A couple of weeks ago I read a little article by my friend Barbara Fahs in one of our local weekly papers about the WWOOFer Program and she mentioned the name of the owner of a small local farm that has successfully participated in the program for some time.
I called Janelle Honer, who with her husband Steve is owner of Josanna's Garden, to set up a date for our visit.
We walked around the farm for a couple of hours, with Janelle serving as our tour guide. I cannot begin to tell about everything we saw and learned during these two hours, so will not attempt it. Suffice it to say, I have enough photos and information to share several posts.
I'll start with a few photos of the vegetable and herb garden they keep for their WWOOFer work force, the farm fruit stand located near the entrance to the property...and the dish I created with the mini eggplants Janelle gave us upon leaving.
Mahalo, Janelle for your time, knowledge, graciouness and for all the fresh goodies!
Lettuce patch,
a type of spinach
and lemon balm
The stand
The mini eggplants and branches of stick oregano
These eggplants were round shaped and no bigger than about 3-1/2 inches in
diameter.
Quantity of ingredients depends on how many eggplants you use and to taste. The
Thai chili sauce gave the rest of the bland ingredients and nice zing....
Stuffed & Baked Mini Eggplants
Mini egg plants - scooped out
Onions - chopped small
Garlic - minced
Salt
Pepper (optional)
Tomato paste
Fresh oregano leaves - I used the mini leaves from stick oregano (*)
Nam Prik Pao Thai Chili Sauce or Tabasco
Shredded Mozzarella
Panko
Butter for sauteeing
Set oven to 350 F
Cut top of eggplants a bit below the green stem line.
Cut off a tiny little piece in bottom so that they can stand flat.
Using a sharp knife, cut down into the eggplant all around the inside of the
skin leaving as little of the white part as possible without being too thin.
Cut across all the way down and then across again to make it easy to scoop out.
I used a grapefruit spoon to scoop and then scrape the pulp out.
Chop the eggplant pulp as small as possible
Chop onion as small as possible
Mince the garlic as small as possible
Saute eggplant, onion and garlic in a bit of butter until onion is limp. Salt
and pepper (if using) and just a bit of tomato paste. Mix in and turn heat off.
At this point I added a bit of the chili sauce and the tiny oregano leaves off
the stick oregano (* shown in the photos with the eggplants)
Put a bit of shredded cheese in the bottom of each hollowed eggplant then a
teaspoon of the filling, layering cheese and filling until overflowing. Top
with a little bit of the cheese and panko.
Bake for about 25 - 30 minutes (I used my little countertop toaster/convection
oven since I only had 3 and didn't want to use the big oven for that small
amount)
YIELD: depends on how many eggplants you cook
SOURCE: Sonia's kitchen
Aloha, Rowena... Just a little twist to the traditional "melanzane alla parmigiana".... It turned out very ono though.
Whether you're celebrating a traditional Thanksgiving or one Italian style, I wish you a very Hau'oli La Ho'omakika'i
Posted by: Sonia | November 25, 2009 at 06:14 AM
What a wonderful post Sonia! I only vaguely remembered something about the WWOOF program, but now that you've refreshed my memory, I'll need to pass this post along. Look forward to more!
Posted by: rowena | November 24, 2009 at 11:15 PM
They really were delicious, Portia! I won't be preparing them for Thanksgiving, but they would certainly make a nice side dish for the festive meal...
Posted by: Sonia | November 24, 2009 at 05:54 PM
These stuffed eggplants look scrumptious! Maybe a good Thanksgiving side dish?
Portia
Providence Vegetarian Examiner - examiner.com
Posted by: Portia Little | November 24, 2009 at 04:30 PM