Category: Farmers Market

Baba Ganoush.

Published on by KellyInTheKitchen7 Comments

I’m no farmer and I don’t know anything about the seasonality of produce. Visiting most American grocery stores, the average shopper would have no idea when various fruits and veggies were in season, because stores sell pretty much everything, all year round. And while it can be nice to have fresh avocados in winter and apples in spring, there’s really nothing as good as in-season local produce, picked by farmers and eaten by me on the very same day! On Saturday morning at the farmers market, I saw more eggplants in more different varieties than I even knew existed, so my keen non-farmer Spidey Sense tells me it must be eggplant season in the midwest. I picked up a nice big one and made this classic Middle Eastern roasted eggplant spread. Go get your own before the season passes!

INGREDIENTS

1 large eggplant
4 cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half
1 tbsp good quality extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp tahini
2 tsp lemon juice
fresh parsley, chopped
1/8 tsp hot paprika, plus more for dusting
salt and pepper to taste

A successful morning at the farmers market.

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Pierce eggplant 8 times. Place on hot grill or directly on gas stove over medium high flame. Turn so that each side chars evenly.

When the skin is charred, remove from heat.

Stuff garlic cloves into the slits in the eggplant.

Roast on baking sheet for about 20 minutes, until eggplant is completely softened. Set aside to cool.

While eggplant cools, combine all other ingredients in a bowl.

When the eggplant has cooled enough to touch, cut off the stem and peel off as much of the skin as you can.

Cut into three pieces and add to a food processor along with all other ingredients.

Spoon into a bowl and dust with more paprika. I forgot to do it for the photo, but an extra drizzle of olive oil isn’t a bad idea either.

Olympic Cherry Crisp.

Published on by KellyInTheKitchen3 Comments

Happy Olympics! It’s that time again, and I might as well quit my job because all I want to do is stay home and watch all this awesome competitive action. There’s just so much emotion, history, and pride, and I’m a sucker for those emotional moments. Of course I root root root for the home team (the USA) but as I may have mentioned before, Russia has always had special place in my heart, so I cheer for Россию as well. This dessert is my way of reconciling my conflicting Olympic loyalties and satisfying my sweet tooth at the same time. Cherry desserts have long been a favorite in Russia, and summer fruit crisps are an American classic, so I combined them to make one mega-patriotic Russo-American Olympic loyalty-blurring all-inclusive fruit dessert extravaganza. Eat some, and then get your exercise by jumping up and down cheering for your team. Go world!

INGREDIENTS

1 heaping cup cherries, pitted
2 tbsp sugar, divided
1/2 tbsp potato starch or corn starch
2 tbsp water
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup oats
squeeze of honey
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 tbsp butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Combine cherries and 1 tbsp sugar in a saucepan and soften over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes.

Dissolve potato starch in water and stir into cherries. Cook another minute or so, until the cherries are soft and the mixture is thickened.

Remove from heat and spoon into greased ramekins.

Combine all remaining ingredients.

Sprinkle over the cherries in your ramekins…

…and bake until the tops start to brown, about 15 minutes. If you’re going for the gold medal in this dessert-off, serve these hot, topped with a scoop of ice cream.

Corn and Cilantro Fritters.

Published on by KellyInTheKitchenLeave a comment

The Midwestern US is known for our amazing summer sweet corn. Every year my family and I look forward to corn’s seasonal grocery store debut, and anytime we’re driving around rural Illinois and Iowa in the summer, we can’t help but stop at the roadside sweet corn stands to pick up an ear or twenty. Despite the awful drought we’ve had here this summer, my local farmers market had a lot of sweet corn this weekend, and for cheap too! I bought a bag and took it home to make yummy things. Here is one of them!

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 egg
1/4 cup milk or cream
1 tbsp vegetable oil, plus more for frying
1/4 tsp baking powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 small ears of corn (1 large ear), cooked, with the kernels cut off
handful chopped cilantro

DIRECTIONS

Whisk together flour, egg, milk or cream, oil, baking powder, and salt and pepper.

Add cilantro and corn and stir to combine.

Heat a pan over medium and add a splash of vegetable oil. Spoon batter into pan and cook until the bottoms are golden brown.

Flip and fry until the other side is browned and the middles are cooked through.

Garnish with Greek yogurt and more cilantro and serve immediately. Thank you, farmers of the Midwest!!