Vegetables in the Round

Knowing that it is high season at the farmers' markets, and with company coming, last weekend Mary and I set out to put on an al fresco dinner that was local to the max.  When I look at the phone cam photos, I realized there was a motif to all the vegetable shots, thus the name of this post. 

Starting with Thursday, when we had word that Kathy and Brendan would be joining us, along with neighbors Sally and Dan, we started menu planning.  We knew we could count on our friends at the Luray farmers' market for fresh vegetables and steaks - but I also wanted dessert, so I called Main Street Bakery for pies, and then, we picked up wine from Wisteria, as I mentioned in the post yesterday.  So with few exceptions, and I would be pretty hard pressed to identify what they were, everything we had for dinner was grown or produced within ten miles of Hawksbill Cabin!

We started with the fairy tale eggplant, from Public House Produce, which I grilled.  I shared this recipe a few weeks ago - the little fruits are cut in half lengthwise, brushed with olive oil and seasoned with sea salt and cracked black pepper.  Then they are grilled both sides.  This was our appetizer.

I also grilled sweet corn directly on the grate.  The corn was also from David and Heather's.  It was gently brushed with butter and had a light sprinkle of seasoning salt - sometimes I leave this off, but because we were grilling for new company we decided to go whole hog. 

The heirloom tomatoes in the opening shot for the post were cut up and mixed with some mozzarella that had marinated in oil and garlic.  We served that as a side to the main course.  Also, Sally and Dan had dug some new tomatoes out of their patch just that afternoon, so we had a savory side of roasted taters from them.

The last dinner item was a batch of New York strips from Skyline Premium Meats.  After I thawed them I gently brushed them with oil, and seasoned them with sea salt, cracked black pepper and garlic.  Once the vegetables were grilled I had to recharge the coals - I wanted to cook the meat over hickory, so I used some seasoned Kingsford charcoal for that.  Half of the steaks were "rarer" and half were "done-er."

The dinner wine was the Wisteria Norton I'd picked up earlier.  After dinner and before dessert, we moved on to the Wisteria steel barrel Chardonnay, and I supplemented that one with a second Chardonnay bottle from North Mountain, over in Mauertown.  The rain came during the conversation time, so we hustled to move everything in off of the brick terrace, and resettled in the dining room.

Then out came a pair of fabulous pies.  I am sorry I don't have photos of these masterpieces, but we had one peach and one cherry.  They were so good, and we were lucky enough to have leftovers to enjoy a few days later.

Now that I am at the end of the post, I remember the two exceptions in this local feast:  the mozzarella we served with the tomatoes was a Whole Foods purchase, and Brendan and Kathy brought a couple of specialty Belgian brews that we enjoyed while the coals were firing up.

There was so much to choose from at the market this weekend.  After we had gathered everything we needed for the dinner, we made a second pass to pick up a few items from other booths - we got some two-color zucchini, and a regular eggplant.  Also some peppers, and I thought about getting a bunch of chard from Sustainable Shenandoah this time, but didn't because I'd have to keep it a few days before we could use it.

All in all, we had a fresh local dinner Saturday night.  What's not to love? 

Eggplant recipe #3 - a la Jandy

For the third in this emerging series of eggplant recipes, I’m sharing one from my friend Jandy, one of my USC classmates in Southern California. On Facebook the other day she told me she’d tried this one a few weeks ago and the family enjoyed it – she is also trying additional ingredients to make it her own.


I used a photo from the following link – many readers will recognize this dish from the Disney Pixar movie “Ratatouille.” Apparently the origin of the dish is Turkey, where it is known at Confit Byaldi.

http://www.inuyaki.com/archives/101

The article there references a previous publication of the eggplant recipe in the New York Times.

“For ‘piperade’ I also roasted tomatoes with bell peppers, and I added a lot more garlic (we are garlic lovers) and minced carrots into it. And three in more kinds of herbs: coriander, tumeric, etc., something I have in my panty. And a little bit of white wine.

Steve and I like it very much! But I still can’t make my daughter eat it…she at all kinds of vegetables when she was younger; now she’s picky.”

The other day, I mentioned getting interested in eggplant again after a chat in Chuck’s kitchen in Luray, as he peeled and sliced one for some dish. I’ve been experimenting with a stewed version of ratatouille, and the reader Purple Lady shared a refreshing version made with olive tapenade and yogurt sauce the other day. Mary also has a recipe I’ll have to look up if I continue the series, and I might refer to “Simply in Season” or the Mennonite Recipes of the Shenandoah Valley to round this out.

Maybe it’s too early to say “love the eggplant” but it is definitely growing on me.

Clicking on the “eggplant” label below will take you to the other posts with recipes.

Eggplant recipe #2

Here's another eggplant recipe from "Purple Lady" - thanks for sharing!  Mary and I are going to try this soonl.

I do a slightly different style, you may like. Chop the veggies, saute in sesame seed oil,add fresh basil and a little oregano,at the last minute. In a separate bowl, mix olive tamponade with Greek style yogurt. Then drizzle the veggies with the yogurt mixture.


Also, she tells me that the Sustainable Shenandoah group (I have a link to their blog in the left hand column) will have heirloom tomatoes coming in soon. 
 
Other recipes are welcome here.  I haven't been much of an eggplant fan in the past (I had a bad experience with eggplant parmesian in Paris in 1984 and kind of gave up on them), but this spring I was talking with Chuck at Main Street in Luray and watched him put together a dish - I got interested, so now we're eating eggplant. 
 
That's life baby, you know?

A Farmers Market Dinner

By the time July comes around, there's a lot to offer at the Luray Farmers Market.  Here's a sampling of the take from last weekend - for vegetables, three kinds of eggplants, two kinds of squash, new potatoes; an apple pie; and not shown, a 2.5 brisket that I will learn to use my new smoker with.  We stopped by Main Street Bakery afterwards for the oatmeal loaf shown here.

We invited our friends Steve and Noelle over for dinner - we had some New York strips that I had been saving and we paired those up with the produce.  We were able to enjoy a North Mountain white and the Wisteria Norton - both local vineyards - for libations.  Here's what I did with the eggplant and squash...

Jim's Evolving Market Ratatouille
1 traditional eggplant (the big purple one); three petit pan squashes; half an onion, garlic, olive oil, a cup of white wine, a 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes (or fresh if they're in), Herbs de Provence, and salt and pepper)

Simmer the onion in a pot with enough olive oil to cover the bottom.  Peel the eggplant (Mary says you have to press it with kosher salt to get the bitterness out - I follow this step, you may not), then slice into quarter-inch slices.  Slice the squash as well.  Once the onions have softened up, add the garlic and tomatoes. Once they are warmed up and mixed together, add the squash, white wine, and herb de provence (this is a savory blend of spices, so go carefully with it, I add a bit at a time).  Also add the salt and pepper, not much, and to your own taste.  Then cook until the vegetables soften, but still hold their shape.  You may want to add a little sugar and more salt and pepper to bring up the flavor.  The whole shebang takes about 15 minutes in the pot, serve it as a side dish.  This recipe is giving about 6 servings.

Now, as I mentioned, I am continuing to develop this recipe, which I originally put together on a whim.  I think I would like more tomatoes in the next batch, since they will be coming in soon enough.  And if I do that, probably can taper off a little on the h de p.  But it's coming along - I've made this three times and so far no complaints...the first time I did it, I used Busta Browne's spicy catsup sauce, lightly brushed on the eggplant...that left us hankering for more tomato so I moved up the the current amount, but we're hankering for more, and I want fresh from the garden tomatoes in the next batch.

Now, as far as the little purple eggplants go, here's what Mary did with them last night - she sliced them in half, rubbed some olive oil on the exposed flesh, spinked sea salt and fresh ground pepper, and grilled face down.  They came out fantastic - you eat them right from the skin.  They are small enough you'll need a couple, the four we had made about two servings.  This is definitely something we'll try again - thanks to David and Heather for the suggestion.

We asked Chuck at Main Street what he would do with them.  He thought for a minute, and came up with an idea for baba ghanoush...grill the eggplant whole. When they are done, cut off the end and squeeze it like a tube of toothpaste right onto toasted foccacia...now that sounds like a fresh summer treat, doesn't it?

Speaking of Farmers Market Dinners - Luray's Mimslyn Inn is also giving it a try on alternating Friday's this summer.  Here's the poster - more details on their website.  Many of our friends from the market provide the ingredients...we're looking forward to having a chance to check it out soon.