Farmers Market Dinner

Yesterday Russ and I made our weekly trip to the farmers Market. I am trying my hardest to not buy too much since it is just the two of us and often just me when Russ is off working somewhere. Buying and cooking smaller amounts helps not have so many leftovers, but that also means I have to cook more often. Oh, the dilemma.
Since I shop without lists or recipes, instead, just buying what looks good, I often find I am putting together foods in new and interesting ways. Last night’s dinner is a prime example. I have picked up chorizo, eggplant, tomatoes, red Carmen peppers, squash blossoms and some soft cows milk cheese from Boxcar cheese that was pimento flavor.
What is this all going to be? I ended up making an eggplant dish and stuffing blossoms with cheese and frying them. It was a hit at our house.
1/4 pound of ground chorizo

2 small onions chopped

2 medium eggplant chopped into 1/2 cubes

3 red Carmen peppers chopped

4 small tomatoes chopped

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 tea spoon thyme

Salt and pepper
Put the chorizo in a big soup pot and heat on medium high heat until it starts to render. Add the onions and continue cooking for about five minutes until they start to become clear. Add garlic and the eggplant and stir everything all around and continue cooking for five more minutes. Add the peppers and stir, cook and stir another three minutes. Add the tomatoes thyme, salt and pepper, stir and cook another three minutes. Add between a quarter and a third of a cup of water and turn the heat down and just let it simmer for ten minutes.
Fried Stuffed Squash Blossoms
Four squash blossoms with the stamen removed 

3 tablespoons soft cows milk cheese

3 tablespoons goat cheese

1 egg

 Flour for dredging 

Salt and pepper

 Oil
Mix together the cheeses. You can use ricotta and Parmesan, or any combination of a tart cheese and a mild one, but not anything like Swiss or cheddar. Gently open the blossom and spoon in as much cheese as you can, while still being able to have the petals enclose the cheese.
Beat and egg in a shallow saucer. Put a few tablespoons of flour on a plate with lots of salt and pepper mixed in. Put a frypan on the stove on medium high and cover the bottom of the pan with a bit of oil. You are not deep frying, just a thin skim of oil is all you need.  
Gently roll the stuffed blossom in the flour, then the egg, then the flour again and set aside. Once you have coated all the blossoms, place them in the fry pan. Cook on one side for about two minutes until golden brown, then turn by one third and cook another minute and then the last third.
Put a pile of the eggplant mixture in a shallow bowl and top with the hot blossoms.