Hey... What's for Dinner??

I love summer time.  Not so much the heat (although being a Southerner, I'm much more tolerant of the heat than bitter cold).  What I really enjoy about summer is the massive variety of fresh vegetables.  When I was a kid, I spent my summers in the insufferable heat picking every kind of vegetable my grandfather could fit in his garden, which was a lot.  So, as you can imagine, I had an extra reason back then to hate vegetables.  But now that I'm grown, there's nothing like a table crowded with plates and bowls full of tomatoes, corn, peas, beans, okra, potatoes, zucchini, and squash all straight from the garden. My husband, a Yankee,  says it's a great perk being married to me because every time my mother visits, she always brings him Slocomb tomatoes.

There are, however, some vegetables that we never grew on my childhood farm.  These I only became acquainted with in my adult life.  Among my favorites is eggplant.  So, you can imagine how excited I was when the hubby went to the grocery store last night and found a couple of big, beautiful eggplant.  It gave me the perfect excuse to make one of my all-time favorite dishes ... Khoresh-e bademjan (Persian eggplant and beef stew).  It takes a bit of effort but is so worth it.  


Want the recipe?  Click here.

(btw, my kids hate vegetables as much as I did as a kid .... guess it's a rite of passage)