Saturday, August 18, 2012

Sesame Roasted Summer Vegetables



If produce be the food of love, cook on;
Give me excess of it, and, surfeiting,
The veggies will be roasted, and not fry.

It's that time of year when the farmer's markets are bursting with fruits and veggies, and yours truly can occasionally get a little carried away with the excitement of it all. When this happens, it becomes necessary to find a cooking method that will use up a lot of produce in an appetizing way. Enter roasting! Provided you don't overdo it, roasting vegetables brings out their toasty, sugary goodness like nothing else, and you can season them pretty much anyway you like. This preparation is so simple and easy that it hardly deserves to be called a "recipe," but was such a good use of some of the day's haul that I wanted to share. You can obviously apply this to whatever veggies you have on hand - even potatoes! - just adjust the time accordingly, and keep an eye on them so they don't overcook!

Sesame Roasted Summer Vegetables
Ingredients
~ 4-5 Japanese eggplants, cut into 2" chunks
~ 1 lb. green beans, cleaned and snapped in half
~ 1 lb. yellow summer squash, cut into 2" chunks
~ 1 tbsp. soy sauce or tamari
~ 1 tbsp. minced garlic
~ 1 tbsp. toasted sesame oil
~ 1 tbsp. ginger chili sauce (I used this stuff, but regular hot sauce and a tsp. of grated ginger would do)
~ A few grinds of salt and black pepper

Directions
~ Preheat the oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit and coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
~ In a small dish, combine everything from the soy sauce through the hot sauce.
~ Arrange the vegetables on the baking sheet, pour the soy sauce mixture over, and massage the whole business until the veggies are coated, then grind some salt and black pepper over the top. (NB don't worry if the coating seems a bit sparse; we're not going for saucy here, you naughty minx!)
~ Roast at 450 for 15 minutes, then stir everything around roast for another 15, or until the vegetables are tender and ever so slightly charred, but not dried out.
~ Remove from the oven and allow to rest for a few minutes. This makes a side dish on its won, or can be added to a green salad for a little extra excitement. We had ours with grilled romaine hearts and lentil salad, for a summertime supper par excellence.

1 comment:

  1. sounds delicious! summer produce is the best:)

    ReplyDelete