Roasted Vegetable Salad with Balsamic Dijon Vinaigrette
So what do you do when you have a bunch of veggies to use up? Try a roasted vegetable salad. This came together for lunch today as I realized I had a bunch of green beans from the farmer's market last week that I had forgotten about, in addition to some baby eggplant, overripe cherry tomatoes, and zucchini from my garden. I did a google search to find a suitable 'dressing' that was more special than just my usual flavored olive oil, salt/pepper toss and the rest is history. Delicious, easily adaptable, and customizable history.
Roasted Vegetable Salad with Balsamic Dijon Vinaigrette
-dressing adapted from Epicurious.com
Any suitable veggies for roasting, cut into about the same size. I filled up two baking trays with
- Cherry/grape tomatoes
- Green beans (trimmed and halved)
- Miniature fairy tale eggplant (halved)
- Zucchni, roughly chopped
- ther ideas...
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Brussels Sprouts
- Asparagus
- Red Bell Peppers
- Onions
I lightly salted the veggies and tossed with a teensy amount of olive oil, then threw in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes (tossing once). You want the veggies to start to caramelize, but still be kind of crisp. I don't like mushy veggies. I scooped the tomatoes off the tray about 20 minutes in just after they started to 'burst' from their skins. I let the veggies cool a bit, so they were slightly warm (room temp would be ideal, but ain't nobody got time for that), then tossed with some fresh herbs (I used a handful of fresh basil and parsley that I chopped fine) and some of the vinaigrette (recipe below). After dishing up onto our plates, I sprinkled with some feta. Parmesan would also be great. This salad made me happy, happy, happy. What's not to love when something that is this beautiful also tastes beautiful???
Balsamic Dijon Vinaigrette
Whisk together:
- 2 T balsamic vinegar
- 2 T Dijon mustard
- Then add 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil and whisk until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper.
You won't use all of this on the above salad, but this will be great on a tossed salad the next day.