Cold roasted vegetable salads

I've been reading Tamar Adler's book An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace and can't get enough of it. I had several friends recommend it months ago, but I just got around to buying it. I bought it to read on the beach over the weekend, but quickly realized this isn't a book for mindless summer reading. This is a book that should be on your nightstand, each word relished, pages read and reread, notes scribbled into the sidebars. Tamar waxes poetically about the simplicity and beauty of cooking.

“An Everlasting Meal is beautifully intimate, approaching cooking as a narrative that begins not with a list of ingredients or a tutorial on cutting an onion, but with a way of thinking… Tamar is one of the great writers I know—her prose is exquisitely crafted, beautiful and clear-eyed and open, in the thoughtful spirit of M.F.K. Fisher. This is a book to sink into and read deeply.” — Alice Waters, from the Foreword

It's simply a must read. Run to your local bookstore (or drop into your amazon cart) and buy it now.

Today's post is inspired by Tamar's chapter on How To Stride Ahead. She talks about roasting sheet pan after sheet pan of the best vegetables to enjoy all week long. I heard her loud and clear when she sang about eating cold vegetable salads.

Turning up the oven to 400 degrees when it's 100+ degrees outside, might sound stupid. But after I took a bite of those chilled roasted golden beets, tomatoes and zucchini, and cauliflower dipped in yogurt, I knew it was worth it. I also whipped up some garlicky lacinato kale along with onion, garlic, and the stems (diced small) while the other veggies were roasting away.

I roasted all my vegetables and sautéed the greens last night, so today's lunch was easy. I pulled out all the veggies, and piled them on a plate. I enjoyed this lunch tremendously. I'll definitely be doing this more as cold vegetable salads are perfect for the summer heat or when you want a lighter meal. This is also a great way to use up those CSA veggies you have piled up in the crisper.

Cold roasted vegetable salads:
Preheat oven to 400 for all recipes.

Cherry tomatoes + zucchini 
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 zucchini, .5 thick coins
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Spread tomatoes and zucchini onto a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle generously with oregano, sea salt, and pepper. Roast for 45 minutes or up to one hour. Remove from oven and drizzle with balsamic vinegar. Set aside to cool.

Crispy cauliflower 
1 head cauliflower, cored and sliced 1 in. thick

Spread cauliflower onto a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle generously with sea salt and pepper. Roast for almost an hour. Remove from heat to cool. Serve with this yogurt-tahini dip.

Golden beets 
1 bunch of beets

Prick each beet with a knife a few times, then wrap each beet in foil. Roast for an hour or longer, depending on the size. Beets are done when a knife easily pierces through the skin. Remove, let cool, and peel the skins off. 24 hours later, mix chilled beets with this pickled red onion.

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This week's Food Matter Project recipe is beet sandwiches. See what the host, Meg, made here and the rest of the participants whipped up here. I wrote about my favorite sandwich filling, the humble beet, last week. If you haven't tried it yet, you should. Simply roast, slice, cool, and pile onto a hearty veggie sandwich. Or eat the remaining beets as a chilled salad like above.

Plenty of inspiration

Hope the holidays treated you well. I know they did for us. Now I'm trying to get back into somewhat of a routine after a long weekend offline. I've been cleaning the apartment, working a bit, running, and visiting with friends that are still in town. Since I had my fair share of heavier holiday foods, I've been eating a lot of fruit (see above) and vegetable salads this week. And this new cookbook gave me plenty of inspiration.

I received this awesome vegetarian cookbook, Plenty, for Christmas. These guys aren't vegetarians, but they know how to make delicious and beautiful vegetable dishes. I mean read this excerpt about their philosophy from their website: So in order to drag you into our world, we make a conscientious effort to renew and re-craft, to astound in looks and flavours, to open-handedly present our creations in a seductive manner, to serve it impeccably and with integrity. 

Wow, right? I read through the entire cookbook and wanted to fold down every corner of each page. Their flavor combinations are exquisite and their dishes are inspirational. Yotam Ottolenghi also writes a weekly column in the Guardian. The next time I get to London, I'll definitely include a visit to their restaurants.

I made their recipe for sweet winter slaw this week. Aren't those colors beautiful? The lime juice-maple syrup dressing gives the salad it's sweetness, and the cabbage and nuts give it texture. Instead of mangos and papayas, I used oranges. I love citrus flavors in the winter.

What are you munching on post-holidays? Are you ready for the New Year? I'll be celebrating with close friends and toasting to our health and happiness for 2012. Have a happy new year and I'll see you in 2012!