My friend just popped over to pick something up, and she was like, “Are you just roasting vegetables in the middle of the day?”
Well, yes, because what had happened was that I overbought vegetables. And then today I was like, if I don’t cook these, my veggie drawer is going to spontaneously turn into soup.
So the thing about roasting veggies is that you can do this with almost any of them.
Roasting is a real wonder that ZERO OF OUR MOMS KNEW ABOUT IN THE 80s because our vegetables came out of a can or, like my brother reminded me last night, they were in frozen bags like fancy people use and then boiled within an inch of their lives.
The Cold War dinner table was a real gauntlet and we were warriors for choking down that broccoli mush because our moms wouldn’t let us up from the dinner table until we ate it.
My brother also maintains that mom made him eat chicken pot pie from Sam’s Club one time and he threw it up and could never eat a bite of it again, and mom categorically denies this because she says she never bought chicken pot pie from Sam’s in her life, but this is Drew’s truth and now you know the story of our family chicken pot pie drama.
I did feed him The Pioneer Woman – Ree Drummond’s CPP recipe and he ate two whole servings, so what I am saying is that trauma can be overcome with time and perseverance and homemade food that didn’t come from a bulk store where you get your toilet paper.
Back to the roasted veggies.
Douse them in olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast them in a 400 degree oven.
Flip or toss it halfway through, and when is halfway through? How should I know? Smell for them and see when they are turning a delicious, crusty brown on the edges.
Then what do you do with these caramelized delights?
1. Spoon them over leftover rice, potatoes, noodles, zoodles, lettuce. Sprinkle some roasted almonds or pecans or walnuts over the top, maybe some dried cranberries, and drizzle with olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.
2. Fold them into your scrambled eggs or frittata with some sharp cheddar and crumbled bacon.
3. Put them in ramekins, make a quick béchamel (basically butter, flour, and milk) to pour over the veggies, and top with breadcrumbs and parmesan. Bake for 20 minutes and now you’ve made little, individual servings of roasted veggie gratin like a real queen.
4. Wrap them inside a tortilla or big leaf of lettuce with a sharp mustard vinaigrette and a bunch of cilantro or parsley.
5. One of my fave ways to eat roasted veggies is with a low-brow dip: mayo, sriracha, sweet chili sauce, fresh lime juice, squeeze of honey, and salt. Whisk and dip everything within reach.
6. Eat them straight off the sheet pan with your hands like a caveman like someone I know did today. (I roasted carrots, leeks, and radishes. Ina Garten taught me that I could roast radishes and I am out here living in the future now.)
Anyhow, don’t let them turn to soup in your veggie drawer and don’t boil them to mush or your kids will never let you forget it for the rest of your life.