Roasted Veggies

My mom taught me everything I know about food, but I have surprisingly few “recipes” from her. Mostly, she taught me that if you start with good fresh ingredients, the hard part is done and you don’t have to get too fancy. I roast veggies exactly this way every week of the year, but thanks to the creativity of Mother Nature and seasonal cycles, it really never gets boring.

Real food?                       

This is about as real as it gets. Your great-great-grandparents would recognize everything on your plate, and if they were farmers like a lot of Southern families, they’d laugh me out of town for thinking people don’t already know how to cook good vegetables. Maybe the novelty of a blog would distract them from my lack of originality. 

Cook time:                      

20 – 25 min + however long it takes you to chop vegetables. If you give up on evenly-sized bites (um, that’s what forks are for!), then start to finish, this meal takes less than 30 min.

Price:                                  

This varies wildly depending on what kind of vegetables you want and where you buy them. I’m spoiled, because Gainesville has a great farmers’ market and the world’s best grocery store that carries plenty of inexpensive, local produce. (Just to make you jealous, this was my Ward’s bounty this week. All the produce pictured totaled up to $14.78). Farmers’ markets may cost a little more, but eating food that’s spent the last few weeks crossing the world in planes and semis really can’t compare to food that was picked this morning.

Cookware:

I’m not big on kitchen gadgets, so I don’t usually recommend products, but I seriously couldn’t live without my stoneware pan. I don’t exactly understand why even distribution of heat is such a big deal, but apparently it is, because everything turns out better when you make it on this pan. I use mine practically every day. I’ve bought three of them as gifts. Pampered Chef doesn’t pay me to say this, but they probably should.

As a bonus, after you use it for a while, NOTHING sticks to it anymore. The pan on the left is a new pan, the one in the middle is mine (about 3 years old), and the one on the right is Mom’s. Note that Mom is demonstrating proper storage – in the oven. You’re going to use it every day, so don’t bother finding cabinet space for it.

Ingredients

Assorted vegetables (as fresh as possible, preferably local and in season) 

Olive oil

Salt, pepper, and garlic powder OR 2 Brother’s Seasoning

Maybe a little parmesan cheese

Directions

1.  Prepare the ingredients.

Wash and chop up the veggies, lightly coat  with olive oil, and sprinkle with seasonings. 

You can cut on the stone, so you don’t even have to get a cutting board out. I don’t know why that’s a big deal to me but it is. On several occasions I’ve nearly chopped my fingers off trying to cut things in my hand just to avoid opening a drawer and getting out a cutting board.

2.  Roast.

Roast at 425° for about 20-25 minutes. Hard vegetables like sweet potatoes take a little longer, so either cut the pieces extra small or throw them in a few minutes early.

This time I grated a little parmesan on the brussel sprouts at the last minute, because life is for the living. If you were traumatized by gross, over-cooked brussel sprouts as a kid, you owe it to yourself to try them like this.

3.  Serve!

I usually serve with some kind of grain (rice, quinoa, bread, …) and some kind of peas or beans. This is meal is pretty healthy and balanced, but it's delicious enough that no one will notice.

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