beet

 

There are some of you, even those of you who call yourself friends, who secretly hate vegetables. I know you’re out there, and I have a bit of news for you. Vegetables have feelings, and they want to be liked. They prefer not to be boiled for hours or stewed beyond recognition. Yes, there are some varieties who do well boiled or stewed, such as the lovely potato, carrot or turnip. Yes. But other more adventurous varieties want to be loved a different way. So. Do you trust me?

Today I’d like to chat about summer vegetables. The ones who pop out of the ground tasting so fresh, so good, they beg for a simple preparation like sauteing or in this case, roasting. You see roasting coaxes special flavors and even substances from veggies you didn’t even know were hidden inside. Like sugar. What? You thought vegetables were so good for you they’d never cop to containing sugar? But oh they do. When you brown a vegetable by grilling, sauteing or roasting, you’re actually browning the natural sugar in there, which transforms the raw, starchy taste of crudites into glorious caramelization. Caramelization equals flavor my friend.

Last week we took a day trip over the hill to Sacramento with some slowfoodreno friends to see a viewing of Food, Inc. the movie (which is a film that will shock and stun you into obsessively researching everything you put in your mouth), and stopped to meet the slowfoodsac folks at a small cafe for dinner. Their noble and timely mission is to make local, seasonal food, and we were served a divine plate of, you guessed it, roasted vegetables. Essence of early summer roasted on a plate, and just delicious! I expected everything to be room temperature, but these tasty jewels were still warm, perfectly seasoned and glistening with olive oil. Heaven! I roast vegetables all the time at work for caterings, and serve them up in the restaurant, but not at home. I find myself unable to break the salad habit, simply slicing, dicing, dressing, and voila, dinner on a plate, no heat required.

But today Joe wanted to roast a pork loin, even though it’s 92 degrees outside. So I took stock of what we had on hand and asked for beets from the store (ours are too small to be picked yet). I figured since the oven will be on for at least an hour, now’s the time to roast those yummy veggies. I had some baby zucchini and summer squash squirrelled home from work, which were samples from a new farmer, and found some small little baby potatoes, a sweet onion and some garlic to roast with the beets. What follows isn’t necessarily a recipe but more of a flexible method and strong encouragement for you to go ahead and experiment…

All you have to do is roast the ones that take the longest first, in this case the beets, then cut everything else into roughly equal sizes on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and kosher salt and if you have some herbs handy or growing out front, sow those on top. I’ve got some rosemary, thyme, savory and sage leftover from Joe’s roast, so I’m using those. How long do you cook everything? Figure beets (peel after roasting), potatoes, fennel, turnip, winter squashes, carrots, about an hour. Thinner skinned more delicate veggies like peppers, eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, onions, garlic, asparagus, etc. about 15-30 minutes depending on the oven temperature.

Since Joe’s roast is set at 350 degrees (I normally roast at 400-425 degrees), I washed and trimmed the beets and put them in a covered baking dish, drizzled with olive oil and kosher salt, to roast for about an hour. The zucchini, summer squash, baby potatoes, onion and garlic get olive oil, salt and herbs, uncovered on a sheet pan for about 30 minutes. You may need to broil a few minutes to get some darker color. When everything is fork tender, I re-seasoned with salt and pepper. If you like you can add a little balsamic, champagne or tarragon vinegar or even fresh lemon juice for a kick. Enjoy!!

PS If you make extra, you can throw them in a salad, or even fold them into an omelet! Another meal done!