Roasted Veggies, etc.

Sooo, I've been pretty slack the past week, and have only cooked once since the brat pizza. Well, twice if you count tonight. In my defense, I work four nights a week.

Anyway, today I wanted to talk about making a side dish that's low maintenance, cheap, delish, and pretty fast, too.

We are talking about a full tray of roasted vegetables! [Yum!] The great thing about this recipe, is not only that I remember seeing my grandmothers cooking in this very same way, and my mother for that matter-- But it's versatile. You can add or subtract to any ingredients that I have used on this particular night. So, here's what you'll need:

Onion, Cauliflower, Celery, Broccoli, Cilantro

PLEASE keep in mind that these are just veggies that I happened to have on hand at the time. I'm stealing a quote from Rachael Ray here, but, I don't think she'll mind... I'm just trying to teach you a method with these ingredients, you can use the same ones as me if you want to, you can use whatever ones look good that day.

Okay... For my family I serve one potato per person, and kind of work the other vegetables around that.
So, here I have,

7 potatoes, chopped [peeled first if desired]
1onion, SLICED [NOT chopped]
3 stalks celery, cut into sticks
1/2 head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 broccoli crown, cut into florets
Couple tablespoons olive oil
Salt and Pepper

I used some fresh cilantro in mine, but if you don't like it, don't use it. If you like rosemary, or dill, or thyme, or parsley, or nothing that's fine, too.

Mmkay,

Preheat your oven to 450°. Prep all your vegetables. If you're not too sharp with your knife skills, it'll take a little while, maybe 10 or 15 minutes. It just so happens that chopping is one of my favorite parts about cooking, so I don't mind the prep time. Your main goal in this step is to just chop everything around the same size, so that everything cooks at the same time. Don't forget to take into account how thick or thin some of them are, the celery, for instance.

 Throw all of your veggies into a bowl, or on a sheet pan. Cover in the olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Now, please, let me take a minute to talk about seasoning. You need to season your food. Don't put a tiny pinch of salt on alllll of those vegetables. There's no point. You won't taste it. I think I used around a tablespoon of salt, and about half that amount of pepper on my veggies. Mix. Make sure all your veggies have olive oil, s&p covering them. Put in oven. Cook for 20-30 minutes. You can open it up and turn them around half way through, if you like. If you forget, no big deal.

I made mine with cilantro marinated pork chops. And I was going to share my recipe for Yorkshire puddings this week, but I'm an idiot and mixed up my flours, using self rising flour instead of AP, and they turned out more like muffins, LOL. :] I made a gravy, too, but I'll save all of those for a different blog.


REMEMBER: You don't have to use what I used. If you like rutabaga, or jalapenos, or carrots or turnips use them!.. Whatever you like!

Happy cooking! :]