Garden Update/Eggplant Recipe

While I don't have any pictures to prove it, there's been plenty of gardening going on here. This year my raised beds contain:

• five types of tomatoes,
  
• a volunteer cantaloupe,
  
• four types of peppers -- two bells and two spicy
• two types of eggplant
• a lemon cucumber, and
  
• a watermelon vine.

In addition I have two types of zucchini in my half whiskey barrel and two more spicy peppers and a bush type tomato in large pots. A small square-shaped plot is housing a few herbs as well.

Everything is looking great with plenty of fruit and blossoms. A few tomatoes are a few days away from being ripe enough to pick and tonight I plucked two Satin Beauty eggplants that truly lived up to their names.



















Their skins were beautifully dark and glossy. Eager to find a different way to eat them than parmigiana style, I did a search at allrecipes.com and found one called Eggplant Croquettes. Basically they were eggplant and cheese patties seasoned with garlic, onion, fresh parsley and bound together with egg and bread crumbs. They were almost like a veggie burger. I tweaked the recipe a bit using instead of the cheddar called for, a four-cheese Italian blend of shredded Parmesan, Asiago, Fontina and Provolone that I bought at Trader Joe's. This is a yummy blend that I always use in my hot artichoke dip. I also used fresh flat leaf Italian parsley I had growing instead of dried and olive oil for frying instead of plain vegetable oil. They were a nice alternative to the usual way I serve eggplant although I did serve them with a tiny bit of tomato sauce for a little added flavor.



I hope to get some pictures of everything growing soon.