the Weekday Vegetarians

Although the title is September, this post reviews what’s been happening in my kitchen for the past few months. In My Kitchen is a gathering of bloggers worldwide who share the latest news. Sherry of Sherry’s Pickings hosts it.

Summer is a season of minimalism in the kitchen, as much of my time is spent in the garden. You can read about that in this post, “In My Garden – August 2024.”

Nasturtiums from In My Garden – August 2024

In My Kitchen, I have produce from the garden.

Zucchini of mixed varieties

A recent cookbook acquisition has inspired me to make pizza. The pizzas are arranged seasonally, and she suggests accompanying salads.

Pizza Night by Alexandra Stafford

Zucchini and zucchini flower pizza using green squash

Zucchini and zucchini flower pizza – using yellow squash

We cooked them on our gas grill, and they were delicious.

A tomato salad with creamed feta accompanied the pizza.

Tomato salad with creamed feta (that’s a dog toy in the lower corner, not a dead squirrel)

Another pizza was this one with purple cauliflower from the garden.

Cauliflower pizza

We do a lot of outdoor grilling in the summer. Meals have included skirt steak.

Skirt steak

And turkey burgers with smashed tater tots and salad.

Turkey burgers, smashed tots, grilled zucchini

I have been experimenting with fermentation; these are fermented pickles.

Fermented pickles

They were pretty tasty with the turkey burgers.

One night, dinner was a large shredded cabbage salad with chickpeas from another new cookbook by the author of the Weekday Vegetarian, Jenny Rosenstrach. This one is the Weekday Vegetarians Get Simple. It contained crisp chickpeas and fried onions with a curry yogurt-based dressing. I admit we cheated and had a bit of grilled salmon as well.

the Weekday Vegetarians Get Simple

Cabbage Salad

The tomatoes are so wonderful right now, and we enjoy their abundance. I have been making a variety of tomato salads, sometimes combining them with fruit such as peaches, nectarines, or watermelon.

Tomato and peach salad with burrata

When I don’t feel like cooking, my husband steps up to the plate with his specialty: bruschetta. It’s always melted cheddar with sliced tomato and avocado, and we never tire of it.

Tomato and avocado bruschetta

The farmer’s market has an abundance of produce, including these russet potatoes. I was inspired to do something a little different. I first boiled them in a Chinese ‘master stock’ before completing the cooking and crisping them in the air fryer. They were flavorful and delicious. The idea of boiling them in an intensely flavored stock was new to me.

“The salty-sweet and intensely umami stock is perfect for repeatedly being used as a poaching liquid to infuse flavor into various proteins and vegetables. The flavor of the stock will change slightly with each round.”

I strained and refrigerated it and will use it again. Please be sure to look for the recipe in the future.

Air fryer potatoes

My constant kitchen companions are always on the lookout for a handout.

Shanna and Quinn

And in my kitchen (from the garden) I have dahlias.

They are beautiful this time of year. If you visit Fort Bragg, you must make a trip to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. They have a breathtaking Dahlia Dell, a favored site for last summer and early fall weddings.

Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens

For my ending, I wanted to throw in this funny: Many gardeners are overrun with zucchini this time of year. Maybe that’s true for you as well.

This small plate elevates roasted vegetables to a new high. It could serve as a vegan main course if you tossed it with some brown rice or put it on top of a crisp pizza crust.

It’s also perfect as part of a tapas spread with flat bread, some dolmas, feta and olives.

Roasted Eggplant & Tomatoes with Miso-Tahini Sauce

End-of-season tomatoes or even out-of-season ones would be fine as they are roasted to concentrate their flavors. The miso-tahini sauce further enlivens the dish and would also be delicious on a baked sweet potato or butternut squash, or as a dressing for green or grain salads.

Serve this just out of the oven or at room temperature.

The recipe comes from the cookbook the Weekday Vegetarians by Jenny Rosenstrach. It’s a cookbook I recieved for Christmas this past year and have just started using more frequently.

the Weekday Vegetarians

Their premise is that, as a family, they agreed to be vegetarians during the week and only eat meat on the weekends. There are lots of interesting recipes most of which are very vegetable forward.

Roasted Eggplant & Tomatoes with Miso-Tahini Sauce

Ingredients:

2 pounds of small eggplants (if you can get Fairy Tale ones, those would be perfect…I couldn’t)
1/2 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
8 Italian plum tomates or 10-12 smaller ones
freshly chopped flat leaf parsley for garnishing

Sauce:

4 tablespoons of tahini
2 teaspoons of white miso
1 teaspoon of lemon juice, or squeezed juice of 1/2 small one
2 teaspoons of maple syrup
3-6 tablespoons of water

Method:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Cut the eggplant into 1-inch-thick slices and toss them with the olive oil in a large bowl, add salt and pepper. If you manage to get smaller eggplants, cut them in half. Place them in a single layer on the parchment lined sheet pan.
Cut the tomatoes in half (or quarters if large) and add them to the same bowl, coating them with the remaining oil. Nestle them between the eggplant slices.
Bake on the lowest shelf of your oven for 20 minutes, then turn the eggplant slices and return the sheet pan to the center of the oven. Bake for an additional 10 to 20 minutes until the eggplant is browned and crispy and the tomatoes are shriveled. I removed the eggplant slices and returned the tomatoes to the oven for another 10 minutes as they needed more time.
Meanwhile prepare the sauce. In a small bowl or jar combine the tahini, miso, lemon juice, maple syrup and 4 tablespoons of water. Whisk or shake the jar vigorously to combine, adding the additional 2 tablespoons of water to thin it if needed.
Transfer the vegetables to a serving platter, drizzle with the tahini-miso sauce, top with choped parsley.

You can serve this warm or at room temperature.

Roasted Eggplant & Tomatoes with Miso-Tahini Sauce

Note: My tahini sauce was so thick it was impossible to measure. I processed it in a small food processor until it was smooth and pourable. That made it much easier to manage.

Roasted Eggplant & Tomatoes with Miso-Tahini Sauce

spades, spatulas & spoons

Adventures in gardening, cooking, and eating

In My Kitchen – September 2024

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October – Roasted Eggplant & Tomatoes with Miso-Tahini Sauce

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