Roasted Carrot and Beet Salad

Saeyoung is done with her internship and we're finally in the same place at the same time! We've been doing this awful shuffle all summer where I'm in Orange County while she's in Los Angeles and then mid-week we switch off. She makes my work week in Orange County infinitely more bearable.

She's been cooking dinner for the family lately since she isn't working anymore. You will notice her beautiful panzanella salad blogged about below. Today she made scallops with a tropical fruit salsa, which I am sure she will blog about later. It was quite delicious.

My contribution to dinner was a roasted carrot and beet salad with a minted greek yogurt dressing. It tasted fine but I think the plate looked too busy. I'm blaming it on the cucumber chunks in the dressing, it was one ingredient too much. Also the pine nuts were probably unnecessary. And the avocados were tasty but somewhat clumsy on the plate.

Edit edit edit. As in writing, as in food, all the same rules apply.

Ingredients:

2 medium beets

1 cup peeled baby carrots

1 sweet potato

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/3 teaspoon cumin

pinch of cinnamon

3 tablespoons of olive oil

2 teaspoons of salt

4 garlic cloves

for dressing:

1 1/2 cups of greek yogurt

juice of half a lemon

2 cucumbers, small dice, optional

3 teaspoons of chopped mint

1/2 teaspoon of crushed garlic

salt to taste

1. preheat oven to 400

2. wash and trim beets

3. wrap the beets along with the whole garlic cloves tightly in foil, making sure that there are no open vents for the steam

4. roast in the oven for about 1 hour

5. cube the sweet potato so that the segments are about the same thickness as the baby carrots

6. toss the carrots and the sweet potato cubes in a large bowl with the olive oil, the spices, and about 1 teaspoon of salt

7. spread the carrots and the sweet potatoes on a lined cookie sheet, making sure that none of the pieces are overlapping

8. bake in the oven for about 20-30 minutes. you can just stick them in the same oven as the beets when the beets reach the 30 minute mark

9. remove the beets from the foil and let cool

10. when the beets are cool enough to handle slip their skins off and slice into thin rounds

11. arrange the beets on a platter

12. crush the roasted garlic and toss with the roasted carrots and sweet potato

13. top the beets with the roasted carrot/sweet potato/garlic mixture

14. garnish the dish with avocados if you like

15. spoon the dressing on top

for the dressing:

1. in a food processor, combine all the ingredient minus the cucumbers

2. when blended, salt to taste and then add the cucumbers

3. you can make the dressing in advance and keep it in the refrigerator until ready to use

Heirloom Tomatoes, Two Ways

tomato, strawberry, basil panzanella 

tomato with red onions and ginger lemon dressing

Eat a tomato like an apple.  

Eggplant, Lentil, Barley Salad

When I think of eggplant, I think of Archie Comics.  It's a long story.  

Today at work I became obsessed with the idea of making an eggplant salad with lentils.  As the day went on, I kept adding more and more to the salad in my head and I kept writing additions and revisions in my notebook.  

It was the most exciting part of my day.  

I think Saeyoung would like this very much.  I would say that I will make it for her when she comes home on Thursday but this took like two hours, so I don't know.  Actually, I probably will make it for her.  I've got nothing better to do.  Sigh.

Ingredients

1 eggplant

1 zucchini

1/2 cup dried lentils

1/2 cup uncooked pearl barley

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced lengthwise

1/2 cup tomatoes (cherry or grape tomatoes would be better but I used sliced beefsteak because that is what I had)

1 cup cubed cucumbers (haha...cu..cu..cu)

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1 finely minced jalapeno

1 cup chopped mushrooms

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon coriander powder

3 crushed garlic cloves

sesame seeds for sprinkling

dressing:

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce

1/4 cup fish sauce

juice of 4 limes

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 1/3 teaspoons brown sugar

1. preheat oven to 475

2. roast eggplant for about 15 minutes or until the skin is crispy and separates from the flesh and is easily peelable

3. peel the eggplant and chop into large cubes, and set aside

4. cover the lentils with water until the water is about 2 inches above the lentil and boil the for about 15-20 minutes or until tender, set aside 

5. boil the pearl barley in salted water for about 5 minutes and then cover and let sit for about 1 hour

6. in a non-stick pan, saute the garlic, chopped mushrooms, and zucchini slices until the zucchini is just tender

7. add the eggplant and minced jalapeno to the pan with the curry, coriander, and cumin.  salt and pepper to taste

8. after the vegetables are cooked through (make sure that the eggplant is not overcooked or it will turn to mush.  the vegetables should still have a bite) set aside and let cook

9. in a large mixing bowl, toss the drained lentils, drained barley, eggplant/zucchini/mushroom mixture, cilantro, tomatoes, red onions, cucumbers, and dressing

10. plate and top with sesame seeds