Soleil salad
aka eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper and tomato with crispy quinoa
Welcome to To Vegetables, With Love, a celebration of a vegetable life, less ordinary. Find archived recipes on my recipe index.
My book Tenderheart is available from Books are Magic, Kitchen, Arts and Letters, Book Larder, Bold Fork Books and also here or here.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be presenting a summer version of this newsletter. Despite travel and family commitments, my aim is to keep the lights ON here at To Vegetables, With Love. Often, I will be working from the road, so newsletters may not arrive at my usual scheduled time of Sunday at 6pm EST. I will be keeping the newsletter more succinct, with the recipe as the main feature. I’ll also be launching a Cookbook Summer Series where I’ll be sharing recipes from some of the cookbooks I’ve enjoyed cooking from lately. As always, thanks for being here, Hetty xo
So much of summer cooking in New York is about the avoidance of heat, leaning into the seasonal ripeness of raw vegetables and fruits. But the beautifully cooked summer vegetable salads in Paris told another story. Summer vegetables, cooked in olive oil, are richer in texture and fuller in flavour. Heat coaxes out their sweetness and tang. They become tender, silky and throb with the pulsating energy of the sun and the deep resonance of the earth. Cooked summer vegetables are brave. We just have to find the courage to turn on our ovens.
Soleil salad, or sunshine salad, is an emphatic celebration of summer produce. It bears some resemblance to the Provençal dish ratatouille, iterations of which appeared on several of the menus I was served in Paris. The combination of roasted eggplant, zucchini, capsicum and tomatoes is a risk free dish, a guaranteed success.
Crispy quinoa provides a lovely textural foundation for the velvety vegetables. It’s a great way to eat quinoa in a different way.
🥦 My cookbook, Tenderheart is for cooking vegetables, all year round. Pick up your copy here. It is also mostly vegan (or vegan-izable) and gluten-free adaptable.
COOK / EAT / SHARE
For those who are looking for cozy dishes, this hot and sour dumpling soup will do the trick.
THIS WEEK’S RECIPE
Soleil salad
© Hetty Lui McKinnon for To Vegetables, With Love
The salad is finished with goat’s cheese which brings a bright, creamy fruitiness to the vegetables. If you’re vegan, substitute with a vegan feta or simply omit.
Serves 4
180g (1 cup) quinoa
salt and black pepper
1 medium (450g / 1 pound) eggplant, cut into 2cm (3/4-inch) cubes
1 large zucchini (275g / 10-ounces), cut into 2cm (3/4-inch) cubes
1 bell pepper / capsicum, cut into 2cm (3/4-inch) cubes
450g (1 pound) grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon red chilli (pepper) flakes
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
70g (2-ounces) goats cheese, crumbled
big handful of basil leaves, torn or chopped
Preheat oven to 220˚ C / 450˚ F.
Bring 2 cups of water to the boil. Add the quinoa and 1 teaspoon of salt. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook until the quinoa is translucent and tender, and the liquid has been absorbed, about 15 minutes. Allow the quinoa to cool, covered, in the pan for 10 minutes. This allows the quinoa to dry out and puff up. Uncover and allow to cool for a few minutes.
Place the eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper (capsicum), and tomatoes on a baking sheet. Add the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, chili flakes and season with 1 teaspoon of salt and black pepper. Roast until the vegetables on the middle shelf of the oven until they are are soft and golden, 25-35 minutes.
On another baking sheet, add the quinoa. Add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season well with salt and black pepper. Place on bottom shelf and roast for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, toss the quinoa and place back in the oven until golden and crispy, another 10-15 minutes.
Place the crispy quinoa into a large bowl. Add the vegetables, goat’s cheese and basil. Drizzle over some olive oil, season well with salt and black pepper and toss well. Serve.
Can’t wait to try!
There is no mention of the smoked paprika in the directions - assume it is mixed in with veggies along with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, etc.?
I made this tonight and it was amazing! The crunchiness (is that even a word?) and nuttiness of the toasted quinoa really pulled it all together. I used a vegan goat cheese and instead of tossing it all together, I dotted the vegan goat cheese on top. It was delicious! Completely worth turning on the oven in the middle of a heatwave!