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December 16, 2006
Roasted Vegetable Salad
I'm catching up a bit on things that I made while my computer was being wonky. I made this for dinner one night last weekend. It was loosely inspired by a recipe in Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries, and by the fact that I'd picked up a pound of baby eggplant without any real notion of what to do with them.
The Ingredients
- 1 lb. baby eggplant (or substitute an 1 lb. regular eggplant)
- 1 pint grape tomatoes (I've actually read somewhere that grape tomatoes are not good for roasting, as they are too juicy. I used them because they were what I had on hand, and they worked fine, but if I were shopping just for this recipe, I might use cherry tomatoes instead.
- 1 15 oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 3 bottled roasted red peppers, chopped (You could, of course, roast your own peppers for this, and it would probably be even better.)
- 8-10 kalamata olives, pitted and halved
- a couple of ounces of halloumi cheese, diced (Or substitute crumbled feta. Feta might even be better. I used halloumi because I had it on hand.)
- 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
- 6 mint leaves, thinly sliced
- ground cumin to taste
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 heaping teaspoon of harissa*
- 1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling
*Harissa is a Tunisian spice paste, composed primarily of red chilies, cumin, and coriander. It's hot, but not tongue-searing. I bought mine from Kalustyan's, though I'm not sure I picked a particularly good one. It seems a bit tame. I'll probably try making my own soon, since I have about half a dozen recipes for it in various books.
The Steps
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Put the tomatoes in a baking dish just large enough to hold them in a single layer. (I used a 9 x 9 inch square pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Shake the pan until the tomatoes are coated with olive oil.
- Quarter the baby eggplants. (Or cut large eggplant into 1 x 1 x 2 inch chunks.) Put them in a baking dish large enough to hold in a single layer. (I used a 9 x 13 inch pan.) Sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle with oil, and stir/shake to coat. (I also meant to add about a teaspoon of whole cumin seed at this point, but I forgot. I will try it next time, though.)
- Roast the tomatoes and eggplant for 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring or tossing every 15 minutes or so, until they are browned and soft. (I went about 55 minutes, which I think was slightly too long for the eggplant - it was a bit dry when it came out of the oven, though it recovered nicely as it soaked up the dressing.)
- Let the roasted vegetables cool slightly while you prepare the other items.
- Combine the chickpeas, peppers, halloumi, and olives in a large bowl.
- In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, harissa, cumin, and lemon juice to make a dressing.
- Stir the roasted vegetables and their juice into the chickpea mixture. Then stir the dressing and the cilantro into the salad.
- Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. Serve garnished with mint leaves and with warm pita bread on the side.
I think this would be equally good with a different mixture of roasted vegetables. Some roasted onions might be very nice, or chunks of zucchini. Perhaps even some root vegetables. I'll experiment when I next make it.
Posted by spaceling at December 16, 2006 03:56 PM
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