Eating Local: Fried Eggplant + Farmers Market Pasta

Nothing brightens up a long day of work like hitting up a local farmer's market on the way home. Sometimes the produce section of a supermarket can seem a little anemic; it can be difficult to navigate what's in season and what's been shipped across the country. Use this recipe as inspiration to hit up your own local farmers market for local & seasonal finds. I just picked up anything that seemed interesting, like purple Italian basil. You can sub out ingredients as you like for the pasta sauce - get creative!

Ingredients for Eggplant

• 3 small white eggplants (or 1 full size purple eggplant)
  
• olive oil
  
• fresh ground salt & pepper

Ingredients for Farmers Market Pasta

• 1 package of your choice of pasta
  
• 1 large zucchini
  
• 1 yellow bell pepper
  
• 3 medium tomatoes
  
• 1/2 yellow onion
  
• 1 tbsp garlic, minced
  
• handful purple Italian basil
  
• handful fresh parsley leaves
  
• 1 jar basic pasta sauce
  
• olive oil
  
• oregano
  
• salt & pepper
  
• crushed red pepper

First get all your veggies chopped to easily prepare your pasta sauce. Cut all veggies (except eggplant) into small cubes, as pictures above. Peel the skin off the eggplant - but DO NOT slice until you're ready to cook. Put a large pot of salted water to boil so you can toss the pasta in when you're finishing up the sauce.


In a large sauce pan, saute the garlic and tomatoes in approx 2 tbsp of olive oil. Cook at medium heat until tomatoes soften and start to release juice, about 5 minutes.


Add zucchini, onion, bell peppers. Season with freshly ground salt & pepper, oregano and crushed red pepper to taste. Stir ingredients together so all veggies are coated in tomato juices. Cook covered at a medium heat for 5-7 minutes to join flavors, stirring occasionally until zucchini should have softened up a bit. Add jar of pasta sauce, lower heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Get that pasta going in the water and cook according to directions. I used CAPUAOID pasta -- I usually just let Bill pick out whatever kind strikes him when we're at the supermarket. Keep it extra healthy by choosing something whole wheat. If cooking fresh pasta you might want to wait until you start cooking the eggplant so that the timing works out better. As a general rule, getting the pasta going at this time should have most pasta types finishing up by the time your dish is done.



Slice the eggplant, lengthwise if smaller (pictured above). If using a large purple eggplant, slice into round disks. Season with freshly ground salt & pepper.


Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large non-stick skillet. If you don't have a non-stick skillet, I would also spray the eggplant with cooking spray to help prevent from sticking. Add eggplant in a single layer without crowding too much. Fry eggplant on each side 2-3 minutes until golden brown. You may have to add a little more olive oil as you go to cook up the eggplant because they will absorb a lot of the oil. Again, this is why using a little cooking spray to grease things up can help eggplant from sticking without drowning everything in oil.


Lay eggplant slices on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil before serving.


At this point, your pasta sauce should be finished. Check the largest veggie pieces to make sure they are tender. Remove and drain pasta. Serve eggplant slices along side (or on top of) Farmers Market Pasta. Garnish with a generous pinch of chopped purple basil and fresh parsley. Feel free to add some freshly grated cheese, I think a sprinkle of a nice goat cheese chevre is a perfect complement.

Zucchini & Sun Dried Tomato Frittata

Making a frittata is a quick & easy way to mix up a usual menu. Serve as an unexpected side dish for dinner, then reheat leftovers the next morning in the oven for an elegant start to your weekday.

Look up local Mass farmers markets, and swap out ingredients to showcase your fresh finds!

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
  
• 1/4 cup milk
  
• 1 medium zucchini
  
• handful sun dried tomatoes
  
• 1/4 white/yellow onion
  
• 1 tsp garlic, minced
  
• parmesan cheese
  
• 2 tbsp butter
  
• addition butter for greasing pan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Chop the zucchini, onion and sun-dried tomatoes into small chunks, as pictured. Add minced garlic to pan and saute for 30 seconds.**I spaced on taking pictures of me sauteing any veggies** Add onion & zucchini. Saute 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and saute for additional 2 minutes, until veggies start to soften. Remove from heat.


In a bowl, beat eggs and milk together. You could opt to do only egg whites, but since this recipe is full of healthy veggies, I kept the yolks for extra protein to keep me feeling full.


Grease a small casserole dish with butter and arrange sauteed veggies in a single layer. Pour in egg & milk mixture. Bake for 18 minutes. Grate a sprinkling of fresh parmesan cheese over the frittata. Return to the oven for an additional 4 minutes. Egg mixture should be completely set.


Give the frittata a couple minutes to cool before slicing and serving. Preheat leftovers in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 5-7 minutes.

Carne Asada Soft Tacos w/ Simple Salsa

You can make these easy & delicious carne asada tacos in less time than it takes to get in your car and drive to the nearest burrito joint. This simple recipe uses your oven's broiler (that's the little door under the oven), to give your steak a crispy finish like it's hot off the grill!

Ingredients for Steak Tacos:

• 1 lb flank steak
  
• 1 tbsp garlic, minced
  
• cilantro
  
• lime juice
  
• chipotle or jalapeno chili powder
  
• fresh ground salt & pepper
  
• olive oil
  
• whole wheat flour tortillas

Ingredients for Quick Salsa:

• 3 roma tomatoes
  
• 1/4 yellow onion
  
• 1/2 green bell pepper
  
• 1/2 jalapeno, seeds removed
  
• small handful cilantro
  
• juice of 1 lime
  
• fresh ground salt & pepper
  
• note: recipe makes 6 servings

Set oven temperature to turn broiler on. Place flank steaks in a large ziploc bag, season with salt and pepper. Add olive oil, garlic, lime juice, spices and cilantro. Seal bag and shake to coat meat completely. Marinate the flank steak for at least 15-30 minutes.


While marinade is doing it's magic, make the quick salsa. Dice tomatoes, onion, green pepper and toss together in bowl. Add finely diced jalapenos. Add lime juice, chopped cilantro, and salt & pepper to taste. Cover and place in fridge until ready to serve.


Line broiler pan with foil for easy clean-up. Grease with cooking spray & lay out flank pieces in one layer. Pop in the broiler and cook for 5 minutes, flip flank steak pieces and cook another 5-6 minutes.


Using the broiler gets that crispy finish, keeping the middle of the steak juicy & medium-rare. Let the meat cool a few minutes and chop flank steaks as pictured above. Serve with a green salad + corn with a dab of butter and hot sauce.

Quick Tip: Pro Pizza Toppings

Bill loves pizza, in a serious way. Most weeks it's inevitable that pizza makes the dinnertime menu. To save money and eat healthier, we often make our own at home. Making dough from scratch is fun, but at the end of a long work week or a rough Monday, I'm searching for ready-made solutions.
However, when using one shortcut, it's still a cinch to give a homemade touch with extra love to the art of toppings.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb whole wheat pizza dough, fresh or thawed
  
• package shredded mozzarella cheese (for lactose solutions, see Brands I Like below)
  
• 1 jar pasta baking sauce
  
• 3 raw Italian chicken sausages
  
• 6 baby bella mushrooms
  
• 1/4 onion, sliced
  
• garlic salt
  
• oregano
  
• fresh-ground salt & pepper
  
• flour for kneading
  
• olive oil
  
• cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. I recommend using a round, grated pizza dish. Although we do own a pizza stone, melted cheese can make clean-up a fiasco. I find a basic, perforated pizza pan, like this one, to be the most fool proof.


First, cut the chicken sausages into half inch pieces. It may be easier to remove the sausage meat from the cases. Saute pieces in a skillet coated with cooking spray. Season with garlic salt, oregano and pepper. Add onions and cook until sausage browns and is just cooked through, about 10-12 minutes. Remove sausage mixture and reserve pan.


Add olive oil to pan, scrape up the sausage drippings and add baby bella slices. Season with grated sea salt. Cook on a low heat until mushrooms soften and start to sweat, about 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in sausage & onion mixture.


Divide 1 lb of dough in half, wrap other half and place in fridge. Roll out first half of dough on a lightly floured surface. If you don't have a rolling pin, use the jar of spaghetti sauce or cooking spray can. Don't stress if it's not perfectly round, mine never is. Carefully lift up dough and transfer to pizza pan that has been lightly greased with cooking spray. Pinch ends of dough up to make crust. Spoon pasta sauce onto dough and spread around dough, careful to leave a little space along the edge.


Sprinkle with cheese to your liking, I usually use half a package of those preshredded bags of cheese. Add half of sausage/mushroom/onion topping evenly over pizza, transfer to oven and bake 10-12 minutes. While the first pizza is baking, roll out the second pizza. When the 1st pizza is cooked, transfer to baking sheet and transfer uncooked dough to pizza pan & repeat steps to make crust and add toppings. Let pizza sit a couple minutes before slicing. Enjoy!

Brands I Like: I always make one pizza with mozzarella and the 2nd pizza with a lactose free alternative. For my fellow lactards, I recommend this shredded mozzarella faux-cheese. It melts well and can satisfy my cravings without making me feel miserable. The package is a little small, and I used almost all of it on my lactose-free pizza.

Chicken Fajita Skewers w/ Spicy Aioli Sauce Over Mexican-Style Brown Rice

I try to save money by using a good protein sale as inspiration for dinner. Today at my local market, chicken thighs were on sale for $1.29 a pound. My thoughts went straight to the comfort of fajitas, but to skip on having to buy tortillas and instead use the brown rice I already had on hand, I came up with these fajita skewers on a whim. Finally arriving home with veggies from local produce stand, Johnny D's, I decided to crack into a lost PBR and use my beer as a marinade base. Cheers!

Ingredients for Fajita Skewers

• 4-5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  
• 2 green peppers
  
• 2 orange peppers
  
• dozen cherry tomatoes
  
• sweet onion (vidalia)
  
• olive oil
  
• oregano
  
• fresh ground salt & pepper
  
• cooking spray
  
• 6" wooden skewers *soaked for at least 30 mins*
  

Ingredients for Marinade

• juice of one lime
  
• 2 tbsp olive oil
  
• half can lager beer
  
• 1 tsp minced garlic
  
• 1 handful cilantro leaves
  
• oregano
  
• few shakes chipotle chili powder
  
• fresh ground salt & pepper
  

Ingredients for Mexican Brown Rice

• 1 tsp minced garlic
  
• 2 tbsp olive oil
  
• 1/8 cup diced onion
  
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce (I used already seasoned)
  
• packet of low sodium chicken bouillon
  
• 1 cup long grain brown rice
  
• 2 cups water
  

Ingredients for Spicy Aioli Sauce

• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
  
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
  
• juice of 1 lime
  
• few shakes chipotle chili powder
  
• few shakes vinegar/cayenne hot sauce (I use Franks)
  

Plan of Attack: When you've got a lot of have elements to dinner it's good to have a game plan. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. I recommend marinading the chicken first. Then getting the rice set to cook before returning to the skewers.



First, marinade the chicken. Cut chicken thighs into bite-sized pieces and place in a bowl. Add all marinade ingredients into the bowl except beer, and toss chicken pieces to coat completely. Add enough beer to just cover the chicken pieces. Cover and set aside to marinade for 20-30 minutes.


Next, get the Mexican-Style brown rice cooking. Saute garlic in a medium-sized pot in olive oil for 30 seconds at a medium-low heat. Take care not to let the garlic burn. Add onion and saute until onion becomes opaque, approx 5 minutes. Add rice and saute another 5 minutes. Add water, bouillon and tomato sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low setting, cover and cook rice according to packaging. (I cooked my rice 45 minutes). Once all liquid is absorbed fluff rice with a fork.


While the chicken is finishing its marinade & the rice is cooking, prep your veggies to be skewered. Cut the onion into 1-inch pieces. Remove stems, seeds and membrane from bell peppers and chop into 1-inch pieces. In a large mixing bowl, add veggie bites to cherry tomatoes and toss with olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper.



You are finally ready to make your skewers! When using 6" skewers and using a mix or veg and chicken, I think using 2-3 chicken pieces per skewer is plenty. To keep everything in place, cap the ends of your skewers with bell pepper pieces, curving to hug a piece of chicken. Here's a sample skewer to prevent crowding: green pepper, chicken, onion, tomato, onion, chicken, orange bell pepper. Place finished skewers in a roasting dish(es) spritzed with cooking spray and transfer to oven. Cook 10 minutes, then flip each skewer over & cook for an another 10 minutes.

While the skewers are cooking, whip up this super fast Spicy Aioli Sauce. Add all the ingredients listed above into a small bowl. Whisk together with a fork until smooth, and you can drizzle sauce with spoon. If mixture is still too thick, add more lime juice. Taste and add more heat if desired - more chipotle powder for a smokey flavor, or more cayenne sauce for a vinegar tang.




Serve 2-3 skewers over a bed of mexican-style rice and drizzle with aioli sauce. To store, remove chicken & veg from skewers. This dinner could also be easily adapted to a fun appetizer. Try making mini skewers with one piece of chicken, onion, and tomato sandwiched with green & orange bell pepper pieces. Double or triple aioli sauce to make a fun dip for guests!