Roasted Vegetables

This past Sunday I forgot about our church pot luck lunch until Sunday morning. What to take??? I roasted vegetables.

I happened to have:
3 Yukon gold Potatoes
About a cup of cabbage
Some Cauliflower
1 red onion
1 red pepper
1/2 an eggplant
I cut all into bit sized pieces and put all but the red pepper and 1/2 the onion in a roasting dish, tossed with olive oil and salt and put in the oven at 400 for about 20 minutes. Then I added minced garlic and rosemary (from my garden) and roasted an additional 15 minutes. When I took it out of the oven I tossed in basil, chives and parsley and drizzled with a little balsamic vinegar glaze and additional extra virgin olive oil, salt and fresh ground pepper.

Let's deconstruct (what a hot new word) this recipe.

• Mastering the art of roasting vegetables is not difficult. You put vegetables in a pan, drizzle ever so slightly with olive oil and salt, put pan in the over at 375-450 for 25-50 minutes.
• You can roast all root vegges: potatoes, butternut squash, turnips, carrots etc.
• Sometimes a single vegge is best like asparagus.
• You can roast at any temperature so don't hesitate to throw in some vegges when cooking something else in you oven.
• Many herbs are suitable alone or combined. Sage, bay leaf, thyme, marjoram. Put sturdy herbs like thyme and rosemary in 10-15 minutes before the end and leafy herbs like basil, mint and parsley in after the dish comes out of the oven.
• I use 2 kinds of olive oil, both extra virgin. The first I get at Costco, their4 brand, Kirkland. It's inexpensive and great for cooking. For salads and drizzling after cooking I use gourmet olive oils that I get often from my favorite wine store. I like young, fruity, green oils.
• You can also grate cheese on you finished dish. I do asparagus roasted and top it with Locatelli Romano cheese, drizzle of olive oil, grated lemon zest and a big squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
• I use kosher salt and sea salt always. Fresh ground pepper!
• The balsamic glaze you can buy in specialty stores or simple take balsamic vinegar and simmer until it gets syrupy. Keep it in a clean jar to drizzle o9ver meats, poultry seafood, vegges...
  

So look in your fridge and see what you can roast. Think about the flavors not being diluted with water and the wonderful carmelization you get by roasting. And then there is the smell! Feast on roasted vegetables and you will boil no more. The photo above was taken last Easter. I served roasted stuffed lamb and roasted root vegetables.