The flavors in this dish are straightforward, but certainly not boring: just pure roasted vegetables, compressed into a terrine. Feel free to omit the goat cheese if you want the dish to be non-dairy. Title: Roasted Vegetable Terrine Categories: Terrines, Vegetables Yield: 8 servings
2 yellow peppers 2 green peppers 2 red peppers 1 large eggplant 2 medium zucchini or yellow squash 1/2 cup Pitted kalamata olives 1/8 cup capers, rinsed 7 oz Goat cheese, crumbled, optional handful Fresh basil leaves
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and position a rack in the setting closest to the heat source. Alternatively, preheat your broiler.
Lay peppers individually on their side and cut off 1/2″ from each top and bottom. Set peppers upright and make 2 cuts from top to bottom on opposite sides. Open up peppers, pull out seeds; trim and discard white pith. Place 4-6 pepper halves on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle on salt and pepper. Put on oven rack or in broiler, and roast until blackened in spots, about 15 minutes for the oven, 7-10 for the broiler. Flip over and give another 3-5 minutes to roast on back side.
Peel eggplant and slice vertically into 1/4″ slices. Repeat steps with peppers, roasting or broiling until tender and browned, about 7 minutes per side. Same for the zucchini, which need only about 4 minutes per side, if that. Be sure to salt and pepper each vegetable.
Line a terrine, 8x4″ loaf pan, or springform pan with plastic wrap, leaving an 8″ piece overlap on each of short ends. Line bottom with grilled red pepper, cutting it to fit, if necessary. Cover pepper with layers of eggplant and zucchini, and top with basil leaves, goat cheese (if using) and half olives.
Continue making layers with vegetables, cheese and olives, ending with peppers. Fold plastic wrap over vegetables. Weigh terrine down with several cans of food. Refrigerate for 24 hours.
To facilitate cutting, place terrine in freezer for 1 hour before serving. When ready to slice, remove weight and plastic wrap. Place a cutting board on top of terrine and flip two over. Remove plastic wrap. Using a serrated knife and a sawing motion, cut terrine into 3/4″ slices. (If using a springform pan, slice into pie-shaped slices.) Serve at room temperature