Romantic Farm Box Fare

With the parental visit over, and our daughter away on a sleepover it seemed the time was ripe to for a "nueva receta" from Intercourses: An Aphrodisiac Cookbook. I had spotted the recipe for basil-eggplant soup when browsing the cookbook earlier this year and marked it with a plan to make it whenever we got some eggplant in our farm box. As it turned out this week's pick-up included just about all the ingredients we needed to make this delicious soup. I started by boiling and peeling some of the fresh tomatoes, and then peeling, dicing and boiling the eggplant. While the eggplant was cooking I sauteed some onions and garlic (also from the farm) in olive oil. I then added the tomatoes and eggplant to the pot with the onions and garlic, and then added 1 3/4 c. chicken stock, a bit of cayenne and some pepper. This was simmered for about half an hour. While the soup cooked I made the basil paste with 2 T. olive oil, 1 c. fresh basil (from the farm) and some feta cheese. These were put in the blender until a well mixed. The soup was then ladled into bowls with a dollop of the basil paste. Paired with some of our own IPA homebrew, and served some bread on the side it was a filling meal. It was a beautiful evening so we ate al fresco.