Myra's Kitchen Blog » Seasonal Vegetable Dishes from Union Square Greenmarket

Last week was beautiful at the Union Square greenmarket. The whole stalks of Brussel Sprouts were too enticing to resist, so I bought a whole stalk.

I’m not the only ones enamored with snapping off the the nuggets from the stalk. Over the weekend, the little nephews had a wonderful time snapping off the sprouts as well.

Jonathan and Joshua snapping Brussels Sprouts

I halved the stalks, tossed them with extra virgin olive oil and salt, and roasted them at 375˚ for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, I made a quick glaze of maple syrup, mustard, and butter that I heated on the stove. I tossed the Brussels sprouts with this mix and sprinkled the whole lot with chopped pecans.

It’s nearing the end of eggplant season as well, so I purchased these miniature varieties and

roasted them on the my chile grate (these grates are wonderful for roasting multiple vegetables at once.)

I like the chile grate especially for small chiles and eggplants, since they don’t fall into the open flame. The smokey flavor of eggplants cooked directly over the fire is irresistible. After I covered them and let them cool a bit, I scraped off the skin,

chopped the flesh, and mixed them with tahini, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, and pomegranate molasses.

I served the chunky dip on rye bread from Rui’s, a fairly new Friday and Saturday Union Square Greenmarket addition. These guys make traditional hearty, delicious Scandinavian (100 per cent) rye bread.

It actually is a kind of broccoli without florettes, and tastes like a sweeter version of broccoli raab. It cooks in just minutes. I cut off the stems and cooked them first with garlic, olive oil, and red pepper flakes.