Every year we try to accomplish something with the house. Some years are more successful than others of course depending on what we have going on or how expensive the next set of projects are. This year we finished our closet and redid our son’s bedroom floor. But the big thing done is we did a massive clear out of the carriage house and the house itself.
I am convinced stuff multiplies. How else do we explain filling a 20 yard skip? Granted a lot of it was from the carriage house and old odds and sods left over from previous owners, the debris from our projects, that sort of thing. But it feels so good doing some serious organisation, rediscover what we have, and do some major recycling. We do try to fix, upcycle, and recycle before the last resort of throwing out. Plus we have loads of stuff for the Girl Scouts fundraising yard sale. It’s taken us all summer but it’s a big project to cross of the never ending list.
We’re starting to get some result from our garden. Of course it comes all at once! Our aubergine and tomatoes are coming in fast so it’s on to preserving and eating so none of it goes to waste. The aubergine we decided to grow this year is called fingerling, I believe, and they are small diameter and about 8in/20cm long. Perfect size for a small family.
I wanted to make roasted aubergine and roasted tomatoes with quinoa for dinner. The longest bit of this dinner is the roasting, everything else comes together quite quickly.
Preheat the oven to 400F/200C. Slice the aubergine and tomatoes and place them in a single layer into the baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper. Roast until the veg is cooked through and begins to brown. While this is roasting cut up some chicken and begin to brown with olive oil in a skillet. Add about half a cup of chopped red onion and a few cloves of chopped garlic.
Cook the quinoa according to directions. It only takes about 15 minutes to cook so plan accordingly. Once the tomatoes and aubergine are done remove from the oven.
Slice up the aubergine and add the veg to the skillet with the chicken. Add 1/2 a cup of chicken stock and about 1/4 cup of white wine. I chopped up a small handful of fresh oregano from our garden.
Add the quinoa and about 1/2 a cup of freshly grated parmesan. Stir well and serve.
Top with more parmesan and enjoy! This is quite filling without being heavy and perfect to throw together after a day of projects.
Wish eggplant was still growing here.This looks like a great dish to use up some seasonal veggies and add lots of flavor to the chicken.
Thanks. 🙂 I need to figure out what to do with the rest because I may be pushing my luck leaving them out there.
Lovely, roasted veg (sometimes with chicken or fish added, sometimes not) is my “go to-stand by” meal. We love meals like this! And well done on the clear out….most satisfying!
Thank you! While the process isn’t always fun, the results of the clear out are definitely worth it.
Love both aubergine and cleaning out. When I get rid of stuff, I always feel lighter inside.
The results are great, just wish it wasn’t such a huge project!
How do you keep the flea beetles from devouring your eggplant? Ours never had a chance! (Yours are just lovely!)
Erm, we were lucky not to have flea beetles! That’s how we did it. 😄
Lovely looking stuff Virginia. Great that you grew it too.
Thank you! Did you figure out why we can’t always comment on your posts?
No, I’m afraid not. I must revisit.
What a nuisance.
Well, I’ll be! For the past couple years, I’ve been tossing leftover roasted eggplant into quinoa and WOW! We LOVE the combo of flavors. It’s like these two foods were meant to be paired. If I had an entire garden filled with eggplant, I’d be one happy girl. Love the way you roasted the tomatoes, as well. Will have to try. I usually just toss in halved cherry tomatoes
Fresh tomatoes in this would be lovely as well. I love tomatoes from the garden. Hard to beat the flavour!
I could never convince anyone in my family, either my kids, or now my parents to touch eggplant, but I love it. This looks marvelous! I’ve never grown it, but boy did we have tomatoes coming out of our ears, lol!!
My husband isn’t a huge fan but I have a couple of recipes that he is ok with. It has to be in something!