While Bob and I were roaming around Munich and Salzburg, Mom kindly stayed with the pets and spoiled them as they should be spoiled. She also had some fun playing in the dirt and planted some tomatoes.

I have to admit, I am super excited about this tomato. I am also worried as it has rained every day for over a week now, and not the typical Florida afternoon shower. It has rained, and rained all day to the point where mushrooms are growing in the lawn and if you try to walk in the grass, you sink into what feels like a marsh. This is better than the west coast, I know, but I do worry about my baby tomato. I’m not expecting Jersey tomato great (really, is there anything as good as a fresh, true Jersey tomato??? I think not) but I’m hoping for lots of real tomato taste. It has been a while since I’ve had the bliss of a really, really good tomato so if we can get the right conditions for the tomatoes to grow, I would be very, very happy.

I know I haven’t posted in a bit and it hasn’t been for lack of trying. I typed up a little post of the antipasto I made, but when I tried to add pictures, it ended up deleted.  Sigh. So here is the short version.

I wanted to recreate, as best as I could, the antipasto I had at the beer garden in Munich. I figured it wasn’t going to be the same, so I took some liberties and went for the memory of the dish instead of actually trying to remake it. Here is what I ended up with:

Not bad. It came out really, really good.  I tried to find good recipes on-line for a dressing or marinade, but I didn’t come up with anthing that I really thought would work perfectly, so I ended up creating my own.

Recipe:

• 1 eggplant, sliced lengthwise (increase to 2 next time)
• 1 yellow squash, sliced lengthwise
• 1 carrot, sliced lengthwise (increase to 2 next time)
• 1 tomato, sliced
• 3 bell peppers, one of each color, red, yellow, orange (cut down to one next time)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Dressing:

• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, smashed and chopped
• 2 teaspoons rosemary, chopped
• 1 teaspoon basil, chopped
• 2 teaspoons parsley, chopped
• salt and pepper

The vegetables, I sliced lengthwise, coated in some oil and roasted for about twenty to thirty five minutes at 400 degrees. The carrot took the least amount of time and the peppers the most, so it is just a matter of keeping an eye on everything and taking them out before they turn to char.

Once roasted, I covered the peppers in a bowl with plastic wrap and let them steam so I could peel the skins off. Once I did that, I sliced them down into strips.

It was a nice little dinner and it did remind us of the antipasto in Germany. Definitely not the same, but it had the same feel and made a nice, light dinner. Next time I’m using less bell pepper and more eggplant and carrots. I’m also going to try to find a nice soft cheese to pair with everything. The hard cheese worked, but I think a soft cheese would work better.

And I had to include a cute kitty picture …. just because.