On Friday, I served up the second in the summer supper series. The theme was roasted vegetables. I roasted summer squash, peppers, and cherry tomatoes (adding, to the tomatoes, lots of garlic, and crumbled oregano dried from a bunch of fresh that came in my CSA box in May or June) and put them on pizza with olives & cheddar (the squash), shredded provolone (the tomatoes) and Parmesan & prosciutto (the peppers). The crust was some of the best I have ever made – long overnight rise, and cooked on dark colored baking sheets, for crispy-ness. I roasted green beans with garlic, and beets. When the beets got cool, I peeled them and cubed them and tossed them in walnut oil and balsamic vinegar. I put the beets and beans on top of a bed of greens with torn croutons – I got the idea from Mollie Wizenberg, but Thomas Keller makes them too. There were also hard boiled eggs, and crumbles of goat cheese.
The nicest part, to me anyhow, was that it was just reassuring somehow, that this big mess of vegetables could be made into a dinner that not only I found satisfying – I’m the person that’s known to eat lima beans with butter and grated nutmeg as comfort food, after all – but everyone else did, too.
Beets
