June Crop Management - Plums, eggplant, cucumbers oh and tomatoes

OK I should be better at blogging because there really is quite a bit of activity in June primarily around what I call crop management. I usually make about 2 batches of gazpacho per week, plus homemade salsa weekly. But in additional to the usual overload of tomatoes, cucumbers and beans, this year we had a huge plum crop. We decided to make some plum wine so we picked, washed and pitted 30 lbs of plums and put them in the freezer. You need to ferment the plum below 80 degrees so we will wait until October to start this process. Freezing the fruit won't harm the quality, in fact its helps to release the sugars in the fruit which are a key component of the fermentation process.

We also made a quick batch of plum chutney that turned out yummy. I gave a ton of plums away and am hoping that someone will make some plum jam and give me some.

Another vegetable crop this year is eggplant. We planted two varieties. Purple Japanese Eggplant and a White Japanese Eggplant. Both are flourishing. One of our favorite ways to eat eggplant is to cut them in half and grill them. We then server with a simple yogurt sauce or melt goat cheese (during the grilling) on them and drizzle with a balsamic vinegar reduction.

Grilled Eggplant

4-6 Japanese eggplant
Olive oil
salt and pepper ( Monterey Steak seasoning also works well)

Wash and trim end off eggplant. Cut in half lengthwise.

Using a pastry brush, brush on olive oil and season.

Place on a hot grill, cut side down and grill for about 4-5 minutes, keep and eye out so they don't burn. Turn and grill a couple minutes more until soft.

You can either server like this with a yogurt sauce or add some goad cheese in that last couple of minutes of grilling and then drizzle with a reduction of balsamic vinegar. Any leftover eggplant you can scrape from the skins and use in omelets, quiches, souffles, or crepes. It also freezes well.

Yogurt Sauce
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 cloves garlic crushes
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper to season

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and server with Eggplant.

Balsamic Reduction
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

Heat vinegar in small sauce pan over low heat until reduced in half - about 20 minutes. The reduction makes a thick sweet sauce that complements the goat cheese and eggplant.