Roasted Veggies!

Veggies are beautiful, aren't they?

This recipe, loosely followed here because it was entirely from memory (I didn't bother to pull the book out again), is one of my "tried and trues". The first time I made this, I did follow the recipe ("Scarlet Roasted Vegetables" from Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet) and was in love with the flavor and texture combination. This time I utilized what was on hand: a potato, three beets, a few parsnips a couple of stalks of celery with some of their leaves, a couple of shallots, some dried apricots and slivered almonds. I was out of Shoyu (in my neck of the woods one has to go to a health food store to find it!) so I used Tamari. I also went out on a limb and gave the mix a couple of shakes of Bragg's salt-free seasoning, and then added a pinch of salt for good measure. A couple of glugs of olive oil and a big stir and it was all ready to go into the roasting pan.

The secret for roasting vegetables, in my opinion, is preheating, and using a high heat. 450 degrees is ideal. I like a crispy edge to my tender vegetables. If the veggies are in a single layer, 20-30 minutes should be enough, but if they are spread thickly in the pan they will need more time. Mine needed a good stir after about 20 minutes and then back into the oven they went for another 20.

Here are the luscious jewels -- their colors rendered muted and deep, but their flavors, bright and lush. These veggies were absolutely wonderful with another rubbed kale salad, this time with lemon, olive oil, olives, pimientos and avocado. I can never get enough kale!

Just my memory of Alicia's recipe was so delicious, I am inspired to open the book again and give some of the recipes I've never tried a go.