16 squid tentacles, cleaned and dried
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
deep fryer

1. Combine flour, salt and herbs and dip tentacles into this mixture to coat.
2. Heat deep fryer and fry squid until crispy, about 5-6 minutes.
3. Drain squid on paper towel, squeeze lemon juice over them and serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings

1 pound eggplant, halved
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 small onion, chopped
1 small tomato, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon oregano, chopped
1 tablespoon mint, chopped
1/2 cup feta, crumbled
salt

1. Scoop out flesh from both halves of the eggplant and chop.
2. Sprinkle salt over chopped eggplant and skins and allow to dry on paper towels for half an hour.
3. Preheat oven broiler.
4. Lightly brush the skins with olive oil and broil for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven.
5. Meanwhile, heat remaining olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and fry the onion and garlic until softened.
6. Add the eggplant to the pan and cook until it loses its shape, about 10 minutes.
7. Remove the eggplant from the heat and stir in herbs, tomato and feta.
8. Fill the eggplant shells with the pan contents and position under the broiler again, broiling until the feta begins to brown. Serve immediately.

Makes 2 entree sized servings

19 ounce canned Lima beans
19 ounce canned crushed tomatoes
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 small onion, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine all ingredients in a casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes or until onions are tender.
3. Can be served hot or cold.

Makes 4 servings

As an appetizer I fried up the squid tentacles from last night's Grilled Squid with Feta. I have to say that as much as it's kind of gross, the tentacles are my favorite part of calamari. However, they definitely lose some of their appeal as I'm popping them in my mouth 10 minutes after severing the eyeballs from them and flushing the soupy heads down the toilet. Despite this, the Fried Squid Tentacles were still quite delicious, except the one that was exceptionally huge, which was perhaps more frightening than tasty.

Gigantes, which probably just means "lima beans" (though the gigant part sounds like giant, so maybe it means "big" beans), but for our purposes is going to mean "lima beans in a garlic tomato sauce". I'm sure there have been more awkward sentences in the short history of A Food Year. Anyhow, considering the simplicity, they were actually very good! Actually soft and very tasty. Just like garlicky tomatoes, basically.

My entree, if there was such a thing, would've been the Greek Stuffed Eggplant. As I've mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of eggplant, other than showcased in the Mediterranean Eggplant Cakes that I shamelessly plug whenever appropriate. This dish was so-so. I think the idea is to just use the skin as a dish so you don't have to dirty one, because eating baked eggplant skin is like chewing on bitter, softened shoe leather. The stuffing part ranged from fine to exceptional depending on how much feta I had in my mouth at any given moment. So please note that this should just be called "baked feta" and the eggplant should be omitted for optimal deliciousness. To round out the plate I finished off the Shrimp Pilaf.