Two Roasted Vegetable Recipes

My goals for October are to go apple picking, bake a pie, take a hike and carve a pumpkin.  I also have to figure out what I’m going to be for Halloween.  Some thoughts are Paula Deen, bacon or Carrie from Homeland.  I’m excited for squash, trench coats and leather boots, but very sad that I have no sunlight when I get home.  Now if I want to photograph my dinner after work, I need to pull the photo lights out of the closet to fake the sun.  I’ll miss trimming the basil on the porch while drinking club soda and Campari.  

On the bright side, now that the weather has cooled off, it’s safe to turn on the oven and get some things roasting.  Roasting brings out the sweetness in vegetables and makes them a lot more interesting and deep in flavor.  Below are two great recipes that will help you make green beans and broccoli way more sexy.  Serve these vegetables over rice, tossed with pasta, as a side dish to chicken or fish or eat them by themselves.

 

Roasted String Beans, Tomatoes and Shallots with Sage

Serves 3-4 as a side dish

2 huge handfuls string beans, ends trimmed and discarded
2 large heirloom tomatoes, cut in wedges
2 large shallots, sliced into rounds
2 cloves garlic, thin sliced
10 leaves sage, chopped roughly

1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon coarse salt
Freshly cracked black pepper

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Toss all 8 ingredients in a large bowl and spread out on a foil-lined cookie sheet.

3.  Roast in the oven for about 30 minutes. 

4.  Serve alone, as a side dish or chop it up and toss it with hot pasta.

 Roasted Lemon and Parmesan Broccoli


Serves 2 as a side dish

1/2 large head of broccoli, cut into florets (chop any long stems into small pieces)
1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
Coarse salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
Grated Parmesan cheese, for topping

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Remove the skin and pith from the lemon and extract the lemon segments from the membranes, adding only the lemon flesh to a large mixing bowl.  Add in the broccoli, olive oil, salt and pepper and toss well to coat. 

3.  Spread this all onto a cookie sheet and bake for about 30 minutes or until the broccoli gets slightly browned and a tiny bit blackened.  

4.  Immediately toss the broccoli with some Parmesan cheese and serve it right away.