(No Ratings Yet)Part of our plan with changing the blog and website was to expand the things we write about but create some sort of organization or category for it all. We’re still working out the kinks, but we have all kinds of ideas about things we could write about among our various interests. I feel a bit like I’m just throwing things to see what sticks. Anyway, one of the possibilities of things to write about is food recipes. I feel presumptuous putting them up because I’m not an incredible cook or anything. However, I can share things we like. If y’all like it– great. If not, then I don’t have to put this sort of thing up. That said, here we go with recipe number one.
I like vegetables, I really do. I am not quite like Vanessa, my best friend since elementary school, who once said, “Vegetables are my life.” She’s also vegan, so they really are, in fact, her life. I’m not there, but I like them all the same. I know there are a few among the readership here who don’t like vegetables (if your name starts with a K or a T, I’m probably referring to you!). A good part of the time, I really think that a dislike for vegetables comes from the way it’s cooked, not the vegetable itself. And one of the best ways to bring out great flavor in vegetables is to roast them. So you should try it, even if you already have ways you like eating veggies! This recipe takes one of my favorites, roasted vegetables, and combines it with an easy favorite, pasta. Mmm hmm.
(As a side note, preparing vegetables in a variety of ways–raw, steamed, boiled, roasted, etc.–brings out different nutrients. I happen to like roasted because it can start to naturally caramelize the vegetables, but all ways are good for you.)
So first you need to roast yourself some vegetables.
Ah, I enjoy this, let me tell you. Here’s what you do:
1. Cut yourself up a variety of vegetables. I used 3 carrots, 1 red onion, 2 zucchini, about 10 mushrooms, and 5 peeled whole cloves of garlic. I also chopped up some fresh rosemary.
It helps if they are around the same size. In this case it made the most sense to do them approximately bite-size.You could also use a wide variety; just about anything will roast, so it just depends what might be good for the recipe you’re doing. Other types of squash or even eggplant would be good here (if I cared for eggplant much). Get creative!
Vegetables, even when they’re cut to the same size, roast at different rates, just like they would if you were boiling them. Carrots take a lot longer than zucchini. Onions are probably my single favorite veggie to roast because they get so incredibly sweet over time. So they can cook in less time, but the longer they’re in the better they get, I think. Just keep all that in mind.
2. Toss the carrots, onions, and garlic with a good amount of olive oil (1-2 tablespoons) and some salt and pepper. Put them in the oven at 400 degrees. You don’t have to preheat completely or anything fancy for this. Periodically, something like every 15 minutes, take out the pan and retoss all the vegetables.
3. After about 30 minutes, add the zucchini, mushrooms, and rosemary. If it looks like it needs more, add some olive oil. And a little salt and pepper if you were stingy earlier. You could definitely add other herbs, dried or fresh, as you feel like. I’m not very adventurous with herbs because I’m always afraid I’ll combine to make a bad flavor. But you shouldn’t be wimpy like I am.
This was the point at which I took the above picture. You can see how the carrots and onion are already getting nicely cooked. It was actually probably longer than 30 minutes, but these things can be challenging when you’re cooking with a 2 month old strapped to you. I could have added the rosemary earlier, I think. But one of the beautiful things about this is you don’t have to be precise.
4. Let these cook for another 20 minutes or so, retossing occasionally. (You should also probably now start cooking your pasta if you haven’t already.) When they’re all done, fish out the whole garlic cloves. I cut them into smaller pieces and put them back in, but if you fear garlic you can just throw them out entirely. I like stinking, when it means that I got to eat roasted garlic.
5. Meanwhile, work on the red pepper.
Red pepper is awesome roasted straight on the flame if you have a gas stove or a grill. If not, you can pop it in the broiler. As you can see (or perhaps not, since we have a black stove top), the skin gets nice and black. Rotate it every few minutes until the whole thing is black. This probably took me 10-15 minutes, though I think the broiler would be faster. I’m not sure. Anyway, when it’s all black wrap it up in foil and a paper towel to steam and sweat. After about 5 minutes unwrap it and use the paper towel to get the skin off. Then cut off the top, get all the inside stuff out, and slice and cut into bite-size pieces.
I know it’s a pain to have to roast something separately, but trust me that this is really really good.
6. When the pasta is ready, drain it and put it back in the pot, then add all your vegetables. Toss it up and serve.
I put some shredded parmesan cheese on top, because I like parmesan on everything. I’m one of those people. Last night we ate this with some goat cheese and bread. Come to think of it, the goat cheese probably would have been good on top of the pasta as well. But I also will eat goat cheese with anything, so you do whatever you want.
Let me know if you try this. At least try the roasted vegetables. Seriously, do it! They’re good alone or with just about anything.
