Market Meals is a collaboration between Boulder Reporting Lab and the Boulder County Farmers Markets, featuring weekly seasonal recipes built around ingredients from local growers, ranchers and food producers. Find it in Nibbles every Tuesday and on Boulder Reporting Lab. Sign up to get Nibbles in your inbox.
The heat of summer has us avoiding turning on our ovens for as long as possible, opting for recipes that use raw ingredients, stovetops or grills. While you can choose to use your oven for this week’s recipe, opting for a grill may enhance the deliciously smoky flavor of the finished dip.
Eggplant is delicious but also one of the most controversial vegetables for produce lovers. Beautiful in its rich purple color, it can come out slimy if you cook it wrong. It’s perfectly moist in an eggplant parm, but too tough with the skin left on. This recipe sidesteps all of those texture concerns in a deliciously creamy baba ghanoush.
Baba ghanoush is like hummus, but with eggplant instead of chickpeas. It is an incredible savory dip for raw veggies, the perfect addition to a Mediterranean-inspired bowl or a spread for a summer sandwich. Make a batch over the weekend and you’ll be thanking yourself come lunchtime on Monday.
Baba Ghanoush
- 2 medium eggplants
- ¼ cup tahini
- Juice of one lemon
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Optional: smoked paprika, red pepper flakes
Cut the eggplants in half and cook. You will know they are done when the skins begin to collapse and the flesh becomes very soft. This will take about 30 minutes on the grill. Alternatively, roast the eggplants in the oven at 400 degrees for about an hour. Remove them from the grill or oven and let them cool. Once the eggplants are cool enough to touch, remove the skins and any large clumps of seeds. Cooked eggplant will have lots of excess liquid, so place it in a fine-mesh strainer and let it drain.
Place the drained eggplant and remaining ingredients in the bowl of a food processor (or a regular bowl if more texture is desired). Blend or stir until combined. Season to taste. Store in an airtight container for up to five days.
What’s fresh this week? Farmers are bringing eggplant, peppers, sweet corn, tomatoes, green beans, okra, melons, peaches, carrots, garlic, sugar snap peas, fennel, broccoli, fresh bouquets, meat, eggs and more to the Boulder Farmers Market and the Longmont Farmers Market this week.
Visiting the Markets
- 13th Street between Arapahoe Ave. and Canyon Blvd.
- 8 a.m.-2 p.m., Saturdays, April 4-Nov. 21; 3:30-7:30 p.m., Wednesdays, May 6-Oct. 7
- More information
- Boulder County Fairgrounds
- 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays, April 4-Nov. 21
- More information
Have a tip or suggestion? Send your comments, questions and ideas to nibbles@boulderreportinglab.org.
