I'm back! Bet you didn't even know I was gone. I spent the week in Atlanta doing business-y things. I actually lived in Atlanta for 5 years. Many people I love live there and if I didn't love home (Washington State) and my family so much I would probably still be living there.
The American south is the home of the fried food. If it can be fried, it will be fried. Some seriously delicious food comes from down south: chicken fried steak, fried chicken, barbeque (which is a noun, not a verb), coleslaw, macaroni and cheese. These are common foods that can be found everywhere. I wondered how I was going to fare, you know, being a low-carb girl and all.
It is hard eating on the road, at hotels, at the airport, at Atlanta Braves games, at restaurants. I ate a lot of protein and not a lot of vegetable matter. My body was seriously disturbed by this turn of events and punished me by giving me intestinal distress. Then when I did get vegetables it turned on me again in an opposite but equally disagreeable way!
We went to a barbeque restaurant. I thought, okay, I can have the smallest portion of ribs, the fresh vegetable of the day and the fresh fruit. Sounds good, right? Uh, no. The fresh fruit was watermelon (all water and sugar, no fiber) and the fresh vegetable of the day? Fried green tomatoes. I couldn't win.
Anyway, now that I am home, my body is screaming for vegetable matter. It is a constant battle coming up with ways to get my family to eat vegetables. My daughter immediately freaks out if I put anything green on her plate and my husband will eat vegetables but only certain ones. There are ways to seduce them however. Seduction ingredients include things like cream and cheese. Good thing I can substitute with things like Greek Yogurt, skim milk and parmesan cheese (parm isn't low fat but but because it is strongly flavored you can use less).
I found this recipe in Saveur magazine as something to do with summer vegetables... for those that are ambitious and grow bushels of vegetables in their gardens. I am anti-ambitious, buying my vegetables at the store or the farmers' market but this recipe still works. This is delicious, using only a judicious amount of cheese and added oil.
Summer Vegetable Tian
(based on a recipe from Saveur)
Serves 6
1 medium eggplant, peeled
salt
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced (I used 5 cloves 'cause I loves some garlic)
Extra virgin olive oil (The original recipe calls for a 1/2 cup but I drizzle it sparingly and don't notice the lack)
2 medium zucchini, sliced diagonally
2-3 medium tomatoes, sliced
3-4 sprigs fresh herbs (I use thyme, you can use oregano or rosemary or even basil)
1/2 shredded or grated fresh parmesan
Cut eggplant into 1" cubes, place in a colander, sprinkle with salt. Drain for 30 minutes, then pat dry.
Cook onions and garlic in a tsp or so of olive oil in a skilled over medium heat until slightly browned, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a medium baking dish (sprayed with olive oil spray). In the same skillet, toss the eggplant cubes until slightly browned, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper but not too much because the eggplant already has salt on it. Stir into onion mixture.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss half the parmesan cheese in with the onions and eggplant. Arrange the tomatoes and zucchini in overlapping layers over the onions and eggplant. Tops with herbs, drizzle with a little oil. Bake 30-40 minutes. After about 30 minutes sprinkle on the rest of the cheese and return to the oven. Let rest for about 5 minutes then serve.
Delicious and cheesy, a perfect mix of fresh summer vegetables that your body will come to crave and NO FRYING involved.
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