Market Goes Back to the Fairgrounds

The county fair is over.  The rides and food trailers are gone and the trash is cleaned up.  The animals have been sold or taken home.  Blue Ribbons now hang proudly in many Muskingum County homes.  And so, the Farmers’ Market will return to the Muskingum County Fairgrounds this Saturday.  In addition to fresh produce, you will once again be able to shop from various meat, cheese, baked goods, craft, and other vendors.

This past Saturday at market I had a few friends helping me sell my vegetables and their young daughters were playing with a dollhouse on the sidewalk behind the booth.  It reminded me of how much I loved to play with dollhouses as a child, mostly due to the fact that my uber-talented grandmother made elaborate doll houses for us.  In addition to the large Victorian mansion she built, there was a smaller dollhouse that she designed as a country General Store.  This general store was complete with things such as a mail counter, little sacks of flour, miniature cans of soup, and a wide variety of little crates and barrels filled with fake fruits and vegetables. 

I would set up the store perfectly—pyramids of the tiny soup cans, crates of apples, baskets of green beans—but there was one object that I always set off in the corner of the store behind everything else.  It was a miniature burlap sack filled with some sort of dark purple vegetable.  Not knowing what these things really were, my dollhouse customers never purchased any of what I now know to be eggplant.

Eggplant was not a vegetable that we ate at our house when I was growing up.  I think this was also true in a lot of other households in this area because many customers do not know what to do with eggplant.  So, like my dollhouse people, they admire its beauty, but walk right on past the display without making a purchase.  If you have never tried eggplant an easy dish to start with is Ratatouille.  This traditional French dish is perfect for this time of year because it utilizes so many of the fresh vegetables that are available right now.

Ratatouille

1/4 cup olive oil, plus more as needed
1 1/2 cups small diced yellow onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 cups medium diced eggplant, skin on
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 cup diced green bell peppers
1 cup diced red bell peppers
1 cup diced zucchini squash
1 cup diced yellow squash
1 1/2 cups peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Set a large 12-inch sauté pan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Once hot, add the onions and garlic to the pan. Cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until they are wilted and lightly caramelized, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the eggplant and thyme to the pan and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the eggplant is partially cooked, about 5 minutes. Add the green and red peppers, zucchini, and squash and continue to cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, basil, parsley, and salt and pepper, to taste, and cook for a final 5 minutes. Stir well to blend and serve either hot or at room temperature.