Variations on a Theme

I've been busy lately. I gave a couple of talks last week, one at a workshop at SLAC, the national linear accelerator lab at Stanford, and one to a high school cosmology workshop at LBL. You'll hear more about the later in the future, it was recorded and will go on YouTube at some point. The picture above is of me speaking at Stanford, although you mostly just see my slides. That talk took a lot of preparation because it was the type that postdocs or senior people usually give. I spent hours preparing for it in the hopes that I wouldn't screw up, and I can happily report that it seems I succeeded in my goal. At the very least most people didn't realize I was a grad student, which is a good sign.

I managed to do a little cooking in between all the talk writing and I thought I'd share some of my creations with you. These are not so much recipes as variations on a theme, roasted vegetables, which find their way from bruschetta to quesadillas.

Thema: Andante

The first incarnation of this dish is elegant, bold and perhaps one might say stately, if you can give that attribute to summer squash and tomatoes. It is also quite simple and easy to make.

(all quantities are very approximate)
1.5 lbs summer squash of any sort, sliced into bite sized pieces
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved. If using larger tomatoes cut them into bite sized pieces
1 cup sliced mushrooms
2-3 cloves of minced garlic

4oz crumbled feta cheese (or as much as you like)

Olive oil
Balsamic Vinegar

Several tablespoons of fresh herbs: oregano, basil, parsley or marjoram, or a few teaspoons of dried herbs such as herbes de provence.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Sliced assertive bread, best if a day old.

Preheat oven to 350F. Put vegetables and garlic in a roasting pan or baking disk and drizzle with olive oil to coat. Splash with balsamic, probably a couple of tablespoons. If you are using dried herbs, add now. Add salt and pepper to taste and put into oven for 15 min, stir and then return to the oven until the vegetables start to brown, about 15 min more.

Put roasted veggies into a bowl, stir in fresh herbs, if using, and crumbled feta. You can adjust the olive oil and balsamic now if you like. Let it sit for a little while so the flavors have a chance to meld. Toast the bread and arrange on plates. Cover with vegetable mixture and serve with knife, fork and napkin!

Variation 1: Vivace

If the first version was bold and stately, the second was bright and crisp but not too drastic a departure from the original idea. It is another bruschetta, but lighter with some unexpected ingredients (mostly because I was trying to use up our vegetables before the next box came!)

As you can see from the photo above, I used green beans, carrots, squash and green peppers, all of which were cut into bite sized pieces. Additionally I used:

a handful of chopped green olives
juice of one lemon
a couple pinches of red pepper flakes

and as in the previous

olive oil
salt
pepper
fresh herbs
2-3 cloves of fresh garlic

Preheat the oven to 350F. Toss the cut vegetables and olives with the olive oil, red pepper, and garlic. Bake for 20-25 min, stirring once, until vegetables are cooked and just starting to brown. Move to a bowl, mix with the herbs, lemon juice and feta. Serve over toast!


Variation 2: Con Moto
For this variation I added some sauteed red onion and black beans to the leftover variation 2 and made soft tacos (of a kind). You simply saute a small red onion with some olive oil and toss in some canned black beans at the end. I also made an impromptu "salsa" with what I had in the fridge to go with it.

2 medium sized, flavorful tomatoes, diced
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1 medium sized garlic clove, finely chopped
juice of half a lemon
1/4 cup chopped parsley

Then heat up some tortillas and spoon in the black bean-vegetable mix and some salsa and enjoy! I should put the disclaimer out that part of the reason I had so much of variation 2 around to work with was because my other half was out of town and left all the eating to me. He's lucky he was gone because that salsa has a real bite to it and discourages any kisses for several hours after its consumed. But it was delicious, so it was worth the bad breath :).

Variation 3: Andante

We end with an Andante because this last variation is the heaviest of them all and by this time you are moving quite slowly under the influence of variations 1 and 2! Its a simple quesadilla, using the leftover roasted veggie/onion/black bean mix and a generous extra helping of feta. You simply take your tortilla (whole wheat if you want to incorporate some whole grains) and spoon the leftovers, beans and all, into one half along with a generous helping of extra crumbled feta. Fold it over and brush with olive oil. Place the olive oil side down on a skillet over medium high heat. Brush the top side with olive oil and cook until the bottom is lightly browned before turning over to cook the top side. Serve right away! If you are making multiple tortillas you can usually fit two of them in the skillet at once for speed.

Then pat yourself on the back for finding a way to eat all of those veggies!