Farmers' Market Finds

It's kind of amazing I've lived in Courthouse for a year and never made it to the Arlington Farmers' Market (which during the summer is operating 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays). Now that I've been, I won't continue to neglect the place.

The market is considered a "Producer's Market", which means all the participants have to have made or grown all their products. And what an array of products it is!

Saturday's trip was profitable. Blackberries. Peach Lemonade. Horseradish Cheddar. Purple peppers. Short ribs. You name it, I threw it in my backpack for the bike-ride home (I'm going to need to get a basket one of these days).

Here are a couple recipes using my Farmer's Market loot. But I highly recommend you check it out, whether you're in the market for homemade soap, corn on the cob or that delicious sorbet that everyone lines up to try.

Blackberry polenta cake
I used 2 tbl sugar and found that I wanted a sweeter cake, so I'm upping the recipe. If it does not come out as sweet as you'd like, top with maple syrup, as I did

1 cup fresh blackberries from farmer's market
1 cup flour
1 cup dry polenta
4 tbl sugar
2.5 tsp baking powder
about a tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk or buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted

Blend dry and wet ingredients separately, and then together. Pour into pie pan. Add blackberries, spread out evenly throughout pie. Bake at 400 for approx 20-25 minutes.

Stacked Eggplant Parmesan
breadcrumbs
2 eggs, beaten
2 large purple eggplants from farmer's market
half a large ball of fresh mozzarella from farmer's market
1 can diced tomatoes
handful basil from farmer's market
Italian spices of your choice
olive oil

In saucepan, combine tomatoes, basil, spices and a touch of olive oil and simmer as you prepare eggplant. Preheat oven to 375.

While sauce is simmering, peel eggplant and slice into rounds. Dip in egg, than coat with breadcrumbs. Brown in oil.

Stack eggplant circles with little slices of mozzarella in between each round in square baking pan.

Pour sauce over eggplant stacks.

Bake for approximately 30 minutes. Serve with pasta or as sandwiches.

Basil/Arugula Pesto
Pine nuts will certainly work with this recipe; I just happened to have almonds on hand

1 cup basil from farmer's market, packed
1 cup arugula from farmer's market, packed
about 1/2 cup olive oil
about 1/4 cup almonds, ground
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup romano cheese

Chop argula and basil in food procesor. Add nuts and garlic, then cheese, then oil in a steady stream until desired consistency is reached. Serve room temperature over pasta, spread over bread, etc.