This dish came out of a culinary experiment on an overcast day. It uses the ingredients that I had on hand from my garden, or out of the back of my fridge. Some of the charm came from discovering these small, almost translucent pale yellow tomatoes in my garden that I had never noticed before. The pale yellow is their ripe colour. Their flavour is delicate, and they are almost luminescent. The cultivar is called “Dr. Cheryl” or “Dr. Carolyn”. Also I had been reading fairy tales all day. I don’t think I could reproduce this dish exactly as it was. I am recording it exactly as it was.

Ingredients:

• olive oil for the pan
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 tiny Japanese eggplant from my garden that I planted in not a particularly good spot, because it was my first time growing an eggplant
• 1/2 of the stalks and fronds from a large, whole,  fresh fennel, finely chopped
• pinch of dried lovage (from Mona’s garden)
• about 9 small (1-1/2″ diameter) green tomatoes, sliced very thinly in half circles
• a handful of medium-size fresh green scarlet runner beans, chopped
• kernels from 2 medium size ears of corn
• about 7 small, ripe, pale yellow tomaotes, sliced like the green tomatoes
• a few good grinds of black pepper
• demure quantity of salt

In a large, deep skillet, fry the onion in the oil over medium heat. As onions start to soften, add the eggplant, lovage, and a few grinds of pepper, and stir. Once the eggplant is starting to turn translicent in spots, add the beans, fennel, and green tomatoes. Cover and cook until everything is just about done (note the eggplant), then add the corn and cook 1 minute more. Stir in the fresh ripe tomatoes and serve.