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This holiday I shall be mainly cooking from American cookbooks



We are back in Vermont for our summer holidays.We have already been treated to the usual mountain mixture of sunshine and pounding, pounding rain, but it's great to be back.
After a long journey up on Friday night we went to the farmers Market on Saturday morning and picked up some fabulous local produce.
I have decided that whilst we are up here I am going to try to cook from the American cookbooks I have on the bookshelf.
First up is a grilled vegetable salad from Mario Batali ..... Ok he's Italian, but it's an American book.....and this recipe made great use of the beautiful vegetables from the market
We had this with some very nice t-bone steaks from mehurons supermarket.

This recipe was adapted from Mario Batali's recipe for Capri-style grilled vegetables in his book Italian Grill.  
 
Serves 6.  
 
For the Sicilian Vinaigrette:
 
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp. dried oregano, crumbled
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon Colman's dry mustard (please make sure it smells fresh; stale mustard won't give the dressing the same bite)
• 1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• juice of 1 orange
• zest of 1 orange
• kosher salt, to taste
 
1. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, garlic, oregano, cumin, dry mustard, red pepper flakes, and the fresh orange juice.  Slowly whisk in the olive oil.  
2. Add salt to taste.
3. If you are using only as a marinade, add the orange zest too.  Otherwise, it will be sprinkled over the vegetable salad before serving.
 
For the grilled vegetables: the recipe suggests the vegetables below but we did it with peppers,fennel,zucchini and red onions and it was still pretty successful

• 1 medium or 2 small eggplant, 1/2 inch slices
• 2 red and 2 yellow bell peppers, quartered, seeds removed
• 1 zucchini, sliced lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices (use a mandoline if you have one)
• 2 medium red onions, cut into 6-8 wedges each, keeping root intact
• 1head radicchio, cored and cut into 6 wedges
• 12 spears of asparagus, woody ends snapped or cut off
• 12 fresh basil leaves, cut into chiffonade 
 
1. Make the Sicilian Vinaigrette.  Set aside.
2. Heat the grill to medium high.  Make sure you vigorously clean the grill to get rid of last night's fish or steak remnants.
3. Prepare the vegetables.  Place on a baking sheet in a single layer, and brush with Sicilian vinaigrette.  Sprinkle with salt.
4. Grill the vegetables in batches, until soft and nicely charred on both sides. Set aside on a nice platter when done.  Cut the peppers into smaller pieces, and the eggplant into strips.
5. Drizzle the vegetables with the Sicilian Vinaigrette, and sprinkle with the orange zest.  Top with the slivered basil. Garnish with whole basil leaves. Add more salt to taste.

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