Tomato Eggplant Pie- with LAMB!

I'm following what other bloggers do, and putting a picture at the top so you know what you're getting into:

So yesterday or the day before, I was listening to NPR and they were doing a piece on desserts. However, there was one dish they made that sounded like a lot of fun. Tomato pie. (Case if anyone's interested.... here's the link to the NPR story http://m.npr.org/news/front/1053?textSize=large&url=%2Fsections%2Ffood%2F- incidentally, the recipe for Dead Man's Arm also is intriguing.)
PIE
Then I thought to myself.... hmmm... tomato pie. Wouldn't eggplant be yummy in that? I mean, seriously. Eggplant and tomato PIE? Ummm. Yes. Most certainly. I don't get a lot of opportunity to eat eggplant since I have to fairly heavily disguise it from my eggplant-hating husband. Why wouldn't anyone like eggplant? Sure it's purple. But it is so yummy!

Well, so then I thought.... am I the GENIUS who came up with eggplant and tomato pie? Or are there others out there who also thought it sounded like a good idea? Google prooves that sorry, Molly, you're not the first. 

Turns out there are plenty of recipes for eggplant and tomato pie. 

But in my browsing, I had my MIND COMPLETELY BLOWN by this idea- tomato, eggplant, and LAMB pie! Here is the link to the amazing sounding recipe that I didn't use.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Moroccan-Lamb-and-Eggplant-Matzo-Pie-with-Spicy-Tomato-Sauce-109312
I had been wondering what to cook with the tomato pie to make it a complete meal. And of course! LAMB added into the pie is JUST the thing. And wouldn't you know that I just HAPPENED to buy some lamb at the store Friday. Fate, that is what it was.
So that is what we are having for dinner tonight.
Here's how I did it:
I took a small (probably medium, really) eggplant and 3 large tomatoes and chopped them into 1/4 inch slices.
The slices went into a dish layered with some salt to take the water and bitterness out.

That sat in the fridge... actually overnight, but I guess 30 minutes would actually do the trick.
When I brought them out, I patted them dry with paper towels.

I made a pie crust. This crust was different than ones I had made in the past. More butter and water than the ones I'm used to.

It was 2 & 1/2 cups of flour, 1 cup of butter, a half teaspoon of salt, and a half cup of ice water. I couldn't bring myself to use all the water. I also put about a tablespoon of white vinegar in the ice water measuring cup before I filled it the rest of the way with water. My mom says this helps to keep the crust from getting tough.
Anyway, the crust chilled in the fridge for most of the afternoon until I felt like rolling it out.
I saw somewhere online in my online excursions today, the idea of rolling it out between sheets of waxed paper. With this crust, that was a good idea since it was so buttery that as soon as it touched room temperature, it stuck. The paper on the bottom made funny creases... but no mind.

Next it was on to making the actual pie.
I found this recipe for a creamy rosemary sauce for lamb. That was my inspiration.
http://www.visitgrandjunction.com/cms/d/recipe_lamb.php

I prepped the lamb. I didn't have ground lamb, so I minced the lamb and used about a tablespoon or so of flour, a pinch of salt & a dash of pepper to coat the minced bits.

Next I carmelized some butter in a pan.
That is where the lamb was browned. Can I get an amen?

***(Sadly, the actual picture of the lamb browning in the pan didn't come out)
I removed the lamb from the pan with a slotted spoon and deglazed the pan with some white wine (really, the best thing that white wine is good for). Can I get a hallelujah?
The next part is where it gets interesting.... Here's some rosemary, shallots and garlic. The wine, cream and lemon are in the wings awaiting their entrance.

Minced deliciousness!

That went into the deglazing reduction of white wine (A religious experience? Perhaps. It smelled like one anyway.)

And then- here's the crazy part. I added yogurt. Probably 3/4 cup. I think it will be tangy and delicious with the white wine & lemon juice. Also, yogurt would in theory cut down on the fat (instead of adding all cream) except that this is whole fat yogurt, so it doesn't count.

Then the cream. I added what was left... about a quarter of a cup.

Then the lemon juice. And I think I added some salt too. Oh, and I stirred in about a tablespoon of corn starch too, just to ensure a smooth texture when baking.

Ok. So it was time to take the pie crusts out of the fridge and get them ready to make into real pie, or at least one of them. It went into my beautiful wedding present from my beloved Uncle Scott & Aunt Beth. So useful!
I didn't get too concerned about the perfect placement of the crust.

First, I layered some eggplant.

And then some creamy stuff.

That was two layers. And then went in the lamb.
With creamy stuff.
*** (Sadly the picture of this didn't turn out. My camera hates me sometimes)
Next a layer of my pretty tomatoes.

And the last of the creamy stuff.

One more layer of tomatoes to finish it off.

And then on with the top crust.
It smells great and it isn't even cooked.

I had a bunch of pie crust leftover from the tomato eggplant lamb pie. I don't usually have that much left over. Maybe I just rolled it really thin... or maybe I saved it accidentally on purpose? We will never know. But I knew I had strawberries in my fridge, and in spite of using up all of the cream on the lamb pie recipe, I decided to make a strawberry tartlet. It has its own entry in my blog...

I cut in some vent holes- not the most symmetrical. But well. We do what we can.

The eggplant tomato lamb pie baked at 400 degrees for an hour. (With the strawberry tartlet!)

I find at the higher altitude a higher temperature is needed. Also, I think my oven, compared to my friends' ovens which are also at the same altitude, cook warmer than mine.

In the end, it could have cooked even longer still for an even crunchier crust. It was just barely browned.

I don't normally think of lamb with cream, but this was absolutely yummy! A lighter, yet creamier version of shepherd's pie.

Stuffed Zucchini

So, my neighbors brought over like two 15lb zucchini. No kidding. They have a huge garden with zucchini coming out of their ears. As it turns out, zucchini is Charlotte's favorite vegetable, so we had a festival of zucchini for dinner- stuffed zucchini for dinner and zucchini bread (cake really) for dessert. Here's the recipe for stuffed zucchini.
It was actually really pretty awesome.
Here's all the zucchini getting ready for all the dishes. I used the rings and one of the "boats" for the dinner, and the other "boat" got grated into cake.

I chopped up a shallot and threw that in a pan with some olive oil to get fragrant.

Then I added to that one pound of ground beef that I had in the freezer.

The beef was higher in fat than I usually get (this was leftover from some sliders we made for 4th of July) so I had to drain the fat off. The olive oil was completely unnecessary. It was a veritable cauldron of boiling fat in that pan. Yeah, that got drained off.

Anyway, to the drained meat I added a heap of fresh spinach (frozen would work too) and reduced the heat to medium low.

And some roasted red peppers from a jar went in the mix. I wanted the roasted kind, but I didn't want to have to roast them myself....

Next I threw in about a cup of leftover pizza sauce- any red sauce would do. This had some mushrooms in it.

This is my acknowledgement of salt & pepper. I always feel bad for the salt and pepper. I never photograph them. Poor unloved salt & pepper. But I do love you, salt & pepper!

And the garlic. I added a clove here. I wasn't going to, but after all the cooking and draining of the fat, I was afraid the shallots had lost most of their power.

Then I picked thyme and basil from my fabulous window garden and minced that in there. Scissors are GREAT for chopping herbs.

It all made a big gloopy deliciousness in a pan. I think this added to anything- pasta, lasagna, just eat it with a spoon; it would be delicious. In this case, it was getting stuffed into zucchini. (Note that the rings have foil around the base, necessary unless you want them swimming in a soup of juices when you take them out of the oven.
    PS. I had a suspicion that the zucchini was a little tough since it was so incredibly huge. I was right. I pre-baked the zucchini without stuffing while the oven was pre-heating and then some. All in all it started in a cold oven that was heating to 325 and it was in there for 20 minutes. It only took about 7-8 minutes for the oven to heat up. I was glad that I pre-cooked the zucchini some. It could have cooked more, in fact.

What you don't see is the slices of Gouda cheese that went on top before baking (admittedly, I also added about a cup of grated Gouda to the mix of gloopy deliciousness, but if I did it again, I would leave out the grated cheese and only put it on the top- it was a touch too heavy for me). But it baked (along with the zucchini bread) at convection 325 (which is really 300F) for 20 minutes. And here's the final product (with cheese).

Yum!

Rosemary Chicken

The other day my mom called me to ask if I remembered the rosemary chicken recipe we made together some 10 years together.
Ummmmm.... no, but it sounds pretty awesome. And it just so happens that I am growing a new rosemary bush outside in the teeny little garden my chickens are so desperately trying to dig up for me. (So much for the peas!)
Here's a new (maybe?) take on the recipe. And wow. It was amazing. So mom, if your friend still wants the (or a) recipe...  here you go!
I boiled some penne pasta and tossed it with olive oil. Penne isn't my favorite shape, but it is what I had.

Next I gathered up some fresh rosemary, along with these yummy veggies!

Here's the pan getting hot with minced garlic, rosemary, olive oil, fresh ground pepper and some kosher salt until it all starts getting a little fragrant. You can see the chicken and vegetables that I prepped in the background.

Next I threw in the chicken and cooked that until it was starting to cook. Don't cook it all the way! Because it will continue to cook with the veggies, and we do NOT want dry stringy tasteless chicken. Doing it again, I might even add the mushrooms and chicken at the same time.

Here's when I added in the mushrooms and cooked that for a while. (You can see the tomato waiting patiently in the background. So patient, that tomato.) These mushrooms are quartered- a little larger than a slice, but when cooked right, they fairly explode with the flavor of the juices from cooking in rosemary and chicken. These could cook longer than I cooked them, but I was impatient.

Next I added in the asparagus, which has been chopped into bite sized pieces. It really should go in at the end so that it doesn't get mushy. (The tomato is still being patient)

When the asparagus was looking crisp and the chicken was looking cooked through, I added in the tomato. I only wanted it to get warm. (At last, your turn, tomato! I just didn't want to overcook you!) If you cook it for too long the skin starts to peel off and the tomatoes get pretty soft. I just like them hot and firm.
Um, yeah.

And at last, here it is. The saucy yummy deliciousness all poured over pasta.
The piece de resistance you ask? I was going to throw some kind of cheese on there, I was thinking feta would be good, but I knew I didn't have any, so parmesean romano was going to have to suffice but THEN I saw the last bit of chevre- soft goat cheese- and I crumbled that on top.
Hooooweee mama! Damn that was a good idea.

What is it about pasta and garlic and olive oil and cheese? It is some kind of heaven.
We ate until we kind of had to roll away from the table. Charlotte apologized for having thirds. No apologies necessary! I think I had fourths. And there was still plenty left over (except the cheese that we ate all up).

Grilled Salmon & Asparagus

I just had to post this, even though it was something we had last week and I just didn't get around to posting it last week. Because it was awesome. And we don't eat fish that often. In fact, this was so yummy, that I got more fish for this week (it's good for you afterall).... but a different kind to try.
Anyway. Charlotte said that she likes to eat fish, especially salmon, so when we were at the store, I thought, what the heck. As it turns out, they had in fresh sockeye salmon that I guess only comes in once a year. So I bought a big old slab of it and took it home.
Here it is, skin side down, getting ready for the grill!

I chopped up some fresh dill and minced garlic, and sliced up a pretty yellow lemon.

The I started with the garlic, and rubbed it in the fish. Then I liberally sprinkled dill over that.

Since I had a bunch of garlic, I decided to prep the asparagus, which I got for the extraordinary low price of $1.50 for the bunch! There is also some kosher salt and a generous dollop of olive oil on there.

Anyway, after that, the lemon slices went on the fish. Isn't it looking summery and scrumptious?

Incidentally, I forgot to salt the fish. In the end it didn't seem to matter, even to my salt-loving husband. Anyway, everything went on the grill. The grill was either on medium or low- I can't remember, until I could flake the fish easily with a fork. Oh, and the grill was closed, not like in the picture.

Finally, here it is on the table, ready for eating. And everyone had seconds, in spite of the little mini bones that we had to pick out. I made some rice pilaf and sliced extra lemons to go with it.

I would for sure eat it again!