Sunday, March 30, 2008

Roasted Vegetable Goodness

I know that I haven't been posting lately - apologies for that. Work has been rough and I'm still getting used to living with my back the way it is. Anyway, this recipe is pretty simple - I've always loved roasting vegetables, because they taste amazing and also, because they make great filler for just about anything, such as pastas, sandwiches, on top of salads...the possibilities are limitless.

Ingredients:
1 bunch asparagus (look for asparagus with very thin stalks, those are the best)
1 medium red onion
7 large mushrooms, or 10 medium sized mushrooms (any kind, I used white-button)
2 zucchini
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1-2 cups frozen (or canned) artichoke hearts, halved or quartered
Sea or Kosher Salt
Fresh Black pepper
Olive Oil
Juice from 1 medium lemon or 1/2 large lemon

Utensils:
large, sharp chef's knife; cutting board; large roasting pan (larger than 12X12); tongs

Prep work:
1) Preheat oven to 400F. 2) Defrost or drain the artichokes and set aside. 3) Chop the red onion roughly - cut in half, from root to tip, then slice each half into about 6 large chunks. 4) Cut off woody stems of asparagus*** 5) Wipe the caps of the mushrooms, and quarter them if they are large, halve them if they are medium sized. 6) Cut both bell peppers into inch-wide strips, then cut each strip into 3 pieces. 7) Cut the zuchinni into 1/2 inch circles. 8) Juice the lemon

*** The easiest way to find out where the tender asparagus ends and the woody, crappy stem begins is to bend one asparagus in half until it breaks. It will look like about half or one-third of the asparagus is broken off - that is what you are looking for. Line up the asparagus up by the tips, and cut off the stems using your "broken" asparagus as a measuring guide.

Cooking instructions:
Place all vegetables on the roasting pan, spreading then out in an even/thin layer. Drizzle the olive oil and lemon juice all over the veggies. Sprinkle salt and pepper over them, then toss to coat with your hands (you could use tongs as well but your hands are better for the job). Sprinkle again salt and pepper. Put the roasting pan in the oven on a rack in the middle of the oven. Cook for about 30 minutes, tossing to stir about once or twice, until you hear a lot of sizzling and see a fair amount of liquid on the bottom of the pan. Take the pan out of the oven, position a rack about 6 inches from the broiler, and turn the broiler on HIGH. Put the pan back on the rack, tossing once, and cook until the veggies get a nice caramel color and look like they have been grilled. Remove from oven, let cool, and enjoy.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sounds good even though I can't comprehend the idea of not eating meat...