through?  I swear I now have tomato seeds on my ceiling, the top of the refrigerator, the back of my retinas, and every other surface within a 10-foot radius.  I gave up on this sauce, strained out the seeds and put it in the fridge to become tomato soup.  Or possibly a large bloody Mary. (But not too large... it was only about one cup.  One cup!)  So, I humbly ask you... what did I do wrong?  (And I am pretty sure it was my error, since this cookbook has always yielded good results.)

Tomato Sauce Concasse

So, on to sauce two: Tomato Sauce Concasse (which sounds a lot more exotic than what it could be called: sauce with diced tomatoes).  This one sounded more like what I was expecting.  Cut Xes on the tomatoes, and plunge in boiling water.  Remove the skins. (Burn fingers due to impatience.)

Then seed and dice the tomatoes. (Burn fingers some more, and create horror flick storyboard.)

Oh yes, little one... guess what is your fate?  Mwah hah hah....

Then heat some olive oil (recipe called for butter) over medium heat, and add 1 small diced onion for every 3 pounds of tomatoes used.  Cook onion for about 5 minutes, then add tomatoes and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the watery juices have cooked off.  This took about an hour for me, although the recipe said 15-30 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  (Along with the tomatoes, I added some fresh thyme--why not?--and dried oregano.)  Here's what it looked like to start:

After about an hour, it was still watery and tasted wimpy.  So I called in the cavalry and added an entire can of tomato paste and some salt and pepper.  Maybe that was cheating, but it worked, and it was well past my bedtime at this point (which is why I don't have an "after" photo).  It turned out OK.  (But, sadly, still not as good as sauces I've made from canned tomatoes.)  But still, several pounds of tomatoes remained.

Oven-Roasted Tomatoes

Fast forward to the weekend (wouldn't it be great if you could really do that?)... and I took up my knife once again.  A bit beat down by sauces, I decided to roast the remainder of these little devils, following Mark Bittman's instructions for Oven-Roasted Plum Tomatoes (yes, I realize I was not using plum tomatoes).  I roughly chopped the remaining tomatoes and removed their seeds, then lined them up on a big cookie sheet and doused them in olive oil.

After roasting for about 45 minutes in a 325 oven, they were delightful sprinkled with a little sea salt.

I froze these in small portions to use later this winter (for more sauce, probably).

So what I've learned from this experience: don't be afraid to fail at new things (generally the results are still edible), don't squeeze the food mill with too much vigor, and never, ever take canned tomatoes for granted!

Sneak preview: My next "victim"? Cutest little pumpkin ever. (Commencing evil cackle...)

Eggplant challenge(d)

The last couple weeks have been crazy busy, and though the CSA baskets are bigger and more colorful at the end of the season, I just haven't been able to dedicate hours to cooking.  So I've been cooking a hodge-podge of mostly quick things, using as many CSA vegetables as I can.  For instance, tacos with Hedgeapple Farm beef and local onions and peppers is one of my weeknight standbys. 

I've cooked some things recently that I've never made before.  Zucchini pancakes, butternut squash pansotti (definitely NOT a quick dish, as it requires making fresh pasta), and this fried chicken:

Fried chicken is not something I would add to the regular line-up, for the sake of our arteries, but I had a craving, and it was really crispy and tasty.  Served it with roasted CSA fingerling potatoes and barley-stuffed green peppers.

I also did something else new recently: I used my iPhone for dinner ideas.  There's an app called AllRecipes; it includes something called a "Dinner Spinner" if you prefer a casino-like approach to meal planning.  I needed to use an eggplant, so I used the search feature instead, and came up with the predictable: eggplant parmesan.  It was also quite simple and promised to be quick, so I decided we had a winner.  (I have to admit, I am a little intimidated by eggplant.  Maybe it's the regal purple color, or the strangely smooth skin.  Or maybe it's just that I never even tasted eggplant until I was well into my 20s.)

I had never made eggplant parm before, but I could tell the recipe was a little off (I don't think it actually said how much eggplant to use).  So I adapted it quite liberally.  The recipe said nothing about salting the eggplant, but after my ratatouille experience, I wanted to make sure the eggplant retained no trace of bitterness, so I sliced and salted it and let it sit in a colander, while I chopped some other local vegetables (red pepper and green and yellow beans) and put them on to roast. 

I rinsed and dried the eggplant slices, then breaded and pan-fried them in olive oil.  Then, I put them in a baking dish (lightly coated with non-stick spray), topped them with tomato sauce, red pepper flakes and mozzarella, and baked at 425 for about 10 minutes.  After removing the other vegetables that had been roasting, I turned on the broiler, and let it brown the cheese for about another minute.  I served the eggplant parm over whole wheat pasta with the roasted vegetables mixed in, and topped it with fresh basil.

While this is not likely to win any creativity challenges, it was a great (vegetarian!) dinner with lots of local ingredients that I put together in a reasonable amount of time on a weeknight.  For those reasons, and because it was darn tasty, I'm going to call it a keeper, "winner" or not. 

And finally, I have to share.  Our house got a new "kitchen" this weekend, for the small chef in the family. So far, she's "cooked" pizza, eggplant(!) and donut soup.