eggplaint heirloom tomato gratin

well this post was to be added to the end of the last post, but as my new creation sits in the oven, i have decided that (so far) it is worthy of its own post. in order to finish cooking up the veggies that we bought two weekends ago (i know...there is still some produce in the frig!!!!) tonight i am making a eggplant, heirloom tomato gratin with onions and greens from my garden baked in a bechamel sauce topped with grated cheese and bread crumbs made out of left over homemade bread. i hope it tastes good. if the bechamel sauce is any indication of the final outcome, i'm good to go. i didn't follow any one recipe. i just layered the veggies i needed to use up, poured some bechamel sauce with thyme over it, topped it off with some grated cheese and bread crumbs, covered with foil, and then in to the oven it went. sounds quick and easy right? NOT. here is how it went.

first i went out to the garden cut some greens. i'm not exactly sure what kind of greens these are, but they have a very peppery taste.i washed the greens and then blanched them a bit in some boiling water, rinsed with cold water to stop any further cooking, then squeezed all the water out, and chopped them up.

fresh greens and thyme from the garden.

then i sliced up the eggplant, chopped 1/2 onion, and cut up the little heirloom tomatoes. squeezed the juice and seeds from the tomatoes so the final product would not be to watery. i took this as an opportunity to do a little seed saving. i rinsed off some of the seeds in a strainer and placed them on some paper towels to dry out.

eggplant, onion, heirloom tomatoes, blanched greens, and thyme. all but onion local (although i think the onion did come from georgia). the eggplant was looking pretty rough buy this point. but it was still good enough to cook after being in the frig for two weeks.

i layered the veggies in a buttered casserole dish and moved on to the bechamel sauce. ok, i have never made a bechamel sauce, but as i was following some basic instructions, i realized... uh duh... it's like making white gravy but staring with butter and not sausage grease. hello!!! so into a pan went some butter (about 3 -4 tablespoons). i let it melt and then added some flour (about 3-4 tablespoons) and cooked that till is was a sandy color. then, 1/2 cup at a time, added hot milk to the mixture stirring constantly. let it cook for a while till thick. seasoned with some thyme, salt, and pepper. this is my new favorite sauce. it was delicious!!!!!!!!

veggies all layered and ready to go.

making the bechamel sauce. i am a very messy cook!!

i poured the sauce over the veggies. sprinkle it with grated cheese and bread crumbs. i sliced some of the bread i made last week and let it sit out all day. i put the bread in the food processor and walla, bread crumbs. cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees. i will decrease the temp and then bake for about 20-25 minutes uncovered till nice and brown. crossing my fingers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

veggies going for a swim in the sauce.

done!!!!

i've said it before, and i will say it again... i know my food sometimes looks like baby food or.. well.. baby poo, but this was really tasty!!

10/4/08. well the eggplant gratin was very yummy. we ate it for dinner on tuesday night and i had the left overs for lunch on thursday and friday. i would have eaten it for lunch on wednesday, but after a horrible morning at work that triggered a lovely migraine headache, the thought of the eggplant texture made me even more nauseous. unfortunately, it was chick-fil-a that hit the spot that afternoon. i still suffer from a tremendous weakness for chick-fil-a.