Tomato and corn casserole

My husband hates casseroles. Too bad. I like this one, and its one of the few ways to get him to eat fresh corn (he hates corn on the cob).

Tomato and corn casserole

Ingredients
5 ears corn, cut off the cobb
2 large tomatoes, cubed
4 garlic cloves, smashed
3 pieces whole wheat bread, torn
1 cup buttermilk
salt to taste
pepper to taste

optional - 2-3 tablespoons butter, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Method
Toss corn, tomatoes, bread, and garlic together.
Salt and pepper,
Place in casserole dish.
Pour buttermilk over mixture.
If desired, cut butter into breadcrumbs and place on top for a crust.
Let sit at least 30 minutes in refrigerator (can be left overnight - 18 hours).
Bake at 400F for 45 minutes, covered, last 15 minutes uncovered if using crust.*

*Never put a cold dish in a hot oven. If you are placing the dish directly from the refrigerator, put it in a cold oven, then turn on.

Caprese Pasta

This is an easy, quick dinner that's perfect for August's tomatoes.  If you're in a real hurry there's no need to cut or chiffonade anything, just tear and toss - the heat will get everything to mix a bit, and you can always squish with a spatula.  I made this with fresh linguine - the Wegman's house brand - but it can be made with any pasta type or shape.  My kid likes long noodles, so I tend to use those, but I think this would be great with penne or similar short pasta.  If I was feeling adventurous, I would make my own pasta and serve with that, but the refrigerator case is a great substitute.  Balsamic would be nice here, however, I wasn't thrilled with the brown visual, so I used lemon juice as the acid.  This is a one dish weeknight meal or a nice pasta course for a longer meal (reduce serving size).  A nice green salad would complement this well.  My husband thought I should serve it with steak.  I'm not sure why, except he likes steak.

Ingredients:
3 servings pasta of your choice, cooked.  Here, I used a 13 ounce package of fresh linguine - part of it was reserved for plain buttered noodles, so about 9-10 ounces were used here
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves of very fresh garlic, cut in half
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 large bunch basil, stems removed, chiffonaded (this just means cutting finely into ribbons)
8 ounces fresh mozzarella balls, cut in half (or not)
Juice of one half lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Cook pasta according to package directions.  Aim for al dente.
Place 2 tablespoons of olive oil in large saucepan or frying pan (not cast iron) over medium low heat.
Add garlic and toss to coat with oil.
Cook garlic over medium low heat until it becomes soft.
Increase heat to medium.
Toss in tomato halves and basil.  Stir.  Cook about 2 minutes until heated through and tomatoes are very soft.  Basil should still be bright green.
Toss in mozzarella balls and lemon.  Cook another 30 seconds to 1 minute, until the mozzarella starts to just ooze.
Taste.
Add salt and pepper to taste.  This will need a bit of salt.
Remove from heat.
Warm serving bowl - either in the microwave or by pouring in boiling water and pouring out.
Add pasta to serving bowl. 
Pour over tomato mixture.  Toss.
Serve immediately.

Watermelon Feta Salad

Savory watermelon dishes can be a fun way to use up August's ubiquitous pink fruit.  I made this dish to be kid-friendly.  Unfortunately the kid was in a no-foods-can-touch mood and instead decided to consume plain watermelon pieces and cheese separately instead.    This salad makes a nice starter or side dish for grilled burgers.  It doesn't keep well, so try to eat it up on the same day as its made, or it will likely be destined for the trash.

  Ingredients:
 4 cups seeded watermelon, cut into cubes or balled with a melon baller
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 sweet white onion, sliced into half moons and pulled apart
8 ounces crumbled feta
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
Juice of one lemon
1/8 cup olive oil

Method:
Place watermelon pieces on large plate or platter.
Sprinkle salt on watermelon, let sit 5 minutes.
Pick watermelon pieces up off platter and place in a bowl.  The salt will help reduce the water content a bit.  The resulting watermelon juice is great to drink or put in a cocktail.
Toss onions and feta with the watermelon.
In a separate bowl, blend together vinegar, lemon juice, and oil.  Pour over salad and toss together.
Serve immediately.

Eggplant Parm

Three white eggplant from our CSA share this week became two trays of eggplant parm, one destined for the freezer. My recipe is lower in fat than the traditional recipe, but it's not exactly health food here. I think a tray needs at least a cup of cheese, my husband would add 2, but it's really up to you and your cardiologist.

Eggplant Parm
Ingredients
3 white eggplant
a bunch of salt
6 eggs, beaten
4 cups breadcrumbs
big handful dried oregano, basil, or mix
2 teaspoons salt
spritz olive oil

Tomato sauce
2-4 cups cheese

Method
Oven to 350F.
Peel and slice eggplant vertically.


Lay slices down, salt, let sit 5-10 minutes, flip, repeat. Note, white eggplant isn't as bitter as the big purple eggplants, so you can skip this step (though the slices are still a pain to work with) if you like.



Beat eggs with 1 teaspoon salt.
Mix breadcrumbs, herbs, and 1 teaspoon salt.
Rinse eggplant slices.
Drag slices through eggwash, coat in breadcrumbs. Layer in pan. Spritz lightly with olive oil.



Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes. Pull out, add tomato sauce and cheese. Bake another 15-20 minutes until bubbly.



I made quick tomato sauce. Basically 3 onions, 10 cloves of garlic, 3 ribs of celery, all minced and sauted in olive oil. Add 2 big cans of crushed tomatoes, one of diced, salt, pepper, dried oregano to taste. A touch of tomato paste at the end.



I ended up with two large foil trays of eggplant parm. One is in the freezer, one in the fridge for tomorrow. A tray should feed 4-6 easily. Yeah, we're three, but I didn't have smaller trays.

Freezer Week

So this plan of intelligent scheduling and shared dinners isn't working out too well. We ate out three times this week, and ended up with cereal once. For some reason the crock pot liner (the actual pot thing) is missing.

So I've decided to spend the weekend filling the freezer with meals. I do like the commercial places - Let's Dish, My Girlfriend's Kitchen, Your Dinners, etc - however, I find them rather expensive and not necessarily great given the list of food allergies and what various humans do and do not eat. Canine # 1 is much easier to feed - rice, veggies, meat or fish, and some fish oil and garlic for her little doggie heart. And no matter what you make Canine # 1, she thinks you're the greatest cook on the planet and the most amazing and heroic individual of all time, just because you fed her. Damn, I want to be a dog. Or at least replace my humans with canines. Much easier to take care of. Then again, the humans never go to the bathroom on the floor.

So does anyone have any suggestions on what this girl can cook and freeze??? So far my list consists of:

• macaroni and cheese
• eggplant parm
• spinach manicotti
• cauliflower soup
• lemon-butter flounder
• beans and rice / peas and rice
• roast veggies

Ideas, any, veggie or not veggie, are greatly appreciated.