Grilled Vegetables & Caballero's Pie

The Food Nanny
September 2,3 2008
Meal 1: Mediterranean Grilled Vegetables, Fresh Pita, Rice or Beef Koftas, Ensalda Caprese
· Warm the vegetables and koftas in the oven at 350° until warmed through and sizzling gently, about 12 minutes.
· Warm the pita briefly in the oven.
· Enjoy the tomatoes and mozzarella chilled. Do add salt before serving. This ingredient was omitted to prevent the toms from leaching too much liquid before serving.

Meal 2: Caballero’s Pie, Blue Moon Mixed Greens, and Melon Gazpacho
· Bake the pie at 350° until the cheese is browned and the interior is hot – about 20 -25 minutes .
· Dress the salad.
· Serve the gazpacho chilled

Trivia: What is a caballero?

Prelude

So, a Caballero's Pie is a FreshMex play on Shepherd's Pie. We made a filling of ranchero sauce, roasted chiles, corn, and squash, and pinto beans topped with masa and cheese. The type of casserole we like!

What, Behind the Rabbit?

Melon Gazpacho is a culinary Holy Grail.
It seems like such a divine idea in your head, but in practice is never quite attainable.

Melon from the Moore's Family Farm, so sweet and beautiful

It likely depends entirely upon the melons. If they are outstanding, and they can be, then the soup will in fact be sublime. This year's melons are very good, and likely improving as the hot, dry weather continues. Tomatoes are also very good this year by the way. It is OK to remember tomato and melon years like beloved vintages, but I digress.

The quandry begins with the accompanying ingredients for the soup. Will it be sweet, with say peaches, yogurt, and other melons, or savory with herbs, olive oil and, chiles ?

I opted for the latter but ended up with something in between. The most interesting part of making it was that the crucial ingredient was: Salt. Yours may need a little more, but be careful. Think of procuitto as you eat it.

The Grilled Flatbread has become a family favorite, below see Asher joining in rolling out the dough (don't worry, it was his own pita that he worked on).

TRIVIA: A chutney is a sugar and vinegar based preserve that typically features a combination of sweet and savory fruit with spices. It is idiomatic with Indian cuisineand was the template for the pear and red chile filling featured in our blintzes.