August 31, 2006: Roast vege salad

This is a meal I came up with after enjoying a very similar warm salad at the Loading Dock Cafe, which used to be in West End, Brisbane but is now closed. This dinner's just about roasting your favourite veges in a bit of olive oil (we chose pumpkin, potato, carrot, zucchini, mushrooms, capsicum and tomato), then serving them with baby spinach leaves, mayonnaise, a bit of parmesan and lots of pepper.

Home-made mayonnaise tastes a million times better than supermarket stuff (trust me, I'm a mathematician and I've done the tests). It's also richer so I use smaller portions. I had a couple of spare eggs at home (after the sausage rolls and eggplant parmigiana) so I decided to go home-made rather than buying fancy dressing. Some recipes use lemon juice, others have mustard: I prefer the ones with lemon juice. It’s a teensy bit messy but very easy if you have a food processor. I saw Jamie Oliver make a basil mayonnaise on TV using only a mortar and pestle but I don't think my puny arms could cope with that.

Mayonnaise
(I think I originally got the recipe from a website like this one)

Blend up two egg yolks until creamy. (Don't be lazy and stop too soon at this step, otherwise your mayonnaise will stay liquidy.) Add two tablespoons of lemon juice, a bit of salt and pepper, and blend it up a bit more. While the processor is still running, slowly dribble in a cup of olive oil in a thin stream. Soon it should look like thick, creamy condiment! Adjust the salt and pepper to your liking.

Keep it in the fridge and try to use it up within a week. I'm sure you could experiment with all sorts of herbs and spices, but if you're using fresh basil or similar then the flavour will probably start to decline within a day or so.

Categories

• Savoury
• Cooking
• Recipes