Italian Cooking Class: Eggplant Saute, Orzo, Panzanella, Polenta (and Blueberry Crisp)

What a wild and fun tablecloth, no?! This was the first real week of cooking for my 6-week Ethnic Vegetarian Cooking class. I always ask and always seem to get a volunteer to bring in a tablecloth to enhance the dining experience. What a neat one we'll be using in this class!

Here is my plate, showing off the great work of my students. I had taken water-packed tofu and frozen it several days ago, then defrosted it in a refrigerator. Let me quote from my description in a class last March: The freeze-thaw cycle opens up the texture of the tofu to make it more
sponge-like in consistency, enhancing the taste and ability to pick up flavors. Because my wife, and sometimes I, suffer from digestion problems with tofu, I don't cook with it - with the only exception I can think of in my cooking classes. It was part of our main course eggplant saute.They also made a herbed orzo with lemon zest, a simple polenta side dish, starting with prepared polenta available in wrapped tubes, ... panzanella (bread salad) ... [and] blueberry crisp.

The food was very good - these guys work well together in two teams. Everybody seemed to enjoy the meal!