Bite Of Minnesota: Roasted Winter Vegetables
Desperate times call for desperate measures and during frigid temperatures like these ones, I don't have patience for cold spots in our house. I use any excuse to turn on the oven to complete the circle of heat that I'm longing for. Tonight's excuse? Roasting vegetables.
Recently, we bought a winter box from Featherstone Farms that included a hefty haul of carrots, parsnips, beets, squash, pumpkin, potatoes and onions to keep us going through some of the winter months. Since it was right during the holidays, we didn't have much of a chance to use them like we normally would. Combine that with a week-long vacation and we were behind in the consumption of our winter box. Roasted vegetables to the rescue!
Roasted vegetables are great to use on green salads, served as a side with salmon, or drizzled with basil pesto or herbed aioli. Simply preheat your oven to 350 degrees, toss sliced or large-diced vegetables with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt before roasting until tender, 15-20 minutes. They'd also be great to serve as a snack as I often find myself eating 1/4 of the pan before it makes it to the finished dish.
If you're looking for a nice gratin recipe, check out this Roasted-Squash Gratin with Cilantro Pesto from Cooking Up the Good Life by local authors Jenny Breen and Susan Thurston. It used five of my vegetables, a hunk of feta and a handful of olives I had sitting around and made a teeny dent in my freezer stock of roasted tomatoes and basil pesto. I love it when that happens.