A recipe for future reference...well, not really a recipe, I guess, just an idea. RachelÂs Veggie Casserole I make this two different ways, depending on my mood. I either precook the veggies quickly on a very hot grill so as to get grill marks but leave them only barely cooked, or I use raw vegetables without the grilling step. It's very simple, and you need a fairly deep casserole dish. Slice a variety of vegetables in a 1/4 inch slice. I like eggplant, zucchini, crookneck squash, mushrooms, asparagus (unsliced!). A layer of yam, sweet potato or regular potatoes is nice as well, generally I precook these a wee bit. Sometimes I get a little jazzy and add a layer of other items, like artichoke hearts (from a jar) or if I am grilling, baby artichokes. Roasted red bell pepper, kale or other greens (especially if I have some left over that I cooked with bacon & red pepper flakes). Frozen peas or corn add some variety if I'm lacking that quality-this is a dish I usually make on the spur of the moment with whatever I have on hand. I only add onions if I'm grilling, as I don't care for the flavor they add without the char for some reason. If I want to up the protein ratio, I'll add a layer of garbanzo (or other) beans. If I've got fresh basil in the garden, a layer of leaves or two is very nice. If IÂve some leftover lentils or Indian dal, IÂll add a layer of that. Anyway, you get the idea...it's veggie madness. Alternating between layers of vegetables and cheese (mozz, Parm, pepperjack, or even blue), are layers of whatever tomato sauce I have on hand, whether it be home made or Classico from a jar. Then I bake it until the cheese layer on top is hot and bubbling and a skewer pushed through the layers proves the veggies to be tender. If I grilled the veggies, I use a hotter oven, as I want the cheese to melt without the vegetables turning to mush, I'll also tend to put more of the cheese on the top layers for the same reason. Anyway, it is a very pretty dish, with all the different vegetables, and very tasty too.

I'm going to keep the pointy end heading the same (sorry, that's boater's venacular) for a minute. Americans desire for "perfect" looking food is also partly what's driving the heavy use of pesticides & herbicides. Americans are consumed with "looks" over substance. Farmers use more & more 'cides to create prettier products. They plant seeds that ship easier & stay looking pretty over those that taste good and, maybe, even offer better nutrition. Sure, there are also economical benefits to the 'cides mass agri-business uses such as more product per acre but we can't lay ALL THE BLAME of those awful strawberries on them. We want inexpensive, plentiful, & pretty food but we, in general, are unwilling to pay for the quality we expect. It's a vicious cycle. We decide we're going to eat local & organic. So, off we go to the farmer's market. Hmmm, the organic apple doesn't look pretty & is smaller than the apples at the other non-organic stand plus it's half the price. Which do we purchase? Pretty? Healthy? We each choose. My two local grocery stores do not offer bruised produce. It is thrown away in black bags as shown in the video. Heck, here there's not even a "mark down" meat section like I've read others describe here on the forum. If it's pulled from the shelves - it's trash, period. We live with the sea every day. We are long distance, deep water boaters. We are fisherman. It's ridiculous to say that a lobster MUST be alive at the time of cooking to be safe to eat. But, since most Americans do not have much hands-on experience with seafood...it's good advice to follow. Lobster spoils very rapidly after death & the ensuing bacteria build-up can make you ill. But, I assure you, if something goes wrong in emptying one of our traps & a lobster dies - we do not feed it to the gulls. We'd be rightly laughed out of town if we suggested such a thing. That's waste - pure & simple. But, when I lived in Denver there was no way I'd purchase a dead lobster because I had no personal way of knowing when death occured. In general, IMO, a lobster's good for a day properly refrigerated. Some will still cook at two days but I've got a compromised immune system so am persnickity. If a fresh fish smells like ammonia it's probably starting to rot. As with most things, there are exceptions. (Skate being one.) But, again, it's good general practice to not eat fish that's starting to smell of ammonia. Should smell slightly briney, like the sea. If DH brought home fish yesterday, or the day before, & it had a slight aroma - would I still cook it? Yes, & I'd do as John has suggested - wash it in lemon juice. It's surface bacteria. BUT, I know exactly when, where, etc. that fish was caught, how it was cleaned, how it was held, & how it was stored. Makes a big difference. And I still say that everybody that owns a home should have a compost pile to avoid waste even if the resulting compost is used on the roses instead of a veggie garden. Recycling rotted produce from the refrigerator to the earth is the environmentally sound thing to do. Also, if every year you top off your gardens with 4-6" of leaf mould, compost, & manure you will not need to purchase/use commercial fertilizers except for pots. You'll have less garbage that needs hauling away, the city trucks will use less gas, & you won't need to buy as many bags. Win-win. :) Sorry 'bout the compost lecture but it's something I believe most Americans can easily do & don't. /tricia

maybe I do need to explain my idea of dry brining a little bit. I did a google search and it seems I differ from some of the info. Almost all of it is about meat and I must tell you that dry brining is just as good for vegetables. It takes that little hard edge (maybe bitter for some people) off the vegetable making it more palatable. What I do is pretty informal. I prepare vegetables for cooking such as washing and snipping off the end of green beans, or slicing mushrooms or peeling some of the coarse stem off broccoli and chop, etc. I then put the vegetables in a collander. I use about 1 tsp kosher salt per 8 oz of fresh mushrooms. Or two teaspoons for 1 1/2 pounds of green beans. For carrots, I use two teaspoons for 10 mediums carrots thickly sliced (on the diagonal). But don't leave out the seasoning step. Stir the salt into the vegetables in the collander. Then I mince a large jalapeno with seeds in my food processor. Then stir the jalapeno bits into the vegetable mixture in the collander. I think this is the point you could substitute other seasonings such as thyme or dill or garlic or oregano. Stir everthing well trying to make sure your veggies are coated with the herbs (or jalapeno bits). Then put the collander over an empty bowl and cover the collander with a dishcloth. Here is where I get really loose with the directions depending on how much time I've got. But I rarely leave the veggies sitting on the counter in the collander (covered) for more than 3 hours. But I think you could if you accidentally went that long but I have no idea what the maximum time would be. May depend on the veggie. Once your ready to cook, then nothing else special to do but cook. A lot of veggies are good roasted. You can put the results from your collander on a roasting pan and spray lightly with one of those spray cans of olive oil. And then roast for normal amount of time. There will be liquid probably in the bowl beneath the collander. I just discard this though it might be good for making a stock but could be rather salty. Sorry I'm winging most of this but the main point of this is that the salt besides taking the edge off the veggies seems to somehow cause the seasonings to really be drawn into the veggies and penetrates them better than without the brining, IMO. When I cook catfish fillets, I let them sit in the collander with the jalapeno bits and salt covered for a few hours. But inevitably, when I roast them, I need to roast for about 10 minutes, drain and roast some more. Not sure if I get the liquid because my catfish is cheap or what but the final version of the catfish with the jalapeno spicy flavor is nothing short of fabulous. I don't eat catfish any other way now. Yum, yum, yum. Sorry to make this so long but when I went looking on google, turns out there isn't much on this. I posted a pickled carrots recipe in other thread that I love for low fat, diet snacking and healthy too that involves dry brining first with minced jalapenos, then briefly boiling in vinegar and water and chilling in jars in the fridge. If you like spicy food, the salt will really enhance the jalapeno flavor, IMO. Search for "pickled carrots" and I bet it will pop up.

We don't have the same type of farmers' markets here with entirely different vegetables but if I lived where summer's bounty included all that good stuff, I'd be tempted to make it (except for the turnips, LOL)& if I invited friends over to help me eat it. It certainly sounds good.