Summer’s Here!

Summer is in full swing and I’m like a kid in a candy shop at the farmers’ market. One after another the stands at the market are brimming with baskets of squash, eggplants, corn, tomatoes, beans, berries, stone fruit and more. Just when I thought I couldn’t possibly carry one more thing I spied little wooden baskets filled with gorgeous cherry tomatoes in a shade of brown that reminded me of milk chocolate bon bons. I absolutely had to make a purchase and am thinking of using them in a tomato tarte tatin.

It’s easy to eat like a vegetarian at this time of year. Last night I looked around at the piles of vegetables on the counter and decided to make these eggplant stacks. You don’t really need a recipe, but I’ll tell you what I did.

First I sliced the eggplant into thick rounds, dipped them in an egg wash, then into bread crumbs and placed them on baking sheets that I coated with some olive oil. Into a 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes on each side and they were done.

I selected a few huge tomatoes that were a bordering on being over ripe, sliced them and put on another baking sheet, drizzled a little olive oil over them, sprinkled with salt, pepper, fresh thyme and slivers of garlic. I put them into the oven at the same time as the eggplants slices so that they were done together. I prepared these earlier in the afternoon and set them aside until dinner time.

When we were ready for dinner I went to the fridge to get some fresh mozzarella and saw some ricotta cheese so I decided to spread a little on each eggplant slice. Next came a few leaves of fresh basil, then the tomato slices and finally a little mozzarella. Since everything was already cooked I popped them into the oven for a about 15 minutes to warm them up and they were done. Perfect on their own, or as a side dish and great leftover, even cold right out of the fridge.