Roast-a-thon: Roasted Beet and Kale Salad with Agave Mustard Vinaigrette

This one was an experiment. Having never had a cooked beet in my life, I really wasn't sure what to expect. While I'd read they'd be sweeter, I think roasting them also brings out more of the earthy flavor.


Roasted Golden Beets
1 bunch of small beets
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 F. Place whole, unpeeled beets on aluminum foil and drizzle with olive oil. Fold foil into a packet. Bake for 50 - 70 minutes, until easily pierced with a fork.


Let cool for 15-20 minutes. Peel the skin off the beets with your hands, or by rubbing skins off with a paper towel.

Slice and serve warm, with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.


The earthy flavor of the beets made me want other earthy flavors (like kale and mustard) combined with something sweet (agave and sweet onions). Or, y'know, whatever was in my fridge. Which happened to be... those things.

Kale and Roasted Beet Salad with Agave Mustard Vinaigrette
Salad:
Kale
Sweet onion
Roasted beet

Dressing:
1 part white balsamic vinegar
2 parts agave syrup
2 parts yellow mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Rinse and tear the kale. Top with thin shaved onions and sliced beets. Wisk the dressing ingredients together with a fork and serve.

How gorgeous is that salad? It was SO delicious!

Roast-a-thon: Roasted rainbow carrot and potato hash

This is another edition of the Roast-a-thon I couldn't wait to post. I almost stopped eating to write down the recipe. Almost. It was just too good to set down.

Roasted Rainbow Carrot & Potato Hash

Ingredients:
1 medium white onion
1/2 bag Honey Gold baby potatoes
1 bunch (6-8 medium) rainbow carrots
2 tbsp olive oil
Course ground salt and pepper
Parsley

I used the Honey Gold baby potatoes, but any baby/fingerling potato of your choosing should do. My bunch of carrots had 2 yellow, 2 purple, 1 deep orange, and 2  regular carrots. Of course, you could use regular old carrots, too.


Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Slice carrots and potatoes in rounds of even thickness. Cut onion into wedges. Toss veggies with olive olive oil. Spread in a single layer on baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and parsley. Bake for 45 - 55 minutes, turning once until potatoes are crispy and carrots are soft.

My kids ate theirs as a side dish, but tossed on a bed of prepared wild mushroom couscous, this was my meal. And it was so sweet, crispy, and flavorful, it deserves a second photo!

YUM!

Roast-a-thon: Asparagus, Kale

In this installment of the Roast-a-thon, we only have instructions for roasting two different vegetables. I wanted to provide you with a bonus recipe for the asparagus, but there was one problem. It was so good, we couldn't wait to eat it! The hubby and I ate a pound of asparagus in five minutes flat.

Roasted Asparagus

Ingredients:
Asparagus
Olive oil
Coarse-ground salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Snap the woody ends off the asparagus. Place stalks in a freezer bag, drizzle with oil and toss to coat. (Add oil 1/2 tbsp at a time and toss, until you have enough to coat the amount of asparagus you're using.) Spread on a baking sheet in a single layer and sprinkle with salt and pepper. (I recommend coarse ground, because it's easy to over-season.) Bake for 20 - 30 minutes, depending on the thickness of the stalks. When the stalks begin to shrivel and the tips brown and crisp, it's done.

Let stand five minutes before serving for full flavor.

Roasted Kale (a.k.a. Kale Chips)


Ingredients:
1 bunch of kale (I use the flat-leaf Lacinato variety)
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt

Preheat oven to 400 F. Tear or cut the greens off the spine, and into pieces about 2 inches by 2 inches. In a bowl or freezer bag, toss with oil to coat. With your hands, carefully spread the leaves onto 2 baking sheets in a single layer, with as little overlap as possible. Sprinkle with salt.

Cook for ten minutes, then remove from the oven and turn pieces over. Spread them out again, avoiding overlap. Return to oven and cook until evenly crisp, about another ten minutes. Serve immediately, adding more salt if needed.

Roast-a-thon: Green Beans + Pesto with Roasted Green Beans and Walnuts

In this installment of the Roast-a-thon, we learn to turn the ordinary green bean into a elegant treat worthy of Mudd's Women-style glow-lighting.


I grew up never having tasted a green bean that didn't come from a can. Understandably, I didn't much care for them. Then one day, my mother-in-law served up fresh green beans simmered with onions and garlic. What an eye-opener! Green beans didn't have to be mushy and salty!

But just recently, an even greater revelation in green-beanery occurred. I grabbed a pound or so on sale at the organic farmer's market and roasted them. It was like a beam of light coming down from the heavens onto my plate! Rich taste, a perfect bite... An ideal snack or side, but crying for a delicious recipe too. Tonight, Pesto Pasta with Roasted Green Beans and Toasted Walnuts was born.

Roasted Green Beans


Ingredients:
Any amount of green beans
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Trim the ends of the green beans with kitchen shears. In a bowl or freezer bag, add the oil and toss. (For one pound of green beans, I used 1 tbsp of olive oil. Adjust accordingly.) Spread in a single layer on baking sheet(s), and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 25-30 minutes, until browned and crisping on the edges, turning once. (You can't exactly turn them, so I just shake them all loose with a spatula, then spread them out again.)

A bonus recipe for your delicious green beans:

Pesto Pasta with Roasted Green Beans and Toasted Walnuts

Ingredients:
1 lb green beans
1/3 cup of walnut pieces
1 8 oz jar of prepared vegan pesto
1 box (12 or 16 oz) of tricolor fettuccine
Olive oil as needed
1 cup of torn kale, wilted (optional)

Roast the green beans as above, adding the walnut pieces for the last five minutes of cooking to toast. Meanwhile, prepare fettuccine al dente according to package directions. Drain, return to the warm pot (off the heat) and add the pesto. Toss until coated, adding a little olive oil if needed thin. Add roasted green beans and toasted walnuts. Garnish with wilted kale, if desired.

Enjoy!

Roast-a-thon: Summer Squashes and Roasted Veggie Pizza

Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting a series of recipes for roasted vegetables, because I'm addicted to them. I love the way roasting brings out the natural sweetness of veggies, and I'm crazy in love with the crispy browned edges. Welcome to the Roast-a-thon!

This first Roast-a-thon post is a recipe that comes with a vocabulary lesson!

What is a summer squash? It's any type of squash that is picked while immature, meaning when the rind and seeds are still soft. The name "summer" squash is not actually a reference to the growing period at all. Rather, it was simply to distinguish them from "winter" squashes - so named in a time before modern refrigeration because they could be stored throughout the winter without going bad.

The most common summer squashes are yellow squash (crook-neck or straight-neck) and zuchinni (green or gold). Outside the U.S., zuchinni is often called courgette.

Also included in this recipe is guinea squash, which is not actually a squash at all. It is a member of the nightshade family, related to tomatoes. You may know it as an aubergine, or eggplant. But it cooks like a squash, so I'm counting it.

Mmmmmm!

Roasted Summer Squash

Ingredients:
Any amount of zuchinni, yellow squash, and eggplant
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

For the amount pictured on the right, I used 3 small green zuchinni, one large gold zuchinni, 2 medium yellow crookneck squash, and one small Italian eggplant. That was two baking-sheets worth.

Preheat oven to 425 F. Slice the squash on the bias (diagonally).

For the recipe pictured, I sliced it fairly thin because I was using it on pizza. As a side dish, I'd have made it 1/2 inch slices.

Place the squash in a gallon storage bag, and drizzle with a tablespoon or two of olive oil (depending on how much squash you cut). Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then seal the bag and knead it gently with your hands to toss and coat all the squash evenly. Add a bit more olive oil if needed to lightly coat.

Spread the squash in a single later on a baking sheet. If you've sliced it thin, bake for 30 minutes or until it begins to brown and crisp on the thinner edges. If you've sliced it thick, bake for 15 minutes, turn over each piece, then bake for another 15 - 25 minutes until the edges begin to brown.


A bonus recipe for your squashes...

Roasted Veggie Pizza

1 prepared pizza crust
1 4-oz can of tomato sauce
1/2 cup roasted eggplant, zuchinni, and squash
2 baby bella mushroom slices
1/4 cup roasted red pepper
1/4 cup marinated artichoke hearts
2 tbsp shredded onion
2 tbsp black olive rings
4 spinach or basil leaves, torn.
garlic powder
salt
Italian seasoning
Olive oil cooking spray.

Preheat oven according to crust instructions. Spray the edges of the crust with cooking spray. Cover crust with tomato sauce. Sprinkle sauce with garlic powder, salt, and Italian seasoning to taste. Top with roasted vegetables, mushtrooms, artichokes, onions, spinach or basil, and black olives. Bake according to crust instructions. Broil for one minute if mushrooms and onions are not cooked through.

Enjoy!