culinary flights of fancy

Home Cooking Adventures in Berkeley Heights


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Valentine’s Day Menu: Start with Roasted and Blanched Vegetables

Blanched Broccoli and Cauliflower.  Serve with a shallot and tarragon mayonnaise dip or apple cider vinegar honey mustard vinaigrette.

Blanched Broccoli and Cauliflower. Serve with a shallot and tarragon mayonnaise dip or apple cider vinegar honey mustard vinaigrette.

Roasted mushrooms with  olive oil and fresh tarragon.  Serve while warm or at room temperature.

Roasted mushrooms with olive oil and fresh tarragon. Serve while warm or at room temperature.

Let me forewarn you that I will be posting multiple recipes for Valentine’s Day today and likely tomorrow.  Let me apologize in advance if Valentine’s Day isn’t your favorite day.  However, Valentine’s Day is just a few days away so let’s make a nice meal to celebrate.  Who’s staying in?  If you live locally in the Jerz, then you are probably aware that it’s supposed to snow.  So, even if you plan on going out for a nice dinner, you might need a plan B.  Either way, this is a great tasting and healthy starter for any special meal.  More after the jump… Continue reading


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Mixed Roasted Vegetables

RoastedVegetables.1

So, do you ever purchase way more vegetables than you need at the market?  I’m definitely guilty of that, as I get swept away with what looks good without factoring in how am I going to use this particular item this week.  Guilty as charged for me.  At any rate, I found myself with a bunch of different vegetables that needed to be used last week.  Most of them were root vegetables (as is the season) so roasting them is an easy, natural way to prepare them.  They caramelize well while roasting and turn a beautiful golden brown and in doing so, the natural sweetness of the vegetables is brought front and center.

Here I roasted brussel sprouts, golden beets, Easter egg radishes, and beautiful multi-colored carrots.  I’m not going to write out an actual recipe for these as you use the exact same process for all of them.  Actually, I roast all vegetables in this way and I always roast at 375 degrees (convection setting if you have it).

Anyway, to roast these, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Cut the vegetables as you’d like (I cut mine in half, except the carrots, which I left whole).  Once the vegetables are cut, place in a bowl and drizzle a bit of olive oil over them.  Then add kosher or sea salt over the top.  Toss to combine so that each vegetable has a coating of oil and a bit of salt on both sides.  Place on roasting pan, cut side down and roast twenty-five minutes.  Check to see if they are done (they should be soft and a nice caramel brown color).  If not, place in the oven for ten more minutes, check again and if finished remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.  If they are not done, continue cooking in ten minute increments until finished.

That’s all there is to it and they are great.  They are great on the first day and they are great chopped into salads after that.