September 7, 2015 Two beautiful Tomato Dishes

September 7, 2015 Two beautiful Tomato Dishes 

The tomatoes from our garden are at the height of their maturity, so we are enjoying them every chance we can.  The most beautiful are a Brandywine type with a curved fluted top near the stem that is perfect for slicing.  We bought a new 2 lb. package of applewood smoked bacon at Costco yesterday, so we could make BLT sandwiches and this morning while I prepared for trial with Scott, Suzette fried some bacon and sliced a red and a yellow tomato and slices of the fresh loaf of honey wheat bread we got at her Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery on Friday evening.

Instead of lettuce she substituted spinach leaves.  Suzette made her obligatory Bloody Mary and I drank water.

I then rode ten miles to Montano feeling every push of the peddle, since this is the third day in a row of riding.

SinceI had ridden I was hungry and we prepared an early dinner.  I sliced the four eggplants we have grown in our garden this summer and Suzette grilled them while I sliced about three ounces of Manchego cheese and she constructed a casserole in a pyrex pie pan with a layer each of PPi casarecce pasta, eggplant and tomato sauce made from tomatoes from our garden and topped with cheese.  Suzette baked the casserole in the microwave.  

We were able to walk on our refinished kitchen floor today, so I went to the basement and fetched a bottle of 2009 Eguia Reserva Tempranillo from the Rioja region of Spain to go with the Australian rack of lamb Suzette bought at Costco on Saturday.  Suzette grilled the rack of lamb, I opened the bottle of Rioja, and we had an excellent dinner. 

The wine has aged beautifully.  It now has a well rounded, smooth texture, having lost most of that assertive organic edge that seems to be characteristic of young Tempranillo.

The casserole was a stunning success in two respects, first, because Suzette prepared it with the rude elements available to us, a grill and a microwave and secondly, because it was a rather complete combination of the fresh ingredients from our garden; garlic, oregano, tomatoes cooked int a sauce combined with fresh eggplants. 

We have reached the height of peasant cuisine with this meal.  

For dessert we ate bowls of vanilla ice cream doused with a fig compote Suzette had made from the figs we picked last week, drizzled with chopped chocolate covered pecans.

This was an amazing dinner that made me feel like I was back in a small village in Spain or Italy eating the best local ingredients.

The addition of pasta was important because it's carbs helped my body recover from the bike ride.

Bon Appetit