Ratatouille and Key Lime Bars

Hurray for our new food co-op. After two months of being part of Sunni and Claire's vegan food co-op, I couldn't wait to get ours going. As daunting as a food co-op sounds going into it, once you are doing it, you wonder why you haven't ever done it before. For now, there are three of us in the co-op - Melissa, Michelle and me, Ruth - the idea of living close enough to deliver each other meals is very nice. We'll keep our eyes open for someone else with similar food philosophy who lives close, but three is a nice number to start off with.

My first meal was driven by the numbers of eggplant, squash, bell peppers and tomatoes I was accumulating, mostly from Greenling's local box deliveries. And by my love of eggplant dishes. I used a recipe from one of Annie Sommerville's recipe books Fields of Greens from her Greens restaurant in the Bay Area. I'll be using this book often. I had intended to serve it over polenta, but ended up not getting around to making the polenta, sorry.

Ratatouille
Serves Four (I made double this for the three families)

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium red onion, quartered and sliced
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 medium size Japanese eggplants, halved lengthwise and sliced 3/4" thick, ~ 3 cups
  (I used regular globe eggplants)
2 medium bell peppers, cut into thick strips and then triangles, ~ 2 cups
1 lb summer squash cut into thick slices or wedges
2 lb tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped, ~ 3 cups
  (I didn't peel or seed them)
1 bay leaf
3 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
1/2 tbsp fresh marjoram or Greek oregano, chopped
  (I used oregano out of my garden)

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the onion, 1/2 tsp salt, few pinches of pepper. Saute over medium heat until soft (5 mins). Add garlic, eggplant, peppers, 1/4 tsp salt, pepper. Saute for 8-10 mins till the eggplant and peppers are just tender. Add summer squash, tomatoes, bay leaf, 1/2 tsp salt, pepper. Stew over low heat for ~20 mins, until everything is tender. Add basil and marjoram just before serving.

Prompted by the key limes in my Greenling's box, I made Sweet and Tart Lime Bars, from a recipe compilation book Food & Wine Annual cookbook 2007. I was glad to find a copy of the recipe online so I don't have to type it out. The nuttiness was nice in the crust, and they were nice and tart, unlike a keylime pie I saw made at the chemistry conference which was made with lime juice and condensed milk. Cool chemical engineering talk on key lime pie. But not my favourite way to make it.

Ruth