Conference turris::cooks

1137.0. "Marinated vegetables -- spring has arrived !!!!" by DPDMAI::RESENDEP (following the yellow brick road...) Fri Apr 29 1988 19:48

    We're having some friends over tomorrow night for dinner.  We're going
    to grill ribs, and serve corn-on-the-cob, baked beans, potato salad,
    deviled eggs, and corn sticks, with a bbbbbbiiiiiiggggggg freezer of
    homemade strawberry ice cream for dessert!  Anyway, I decided to fix
    marinated veggies for a munchie with drinks before dinner. It's so
    simple it's probably an insult to many of the cooks in this file, but I
    haven't seen anything like it in here.  I've never served it without
    getting R-A-V-E-S.  The mushrooms seem to be the favorite, though it's
    all good.  So here's how:
    
    Buy whatever fresh vegetables you happen to like.  Cherry tomatoes,
    cauliflower, and broccoli are pretty mandatory; mushrooms are almost
    a must; whatever else you like, throw it in.  This time I'm having
    the above list plus green, red, orange, yellow, and purple bell
    pepper.  Color is definitely a goal with this dish.
    
    The night before you're going to serve this at dinner:  wash all that
    stuff and cut/break it into bite-size pieces. Mix up Good Seasons
    Italian salad dressing.  How much depends on the volume of veggies, but
    it's safe to say at least three to five envelopes.  You pretty much
    want the veggies swimming in salad dressing.  Marinate all night
    and the next day in the fridge.  During the day, shake every couple
    of hours to be sure the marinade is hitting all the veggies.
    
    Before guests arrive, drain veggies and put them in a clear glass
    bowl so all the colors show.  This tends to be a little drippy,
    so serve with picks and plenty of cocktail napkins. 

You bet!

A few additional thoughts:

Some people prefer the "hard" veggies blanched before marinating.  Steam
Broccoli and Cauliflower for 3 minutes, then plunge into ice water to
stop cooking.  Marinade as indicated, BUT add 1 or 2 cloves of garlic
pressed through your trusty garlic press....only for garlic lovers of
course.

These veggies easily become a salad when dished up on nice fresh lettuce
leaves AND you don't need a salad dressing!