Poco-Cocoa

Today Justin worked on our little deck, making a huge seating area and crafting a roll-out shade out of some old bamboo window shades. It looks fabulous! Now it’s up to me to sew up some cushions for the bench. I need to search for some fabric that’s easy to handle but weather-resistant, too.

My contribution to this gorgeous night was this simple meal…White Bean Dip and Eggplant Dip with carrots, celery, and toasted pita. We got this recipe for the eggplant at a potluck we attended last weekend…a very nice woman named Faye was kind enough to write it down for me, as well as a great recipe for lettuce wraps that I’ll be making later this week.

This was the perfect light dinner, especially since we took it downstairs and ate with our fabulous landlords. (How often can you say that your landlords are fabulous? We’re so lucky.) We stayed out on their deck chatting the night away…every night should be like this.

Eggplant Dip

• 1 large eggplant
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons chile paste (I used Asian chile-garlic paste; Faye used red curry paste)
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/2 cup sliced green onions

Preheat oven to 400ËšF. Pierce eggplant in several places with a knife. Set on a baking sheet covered with foil and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until it shrivels up a bit. Let cool; peel eggplant and trim ends. If there are lots of seeds, remove most of them with your fingers.

Combine the eggplant pulp, soy sauce, lime juice, and chile paste in the bowl of a food processor, and puree until smooth. Taste for seasonings, adding more soy sauce or chile paste if desired. Stir in cilantro and green onion.

Makes about 1 cup.

Source: Faye Johnston.

Tonight I threw this together in an attempt to postpone grocery shopping just one more day. It combines a few of my favorite ingredients, including my current obsession, balsamic vinegar. So good!

In other news, I have been working on cleaning up my craft area. Hopefully I can post some pictures of it tomorrow, in all its newly-organized splendor. Until then, eat some pasta.

Angel Hair with Tomatoes and Garlic

• 6 ounces angel hair pasta
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Parmesan shavings
• Balsamic vinegar

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Meanwhile, saute garlic in olive oil over medium heat 1 minute. Add tomatoes, basil, oregano, and salt, and cook 3 to 5 minutes. Toss with cooked pasta and top with pepper, parmesan, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

Makes 2 servings for 2 hungry pasta lovers.

Source: poco-cocoa.