Baked Zucchini and Eggplant

This dish saw the light of day a good three weeks ago, on November 6 at a potluck dinner given by my husband's church group. He was out of town, and I ended up not going, but I never let an opportunity to serve eggplant pass me by. I actually can't tell you either how it tasted, or if the people who did eat it enjoyed it. The pan came back a couple of weeks later, and I asked my husband how the potluckers had liked it. He said the host didn't say.

It might be kind of greasy. The recipe says to fry the zucchini and eggplant in a half a cup of peanut oil. Eggplant absorbs oil like a sponge, so you might be looking at a distinctly oily product. However, since I didn't try it myself, I don't know. It was relatively easy to produce, although after I dropped it off and admired the house, I neglected to tell the hosts that it had to be heated up. I arrived back home to find my daughter talking to one of them on the phone. She reported that they took off the aluminum foil and decided that it hadn't been cooked. (It had been cooked, it just needed to be warmed up.)



Baked Zucchini and Eggplant

6 medium size zucchini , thinly sliced
1 medium size eggplant, thinly sliced
1/2 cup peanut oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 shallots, finely chopped.
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 bay leaf
6 tomatoes cored, peeled, and stewed until thickened
3 tablespoons freshy graded Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook the zucchini and eggpant in half the oil until wilted and browned.
3. Cook the shallots in the remaining oil and add the drained zucchini and eggplant.
4 Add the thyme and bayleaf. Turn into a baking dish and bake twenty minutes. Remove from the oven.
Add the thyme and bay leaf . Turn into a baking dish and bake twenty minutes. Remove drom the oven. Increase the oven heat to 400 degrees.
5 Put into another baking dish half the tomatoes, then the zucchini and eggplant mixture. Add the remaining tomatoes and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake ten minutes or until cheese browns. Four to six servings.

Fresh Tomato Risotto

The last dish in the cooking marathon of the dinner party was Fresh Tomato Risotto. Obviously the time to make this is when tomatoes are fresh. In the last weekend of October, tomatoes are not fresh, so I used canned. It worked out fine. Also, you don't have to peel the tomatoes.
It's actually more like Spanish Rice than risotto. One does not have to stand over it, adding liquid and stirring until the cows come home. You just mix everything together, stick it in the oven and bake it. Muy facil.
(That's Spanish for very easy, chicos and chicas.)

Fresh Tomato Risotto

1 cup peeled, chopped tomatoes
3/4 cup uncooked rice
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups concentrated chicken broth

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine the tomatoes, rice, onions, garlic, oregano and salt in a one and one half quart casserole.
3. Heat the broth to boiling and pour over tomato mixture. Cover and bake, stirring occasionally, about 35 minutes, or until rice is cooked.
Makes four servings.