This week’s One Local Summer Challenge meal has been a year in the making!

I put by the main ingredients for Eggplant Parmigiana last season, thinking it would make a nice meal over the winter, but the winter came and went.  I finally got around to making it this weekend.

The eggplant was from Waldingfield Farm, dipped in beaten eggs (from Ox Hollow Farm) and pan fried in non-local canola oil, then frozen last September. (I drained the fried slices on paper towels, then layered them between sheets of parchment paper in the vacuum seal bag, and presto.)

The marinara is constituted as follows:

• carrots and fresh garlic from Missy’s (from the Brewster Market), caramelized in olive oil (from Italy).
• pan deglazed with Vista Reposa wine from McLaughlin Vineyards.
• plum tomatoes from Don Taylor (from the Bethel Market), canned by me last September.
• plum tomatoes, from Waldingfield Farm, dried and vacuum packed by me last year. To make the tomato paste, I ground them to a dust in a coffee grinder then added a tiny bit of boiling water and stirred.
  
• dried thyme, from my garden from last year.
• fresh oregano, from my garden this year.

The mozzarella is from Calabro in East Haven, CT.

I have to say, I’m not as impressed with my own canned tomatoes as I am with Progresso. I usually use these:

I cooked my marinara down for quite a bit of extra time, yet it still had an acid-y taste. It’s as if the citric acid (required for canning) never quite cooked away. It wasn’t horrible; it just wasn’t the same. I didn’t get any complaints—in fact, I got a few compliments, but then again, these folks never had the other kind for comparison. Still, it was an interesting dish to bring to a brunch with local organic farmers!