Roasted Vegetable Tartine

Roasted Vegetable Tartine, originally uploaded by michele wynne.

Well, clearly this will not be winning any beauty contests but I want to start the month focusing  on my commitment to vegetables and I was really thrilled with this impromptu tartine. This is a version of  Refrigerator Rescue. The roasted vegetable medley that sits atop slices of day old Semifreddi loaf toasts and gooey good Carmody cheese, began as small assortment of vegetables I collected the other day from the market where I work. I have come to refer to these particular hauls as Gifts from the Grey Box, culled produce that has been pulled from the market. I wish I'd gotten a picture of the box this day because it really was a sight to behold. A large grey plastic storage box, the kind with an interlocking flip lid, sits propped on its side on a small counter top next to the time clock. Bunny, one of our produce goddesses, had created a gorgeous still life contained within the stage set of the box. I felt a wee wave of guilt disturbing the scene, but I did so for the greater good.

My cast of characters included:

2 small Japanese eggplant
3 purple carrots
1 parsnip
a tiny bunch of broccoli
1 jimmy nardelo pepper (a sweet frying pepper)
2 small zucchini

As soon as I got in the front door I turned on the oven, ditched my coat, kicked off my shoes, grabbed my apron and unloaded my haul. I sliced everything up to about 3/8" thick slices and spread it all out onto 2 parchment lined baking sheets, drizzled and brushed it all with olive oil, sprinkled a bit of  sea salt  and a several grinds of pepper.

Now my roasting technique is a work in progress. I am more and more inclined to go low and slow, but have yet to employ this method with eggplant and carrots on the same baking sheet. This batch went into a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. I tossed everything around, switched the baking sheets around and set the timer for another 15 minutes. Things got dark, but I absolutely loved the slightly crispy edge that it gave everything and the flavors were all pretty damned tasty.

I ended up with about 4 cups of roasted vegetables. The next morning, half  got chopped up and tossed into a fried rice & quinoa bowl topped with a poached egg and later on, lunch was this tartine.

Dijon mustard and shredded parmesan is stirred into soft butter and then spread onto the sliced bread, then placed butter side down into a hot skillet. Lay thin slices of cheese onto the bread. I found that I can control the cheese better when I use a vegetable peeler to shave the cheese and carefully place the shards onto the bread-I used to grate the cheese but no matter how hard I tried, I'd end up with melted cheese glued to my skillet. I've started using better cheeses and that just won't do anymore.

For this tartine, I used Bellewether Farms Carmody cheese, a semi-soft buttery table cheese. For my grilled cheese type sandwiches and tartines, I like to finish the melting in the broiler, so when the bread is all golden toasty on the bottom, move  the whole skillet (if it's oven-proof) into the oven/broiler or transfer the toasts onto a broiler proof baking pan. I like the cheese a little browned on top. This only takes about 2-4 minutes depending on your broiler so stand guard.

Remove it from the broiler and lay your vegetables on top, pressing a little so they sink into the cheese. Sprinkle with a little grated parmesan and place it back in the broiler for another minute to melt the parmesan.

not michele's little kitchen

I was noodling around in the archives and found this. My very first post from November 2, 2010. It had been sitting in draft suspension.

I had to photograph this great stove (oh! and my mise). This is soooo NOT my kitchen. I'm house sitting, cooking smitten kitchen's mushroom bourguignon on a big fancy stove-top grill. This grill IS the inspiration and launching pad for Michele's Little Kitchen. Well, there are a couple of things that inspired and launched this blog. Many firsts occurred this week and the culmination was just overwhelming enough to spew forth the need to write it all down.

It started with a Weight Watchers vegetable challenge. Never been a big fan I have to say, of vegetables that is, not WW- but it sparked my OCD and in an attempt to channel it to the greater good, I decided to embrace the veg.  

I start with my old copy of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (a cookbook club acquisition I'd barely cracked) and got to tagging. A list is made and I'm off the local produce markets. I suddenly had visions of veggie kabobs dancing on this grill. Squash, Zucchini and eggplant-vegetables I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole a few short years ago, now, planning a trip to the produce market is enough to make me giddy with anticipation. 

First lesson learned? a little olive oil, salt and pepper can make an old shoe taste good.

It was Smitten Kitchen's  Mushroom Bourguignon that was the real game-changer though.  I had no idea how rich, meaty and lush mushrooms could be.

carrot soup with lemon tahini drizzle and toasted chickpeas

carrot soup with lemon tahini drizzle and toasted chickpeas, originally uploaded by riptideredsf.

I woke up the other morning to find the food blogosphere all about chickpeas and carrots. These are just s few of the recipes I latched onto:

smitten kitchens latest carrot soup- I've made this twice last week-it's sooooo simple!

101 cookbooks morrocan carrot soup-I haven't made this yet but it's on the queue for Le Weekend

Amateur Gourmet's Anything Goes Salad-I've made this wonderful chopped salad a few times now. It's a great work salad because it's perfectly fine in the refrigerator for a couple of days, so I can make a lot.

The Smitten Kitchen Carrot Soup appeared first and there was absolutely no reason not to jump right into this because I had all of the ingredients on hand-the usual bunch of carrots, just waiting for their greater purpose, the questionable dregs of a jar of tahini (does tahini have a shelf life? he jar says nothing!),  a near empty jar of dried chickpeas and a newly purchased bag of za'atar (an new stranger to the little kitchen inspired The Amateur Gourmet salad up above).

I had to laugh when I read Deb's comment about her self-imposed carrot soup challenge, as it sounded very akin to my own evolution with most vegetables.

The soup is sooooo simple and flavorful on its own, but the addition of the tahini & lemon added that little kick of brightness. My drizzle work needs some finessing and it's far too fussy a finish for a simple carrot soup, but couldn't help myself after I'd poured that vibrant bowl of orange. The soupy canvas seemed to call to my squeeze bottle.

An equally inspiring discovery was the toasted chickpea. I've never toasted chickpeas before and when I pulled them out of the oven and tasted them I was blown away by how good they were...salty & spicy with a touch of crunch...just a brilliant snack all on their own.

Carrot soups collided today. A new cooking school recently popped up on my  radar.

Scanning their website, I discovered they were having an open house today. I pedaled by to check it out. It was inspiring and enlightening.

They demonstrated 4 recipes including a curry carrot soup. It was good. Thick and spicy...but not as good as this. A lot of curry and a lot of milk and cream. Not that there's anything wrong with that. If I hadn't just made this, I probably would have been singing the praises of that curry carrot soup. It was a tad more work (roasting carrots-and I looooovvvve roasted anything) than this super simple SK soup (everything gets tossed into the pot and sauteed-add stock-cook until carrots are soft-puree-done). 

Something I took particular note of: the chef/instructor said never to garnish a soup wth something that was not already a component of the soup. Hmmnnn...What am I to make of that? I loved the tahini swirl and toasted chickpea croutons.

Nevertheless, the carrot soup is definitely a keeper and I shall roast the carrots next time.