Marinated Vegetable Salad

Every week Anthony and I meet with our "small group" to talk about life and faith and spend time in community with people we love. We share the responsibility for cooking dinner and each contribute a little something to the meal. This week Charles was grilling chicken, Bonnie was bringing rolls, and Julie was making couscous. I was in charge of providing another side dish and, I have to say, I fretted about it all day. I was dying to make this lovely quinoa/lentil salad that I created last spring...but my mom, who has a prejudice against carbohydrates, kept telling me that the addition of the quinoa and lentils would make too much "starch" in the meal when coupled with the couscous and bread. We needed veggies.

I have this problem when I cook: I hate making the same thing twice. I get bored easily, and part of cooking's appeal for me is the exploration of new flavors, ingredients, and methods. It's no fun any more if I end up doing something I've already mastered.

So picture this: I'm sitting in the Kroger parking lot. I'm on the phone with my mom. What am I going to make tonight?!?! It's gotta be fun, creative, easy, and fairly inexpensive because I've got to make enough to feed ten people. After dismissing many ideas from our brainstorming session, we finally create a recipe that sounds appealing: mixed marinated vegetables tossed in a lemon vinaigrette and served cold. Yes. Perfect and refreshing on a hot Houston night.

This recipe feeds 4-6 people. Double it if you're feeding a crowd.


INGREDIENTS:

- 1 bunch of pencil thin asparagus

- 1 can of artichoke hearts

- 1 red bell pepper

- 1 lemon

- fresh buffalo mozzarella (the kind that comes in a log in the specialty cheese section)

- 1/8 of a cup of flat leaf italian parsely, roughly chopped

- olive oil

- dijon mustard

- salt and pepper


DIRECTIONS:

1. Artichokes: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. While it's heating up, drain and rinse the artichoke hearts. Pat them dry to remove any excess moisture. (This will help the roast better.) Place the hearts on a baking sheet. Drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Squeeze about a fourth of a lemon over the hearts. Roast them for 20-30 minutes, occasionally stirring them around with a spatula.

2. Asparagus: While the artichoke hearts are roasting, start preparing the asparagus. Take one stem of asparagus and bend it until it snaps in half. Discard the bottom end (or keep it for stock!) because this part is "woody" and tough. The top part is what we're going to use. Do this with all of your asparagus. Next, bring a pot of water to a boil and prepare a separate bowl full of ice water. We are going to "blanch" the asparagus, a special cooking method that keeps the asparagus crisp and bright green. Once your water is boiling, drop your asparagus in and let it cook for no longer than three minutes. Immediately transfer your asparagus, using tongs, to the ice bath. Once they are cool, drain them in a colander.

3. Bell pepper: Bell pepper is so lovely raw, so that's how we're going to keep it. Cut it into strips to mimic the shape of the asparagus. This is going to add some great crunch to our salad.

4. Cube up your mozzarella. How much you use is entirely up to you. This adds a creamy texture to the salad. Something I've learned from the Food Network: a combination of different textures makes a great dish. We have creamy mozzarella, crunchy bell pepper, crisp asparagus, and soft roasted asparagus. Is your mouth watering yet.

5. Let's make a simple dressing to give this salad some more flavor. In a small mixing bowl, squeeze in the juice of the rest of your lemon. Add a couple of teaspoons of dijon mustard, a sprinkle of salt, and a sprinkle of pepper. Take a whisk and slowly drizzle in some olive oil, whisking constantly to create an emulsion. You've created a dressing!

6. Combine all your veggies mozzarella, and parsely. Toss it all together with the dressing. Refrigerate until it is cool and you are ready to serve! Yum Yum.

Ok gotta go. Anthony and I are going to find a food truck for lunch! Make this salad and enjoy!