Eggplant/Tomato/Mozzarella Panini with Artichoke Caper Spread

Got a mixture of different types of eggplant from the CSA this week and was craving something cheesy and melty. Eggplant panini it was!

My first attempt was somewhat of a FAIL, as I cut the bread (a cheapie ciabatta from the Giant bakery... Columbia Heights needs a legit bread bakery like crazy... I heard rumors of one thinking of opening in the area, but it's not set in stone by any means) horizontally rather than vertically, and it was waaaaay too fat... too big to fit in one's mouth (that's what she said!). The second time I cut vertical slices from the bread and it was much easier to manage.

The artichoke/caper/parsley spread was awesome, though. Hearty, a little salty, fresh, a hint of creaminess from the mayo. Based on this recipe, but with the addition of fresh parsley to brighten it up.

The eggplant was sliced thinly, salted for 20 minutes or so, then grilled. Thrown on the bread with some yellow heirloom tomato, the artichoke spread, grated mozzarella, squished and grilled.

Camarones Enchiladas (Shrimp in a Spicy Tomato Sauce)

I've been craving something cooked in a spicy tomato sauce and served with feta since seeing various recipes bandied around the internet of late... Deb from Smitten Kitchen has been making shakshuka (eggs poached in spicy tomato sauce), Kevin from Closet Cooking is making tomato and feta baked eggs, and Alejandra from Always Order Dessert (who I met once in DC, as she used to be coworkers with Andy), had a spread in Real Simple with her mom's recipe for camarones enchiladas, or shrimp in spicy tomato sauce.

I decided to give Alejandra's recipe a try: definitely worth a try. The second recipe for us this week that uses the awesome smoked paprika as the main star.

Deviled Eggstravanganza!

After attending the always fabulous 6th Annual Eggstravaganza at the Marks-Finder household, we found ourselves with a plethora of hard-boiled eggs, just begging to be deviled. (Does anyone else read "deviled" like "de-viled" as opposed to "devil-ed"? Maybe it's just me.)

Chuck had the day off, so she was the devil-er. She rocked out six different and delicious types of devil, as follows, from left to right:

Herbed deviled eggs: chock full of fresh herbs

Lemon dill deviled eggs: similar to the herbed eggs, but with a lemony kick

Chipotle deviled eggs: smoky and spicy

Deviled eggs with capers, dill and cucumber: a little chunky from the cukes and vinegary capers

Avocado deviled eggs: nice in theory, but not devily enough/a little boring

Sriracha deviled eggs: of course, these spicy MFs were the most devilish and, therefore, the best of the bunch

Chicken Scaloppini

Martha is in town and she's craving pasta. We had the majority of the ingredients for this chicken scalopini recipe with artichokes, mushrooms, capers and pancetta, so we decided to give it a try.

This was really tasty. Since it's a Paula Deen recipe, it requires an entire pound of butter in the lemon sauce... don't go there. We made it with a quarter of that and it was still rich and delicious. Even Martha, who would eat a butter ice cream cone if she could, thought it was great with just one stick of butter.