Winter Roasted Side
By: Kara Bagley
Published: Wednesday, December 30, 2009 - 8:36pm

Ingredients




5 cups vegetables, julienne
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon dried herbs
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt

Preparation

1 Preheat oven to 425, convection is best. 2 Combine garlic, oil, herbs (I like rosemary, thyme and oregano) and pepper. 3 Drizzle over vegetables and toss to coat. 4 Spread out in a single layer on a baking sheet. 5 Bake for 10 minutes; remove from oven and toss, moving the vegetables from the center towards the edges of the pan. 6 Return to oven for 5 to 10 minutes until vegetables are thoroughly browned. 7 Salt, toss and serve.

About


This month, one particular recipe has been made over and over again. It is so versatile, so easy, so delicious and so healthy. I have to admit to eating an entire batch by myself and have started making double batches to feed my family of 5. I have written about roasting vegetables before and it is nothing new in technique, but lately I have been amazed at how we can enjoy vegetables that we typically avoid.
Beets and eggplant; never like them much. I have been getting baskets from Bountiful Baskets (see right for link) for a couple years and now and then I come across them again. I have tried them in this and that and cooked many recipes from salads to spreads to cakes, never liking the results much with these ingredients. Beets are so earthy, they give everything the taste of dirt. Eggplant is so watery making food bland and soggy. In this recipe, the beets caramelize and the earthiness is gone, while the eggplant shrivels to nothing but little bits of delicious garlic flavor.
You will want to peel the eggplant, the peel does not soften when cooked. I don’t peel anything else since the highest concentration of nutrients lies just beneath the peel. If you don’t have convection, I would recommend spreading one batch between two sheet pans to help with browning. 
Try a new vegetable, or use what you have on hand. The only vegetable I have tried and not liked so much is broccoli. Great options are;
*Carrots
*Potatoes
Sweet potatoes
*Peppers
*Onion
Parsnips
*Beets
Eggplant
Zucchini
Squash
Cauliflower
*in this particular batch