Vegetables For Picky Eaters

My brother and I were never allowed to be picky eaters. If ever we complained about my mothers horrendous cooking, the inevitable glare, followed by the phrase “you’ll eat it, and you’ll like it” would surely follow. As commanded, we always ate it, but rarely liked it. When we were still rather young, my mother was called on from work to take a trip. She left us with her fabulous single girlfriend, Meg. Now, we loved Meg, but knew she was not Mom, and when she asked us if we wanted peas and pearl onions for dinner, we syncronizingly shouted “PEAS AND PEARL ONIONS…EWWW”. Meg laughed and ordered us a pizza…she was a fabulous friend.

Wow, has my taste buds changed from that day. Now, the veggier, the better. Fennel, onions, garlic, tomatoes, chard, greens, beets, carrots, celery, cucumbers, cauliflower, squash, radishes…You name it, I eat it, and love it!

For those people who would agree with the earlier version of me, I have a recipe that will knock your taste buds out! In an earlier blog, I wrote about following, Martha Stewarts Cooking School, book. A lot of the recipes and lessons are on meat (which I skimmed than skipped over). Now I am safely on the vegetables and very excited to learn new tricks, tips, and recipes. Stewarts vegetable tian serves six people as a side and includes around five different vegetables. Simple creation…easy directions…dynamite outcome. I will be bringing this dish next week and my wonderful friends dinner party. Hope you find an excuse to make it too!

Vegetable Tian

-1/3 to ½ cup olive oil
- 1 small eggplant (about 6 ounces) thinly sliced crosswise on a slight diagonal
- 1 yellow squash or zucchini (about 6 ounces) thinly sliced crosswise on a diagonal
- 4 plum tomatoes (about a pound) sliced lengthwise ¼ inch thick
- 2 small red, white, or yellow onions (8 ounces) thinly sliced crosswise
- 1 head garlic separated into cloves but not peeled
- Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Sprigs of choice herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano, marjoram are Martha’s suggestion)

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Coat the bottom of an oval baking dish or 9 by 13 inch baking dish with 2 tablespoons of your oil.
Arrange vegetables in dish, alternating them and overlapping them. Season with salt and pepper; drizzle with enough oil to coat generously. Lastly, scatter herbs and garlic evenly on top.
Bake for 25 minutes, then baste vegetables with oil from pan and continue baking until tender and browned, about 20 minutes more.

Tips!
-Yes this recipe calls for a lot of olive oil, but you can always drain off the top after you take out the dish from the oven.
- Feel free to shave a little fresh parmesan atop the vegetable tian after it comes out of the oven!