Roasting Vegetables for that Country Flavor
Close your eyes and try to remember the aroma wafting from Grandma's kitchen. Do you smell it yet? I smell a pot roast permeating the air with a mixture of garlic, beef and simmering gravy. You can create almost that same mouth-watering aroma when you roast vegetables instead of boiling them. Vegetables? Yes, that's right.
Most any vegetable can be roasted instead of boiled. Some of my favorite vegetables to roast are eggplant and squash. You can cut the eggplant into chunks any size you want. Some people remove the skin. I leave it on because there is nutrition in the skin and I love the contrasting colors.
There are many varieties of squash to choose from, and the flavors of them vary greatly. Butternut squash is sweet. Acorn squash is milder and is used quite often for roasting also. A Hubbard squash is very large and will go a long way if you are trying to save money. Choose squashes of the "winter squash" variety. Do not use summer squash for roasting over an open fire or barbecue grill, as it will turn to mush too quickly. You need a dense squash for fire roasting. Summer squash can be used if you are roasting the vegetables in your oven.
You might not think of roasting a vegetable such as green beans or asparagus. Green beans can be roasted and are wonderful with garlic and butter or olive oil. Asparagus can be roasted the same way. Both of these wonderful vegetables will look mouth watering with blackened edges and it will bring out that familiar country roasted flavor you remember from your grandmother's kitchen.
Corn has been a roasted favorite in the United States going back to the American Indians and even further back in time in Europe. Corn can be roasted outside over a barbecue grill with charcoal, but it is also wonderful roasted over a wood fire. You can peel back the husks and roast it directly on the flames to get a nice blackened flavor or you can toss the entire corn on the cob with the husks on directly into the fire. Peel the husks back after the corn is removed from the fire. The pulled back husks can stay on the corn and be used as a handle to eat the corn. Yum!
When roasting vegetables indoors in your kitchen oven, cut your eggplant and squash, but use your green beans whole. Add long chunks of carrots if they are thin carrots and shorter chunks if they are fat carrots.
There are many different ways to add more flavors to your roasted vegetables, but when on a budget, I am usually content with butter, salt and pepper. You can add oregano and parsley for an Italian flair, or cumin and chili powder for a Spanish taste. Dill weed, thyme, paprika are also good with roasted veggies. The choices are endless.
Roasted vegetables are quick and easy to make, healthful and a money saving food idea.
