Friday, September 7, 2012

Eggplant Tartine with Tomatoes, Olives and Cucumbers - FFwD

I've been a bad, bad blogger!  Its been a month of ups and downs...personally and FF recipes too.  I'm just gonna say it.  I did not like the carrot salad or the zucchini and cucumber salad.  The peach melba was a different (and better) story.  So with one thing and another I haven't posted in a month!  What kind of blogger is that?  I've decided to recommit to French Fridays.  I miss my blogging friends and neighbors and I want to see this project through to the end!

Eggplant "Tartine"
I love Dorie's creativity but how she figures roasted eggplant slices are kind of like bruschetta is a leap I can't make.  The tomato, celery, olive mixture on top is delicious though.  So while I'm trying to convince myself and Gary that the roasted eggplant is good the truth is we were wishing for a nice crunchy slice of bruschetta instead.  The eggplant really needs to be peeled completely as the strips Dorie suggests leaving were too tough to cut or chew.

A delicious use for any left-over topping - mix with a bit of mayo and spread on a chicken sandwich.  We agreed this was the best part of the meal.

Grated Cafe Style Carrot Salad

Here's proof that I'm just a bad blogger and not a bad FF cook!  I did the two salads and while I didn't care for them I expected Gary would.  He usually loves salads of all sorts but particularly 'not green' ones.  He didn't really like them either.

Just didn't work at our house but I bet it was just us.
Minted Zucchini Tagliatelle

I'm not sure how I've lost the peach melba picture but I did.  Where did it go?  I don't know but the Peach Melba was really, really good!


Check out the other French Friday posts at frenchfridayswithdorie.com.  The site is experiencing technical difficulties but will be up and running soon.

12 comments:

  1. I'm so glad to see you posting again! We missed you. I passed on the zucchini dish, too...I couldn't see any of us eating it! Your tartine photo is lovely

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yea! Good to see you. This one was unique - we went for the full peel on the eggplant; I have never found the skins to be friends :-)
    It looks lovely!
    Have a great weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Guyla, So good to see you back! The zucchini salad was not a hit in my house, either! I ate it three days in a row just because I hated to throw it out…it was very bland and flat tasting. However, we did enjoy the carrot salad…even my hubby! The tartine, for me, was quite delicious, but then I love eggplant…my husband didn’t even give it a try! Lovely tartine…even if it wasn’t a hit with you! Have a wonderful weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Guyla, good to have you back. I loved the salsa in this recipe. The eggplant was not a hit. I am going to try you idea for the leftover salsa. Thanks and I hope you have a great weekend:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. We missed you! I've been enjoying everything we've been doing in the group lately, but the peach melba was the biggest winner in a while. So good. I like your idea for the leftover salsa.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Happy you're back. And I think you're not a bad blogger - it's been an interesting patch. I didn't think any of these three salads were really amazing (and the zucchini... less). But it was fun to test out roasting the eggplant. I liked the topping (but I like any kind of salsa).

    Happy Friday!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nice to see all the three wonderful FFwD dishes that you prepared - the presentation of the aubergine tartine is just terrific, I love the colors! The carrot salad, well, that seems to be a love/hate relationship thing, we love carrot salad but without raisins and the zucchini tagliatelle, we loved them too but without the mint. And the peach melba, I appreciated all the different presentations that the Doristas came up with. It is wonderful to "have you back", I am looking forward to your upcoming posts!

    Enjoy your weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yeah, Guyla, I've been a little grumpy about the recipes myself. But I "grump" on line so everyone KNOWS. You are more of a lady, I think. I did like the carrot salad. The tagliatelle, hate, hate, hated. The Peach Melba, oh, that was fabulous. This week's aubergine, should have peeled it all and the salsa was the best part. Here's the deal: In my opinion, zucchini is not pasta and aubergine is not bread. Why make good produce into what it was never supposed to be. I worry about chefs getting too "cute" with food, trying too hard, although Dorie usually cannot be faulted for that. That being said, welcome back, keep cooking. Thank you for thinking of me. I am doing well and just trying very hard to bounce back and jump back into Life. I do think the past eight years, energy-wise, is catching up with me. Somewhat weary.

    ReplyDelete
  9. All your photos of your salads look so good...there cannot be enough veggies in the day for me, I just love them all. So naturally I did love all of these...but that idea of putting things on a piece of bread does have my attention as well. Sounds good to me!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I know how that can be (I do a lot more cooking than posting). I usually turn into a vegetable myself in the evening after dinner rather than a blogger.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Glad to see you this week, Guyla. I LOVE non-green salads, and will admit that neither of the recent Dorie salads wowed me either. Like you, I loved the topping on this one. I'll make it again.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Good to see you back with so many recipes! They look good, too bad you didn´t care much for them, but then, it happened to many of us. And maybe you lost your peach melba because you happily ate it! Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete