Monday, April 12, 2010

Veg-Head Monday: Mediterranean Grilled Vegetables



We missed Easter last week. By the time I even realized it WAS Easter, we were on the plane heading home from Hawaii. Whoops.

I could have just let things pass, but the Minxes love nothing better than a good egg hunt, so I just postponed the holiday for a week.

When Easter arrives this early in the calendar, chances are good that we're going to have to settle for an indoor version of the egg extravaganza, which seriously bums the girls out. To them, indoor egg hunt=castrated egg hunt. The last few years, they've had to settle for the castrated version, and it's made them cranky.

Happily, the weather cooperated this year. We enjoyed a 70-degree day and my parents drove up and we enjoyed a lovely Spring lunch.

Perhaps because I've been missing Greece (and thinking of our trip there about a year ago), I wanted to channel the Mediterranean this year.

This "salad" takes a little time, but it's worth the trouble. Nothing makes vegetables sing like a sizzle on the grill, some fresh herbs, a sprinkle of creamy feta, and a bath in good olive oil.

While we dug into lunch, the girls pillaged the backyard for eggs and frolicked in the sun. And while I still yearn for Grecian shores, if pressed, I'd have to say that my heart was exactly where it wanted to be this weekend. At home.



Grilled Mediterranean Vegetable Salad
serves 6-8

2 small, firm eggplants
2 zucchini
1 large red onion
1 bunch cherry tomatoes
2 red bell peppers, roasted and seeded
salt
pepper
olive oil
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup basil, chopped
good balsamic vinegar and olive oil

Heat grill to medium-high. Slice eggplants and zucchini into 1/4-inch slices. Sprinkle eggplant and zucchini slices with a healthy handful of salt; place in a colander to drain for 20 minutes.

While eggplant and zucchini drain, coat bell peppers in olive oil. Grill, turning on all sides, until skin is blackened and charred. Remove peppers from grill and place in a bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 10 minutes.

While peppers sit, cut onion into wedges. Brush with olive oil and grill until slightly softened and charred. Remove from grill.

In a grill basket, place tomatoes (drizzled with olive oil) on the grill and grill until slightly blistered. Remove from grill.

Rinse eggplant and zucchini slices and pat dry. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and grill until slightly charred and softened, turning once. Remove from grill.

Remove skin and seeds from red bell peppers and cut into strips.

Layer all vegetables on a big platter, drizzle with good olive oil, good balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle feta and basil over the top.

Serve with crusty bread to lap up all of the veggie/olive oil goodness.

52 comments:

  1. I am still fighting my fear of the eggplant, bad experience 15 years ago. Maybe this one will do it. I absolutely LOVE grilled vegetables TKW this looks beautiful.

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  2. What a gorgeous salad! I love the colors and addition of feta. I can't wait to fire up our grill!

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  3. MAN that sounds good. Aaah greece, memories of family holidays a thousand years ago come flooding back.

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  4. I love Mediterranean food. Can't wait to try this salad.

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  5. These days I prefer the idea of an indoor egg hunt. The thought of pulling chocolate eggs out of the dirt makes me shudder a little.

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  6. Ah, the indoor egg hunt. My kids have grown used to that here in New England. Sometimes I find unfound eggs throughout the year...
    That salad sounds really good!

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  7. They all sound good grilled like that. So is the salad still warm when you eat it? Yum!

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  8. The salad is pretty. I love grilled veggies.

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  9. The salad looks great! I'll try it when it warms up a bit out here and we can grill the veggies on the BBQ! Hope you had a fab trip!

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  10. You wrote this one for me, didn't you? Grecian shores and food? I swoon. And your heart being exactly where it ought to be? Yes. I often long for time away, for silence from my children, for nothing more than a vacation ALONE. But then I realize, of course, as we moms do so often, that without this madness, I am nothing. My time would be squandered if it weren't always so precious. My dreams not so dreamy if they were more accessible.

    This one goes on the list of MUST DOs. Must do grilled veggies Kitch-style. Must relish the noise and the laughter of my children while eating and imbibing. Must ignore the fighting and realize that this life, this one I shoulder but embrace, is a lucky one. Full and rich and delicious.

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  11. We are having warmish weather in my neck of the woods (able to hunt eggs outside this year :-) with no coats on!!) .... have been grilling, and am loving this recipe..... Huge veggie, feta and basil fans in this house!

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  12. Another reason to finally get a grill!

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  13. "castrated egg hunt"!! LMAO!!!

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  14. Could I just hire you to be my personal chef? I'll trade you - for typing, shoe consultations, French lessons. You name it. It's yours.

    :)

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  15. I need someone to share a love of Feta with. Won't you please move closer?

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  16. I LOVE grilled anything so I can't wait to try this recipe out. Love your take on indoor egg hunts. We had friends over for an Easter Brunch and when I suggested we keep the egg hunt indoors (our lawn had been aerated and there was dirt everywhere) you should have seen the looks I got! Castrated indeed!

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  17. Yum, that salad is as colorful as I imagine the non-castrated eggs were. An Easter like that almost makes up for puke on a plane, eh?

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  18. Growing up in MN, we ALWAYS had the egg hunt inside. Which was bad, because we used actual hard-boiled eggs (not the plastic ones) and there was always one egg we couldn't find (and Grandma forgot where she hid them all). Adults had to frantically gather at 4:00 and mount a search.

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  19. Do you have a "The Kitchen Witch for Dummies" version of your blog? My husband would LOVE this but I have a slight problem...I don't know what eggplant looks like OR where to find it at the store. Awesome.

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  20. Um, at about the fourth "set aside" I was lost. Why does it have to have so many steps??? I know, I KNOW, it's worth it.

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  21. Ohhhhh, yum!! Grilling is the best- I love not messing up the kitchen!!

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  22. Looks beautiful and sounds delicious! Happy belated Easter! I love Easter egg hunts - so glad you guys had a lovely time at home xxx

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  23. I love love veggies on the grill. I can't wait for hubby to get out and clean ours off for that reason alone. I make a sandwich that's almost identical to your salad (only, you know, with bread....) and it's so yummy. I'll have to try it in salad form this year!

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  24. Anything with feta cheese! Our Farmer's Market is open now--making my list of ingredients. This is right up my alley!

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  25. I agree I need a Kit witch for dummies also. So I can make some of these yummy things.

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  26. Ah, springtime. This makes my mouth water. I had the BEST salad this weekend with nothing but tomatoes, basil, greens, and some balsamic reduction concoction that managed to be salty, syrupy, and sweet all at the same time.

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  27. Yummy, yummy, yummy! I love grilled veggies. Eggplant is at the top of my list, too. Love that you made it Greek with the feta. Simple, flavorful, healthy and colorful!
    And Happy Belated Easter!

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  28. TKW: I love you! I love your hilarious posts and more importantly, I love the recipes you share with us!

    I am SO trying this over the weekend!

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  29. A sun-kissed weekend all around, it sounds like :). Nothing like a sizzle on the grill and a little bath in olive oil to bring around the warmth of the Mediterranean.

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  30. All those things sound good...the grilled veggies, your Easter celebration, Hawaii, Greece and lunch with you!

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  31. Tim actually only recently "taught" me how to use our outdoor grill (how pathetic is that?) and now I'm so excited to get going on grilling some veggies! This recipe will be my perfect excuse!

    And having just returned from a gorgeous beach vacation... I'm now dreaming about Greece.

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  32. Yum, yum, yum. Consider me the biggest fan of Veg-Head Mondays.

    I have never been to Greece, but it's probably destination #1 on my dream vacations list. Now I shall go eat some hummus and Greek yogurt and dream of white-washed houses...

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  33. Every single picture of the food you make and take makes my mouth water...

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  34. OH I am hitting this one FOR SHORE! Without the bell peppers of course. I hope the Minx's had a wonderful day! And you, especially you. Its getting more and more springy around her.....so, expect a big snow.

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  35. Oh, this sounds like heaven. Next to Italian, Greek food is the best!

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  36. So funny, TKW, postponing Easter! I like the idea of being slightly out of step with the world; it sounds like me! Also, if you postpone Eastern then you can get all the really awesome candy and chocolate bunnies for half price.

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  37. I'm impressed you CAN get away with pushing Easter back, my kids would flip out for sure!
    The grilled salad look delicious, I'm looking forward to hitting the shores of Greece again one of these days before I get mistaken for a beached whale!

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  38. We had grilled Mediterranean veggies at our wedding. Yum!

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  39. This looks AWESOME! I have a feeling this will be a popular summertime meal in our apartment...

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  40. You make it look so darn easy. I am having people over on Wednesday and I'm stressing about stupid chicken Marbella! I might try this out with it!

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  41. That pic of the salad looks like it came out of recipe book! Gorgeous!!!

    BTW, the next time you go to Greece, you know you're taking me, right?

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  42. Ha. You're just glad not to be on a plane covered in puke.
    I like how you can say Veg-Head without sounding at all pejorative to the veg-heads.

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  43. I saw the picture, I read the post, my mouth watered. And I sighed when I read "my heart was exactly where it wanted to be this weekend. At home." Pure awesome!

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  44. I'm entertaining this crazy idea of eating only vegetarian for one month, so any veggie recipe is very highly appreciated, especially the ones that look and sound as good as this one!

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  45. OK. Lindy's comment really made me laugh. The reason behind it? I am right with her. Yes, I've googled it, but cooking it? Um, I am truly scared. Still, though, a chance to use the grill=marital happiness. Believe that.

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  46. a castrated egg hunt is better than no egg hunt at all, which cannot be said of all things castrated... :)
    great dish--i love me some mediterrean flavors.

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  47. Oh! This looks lovely. I can't wait until summer when I can go through all of your recipes and cook my favorites. You are awesome.

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  48. My mouth is watering! This salad is the perfect thing to top of our menu for the week (luck would have it - we have everything except for the cherry tomatoes - time for a store run). Thanks for sharing the recipe!

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  49. Yum! Yum! Yum! I love Greek/mediterranean food. This sounds like a winner. Hope you had a great time in HI!

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  50. I just told my husband that we NEED to buy a grill basket this summer, because recipes like this sound so fresh and simple. Glad that the girls got their egg hunt, and that puke was kept to a minimum on this trip! Your vacation posts had me cracking up (and questioning if I'll ever be ready for kids of my own!).

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  51. Looks delicious! Grilled vegetables are oh-so-much-more appetizing than boiled, right! Simplicity is the key on this one. So glad I stumbled onto your blog!

    Jessie
    http://messiekitchen.blogspot.com/

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