Posted by Loulou on Aug 23, 2017 | 12 comments

Jean gave us HOW MANY TOMATOES?

Holy tamale, what does mama do when her incredible neighbors send up an enormous bucket of their beautiful jewels, enough for five people?  Well, winter here we come–tomato sauce, tomato paste, tomato soup, you name it.  And now a really tasty recipe of papa’s ex-wife that mama made for lunch (and I got some mozzarella out of it):

Eggplant Gabriella

1 eggplant, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds

Olive oil

Tomato sauce

Mozzarella or jack or any mild melting cheese, sliced to fit each round

Parmesan

Heat oven to 375F/200C

Brush eggplant rounds with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.

Remove from oven when rounds are golden at edges, about 20 minutes.

Spread each round with tomato sauce, lay the cheese on top and sprinkle with parmesan.

Return slices to the oven for 15-20 minutes and serve hot with a little fresh basil on top.

This is a kind of poor-man’s Eggplant Parmesan, or Melanzae alla Parmigiana, which is richer in that you dip the eggplant in egg and then flour and then sauté in olive oil, etc.

I went nuts over this easy dish because of the mozzarella mama used, the wet kind, not the hard shiny kind.

Simmer tomatoes and a sweet onion and some salt in a soup pot and when soft, whiz them all up with a mixer and you have soup.

Whiz up onion, cukes, tomatoes, cilantro, olive oil, garlic, a slice of bread soaked in water, a dash of wine vinegar, salt and pepper and chill to sip Andalucian gazpacho!

Chop up fresh tomato, sweet onion, basil, olive oil, lemon juice and chunks of canned tuna and toasted bread cubes to make a panzanella for lunch.

Hold salt shaker over tomato. Lick tomaato.  Sprinkle salt on licked area. BITE. The BEST way to eat a tomato!!!

Now if only tomatoes could help me win my battle with papa’s Levis!!! Maybe they will give me strength!

I think that last rabbit punch did them in, heh, heh.  That and my tomato lunch…