CSA Cookoff: Baba Ghanoush-ish Pizza

CSA COOKOFF: WHAT CAME IN LAST WEEK’S FARM SHARE & HOW WE USED IT
Hearty thanks to World Peas, the food hub that feeds me and hundreds of other New Englanders weekly. Keep on growing!

1. Potatoes: These got sliced and roasted with the tomatoes (number 4), the dill (number 5), the squash (number 7), and some locally caught flounder.

2. Cherry tomatoes: BLTs!

3. Sweet corn: Grilled and eaten with number 2.

4. Slicing tomatoes: See number 1.

5. Dill: See number 1.

6. Eggplant: See this week’s featured recipe, below.

7. Summer squash: See number 1.

8. Raspberries: Breakfast dessert!

9. Onion: Chilaquiles.

10. Mystery item: I’ll be honest. I have no clue what this is. It smells like dill, but I think that’s just because it was cozied up to number 5 in the crisper. Any guesses?

THIS WEEK’S RECIPE: BABA GHANOUSH-ISH PIZZA
Well, maybe more like baba ghanoush meets eggplant pesto. Whatever you call it, it was good. Really good, with the nuts giving the ghanoush enough heft to stand up to the heat of the grill. For summer lovers like me, this pizza helps ease the transition to (early!) fall—and it’s vegan, to boot.

For bread-machine pizza dough
» 1 cup water
» 2 Tbsp olive oil, plus extra for brushing the dough
» 2 ½ cups bread or AP flour
» ½ tsp salt
» 1 tsp active dry yeast

For the ghanoush
» 3 small eggplant or 1 large
» 2-3 Tbsp olive oil
» 2 garlic cloves, peeled
» 1 cup pecans, toasted (walnuts or pine nuts would work fine)
» 2 Tbsp lemon juice
» 2 Tbsp tahini
» 1 Tbsp honey (skip it for the vegan version)
» Salt and pepper to taste

Other toppings
» 1-2 slicing tomatoes
» 1 can black olives, pitted and halved
» 1 red onion, thinly sliced

Add the dough ingredients to your bread machine in the order recommended by your machine’s manual and let the dough do its thing. When the dough nears the end of its cycle, preheat the grill on high. Wash and slice the eggplant into ¼” slices, brush those with olive oil, and grill them for 4 minutes per side, covered. Remove and set aside.

Meanwhile, when the dough is ready, remove it from the bread machine and roll it out. Brush the top of the dough with oil then flip it onto the grill, oiled side down. Adjust with tongs if the dough folds in on itself. Turn the heat down to medium-low. Grill the dough for 3 minutes then remove.

While the dough is on the grill, put the grilled eggplant and all of the other ghanoush ingredients in a food processor and blend thoroughly. For a thinner paste, add more olive oil.

When the dough comes off the grill, brush the ungrilled side with olive oil then flip it onto a paddle or baking sheet, oiled side down. Lightly brush the already-grilled side with more oil then spread on the eggplant mixture. Add the other toppings—artfully, of course! Shimmy the pizza back onto the grill, toppings side up, and grill for 8 minutes, covered. Remove the pizza, slice, and raise a wedge to summer’s end. Happy farm sharing!

STILL HUNGRY?
CSA Cookoff is an ongoing series devoted to putting farm share bounty to good use. What did you get this week? And what did you make with it? Post a comment or photo and share the farm share love!