Prepare a filling by cooking a variety of vegetables; in one recent batch, I included: In a large pot, melt half a stick of butter and add the vegetables incrementally and cooking until things are mostly cooked, but turn the heat off before they’re fully cooked so that they can finish in the oven. Delicate
Set the oven to 425° and select a roasting pan or baking tray. Snap off the stem ends of the asparagus. Toss the asparagus in olive oil and salt. Roast for 8-15 minutes depending on thickness. Just before serving, optionally add and toss to coat: black pepper, lemon juice, parmesan, or whole-grain mustard.
A simple choice for times when you want something more than just pasta, but don’t have the time to make a lasagna. Turn the oven to 375°. Select a two- or three-quart casserole dish (such as a 9x12x2″ glass baker). Combine the pasta and tomato sauce and stir together. Layer half of the pasta into
A brief version of this recipe appears in Autumn Salad with Roasted Squash, but this vegetable is so delicious I figured it was worth calling out separately. Purchase a medium or large butternut squash. Set the oven to 400-425°. Set out a large baking tray or roasting pan, optionally lined with a piece of baking parchment.
[I rarely serve mushrooms on their own, but this preparation is worth making an exception for. — Matthew] Start with at least a pound of mushrooms, remembering that they will shrink substantially when cooked. Any common type of fresh mushroom can be used; most recently I used a mix of cremini, portobello, and shiitakes. Cut
Roasting is an easy way to prepare any of the stalky brassica varieties, including broccoli, cauliflower, broccoflower, broccolini, and so forth. Preheat an oven to 400° or so. Prepare a baking sheet or shallow metal roasting pan. (Optionally lining it with foil or parchment simplifies cleanup.) Cut the brassicas into florets. (Broccolini stalks are so
Shred carrots. Slice onions across, then chop the rings so they break apart into lengths. Stuff into Mason jar. In a small saucepot, simmer together 2 cups vinegar (apple cider, white, distilled, red… balsamic is a step too far and I do not recommend), 1 cup (? maybe less?) sugar, spices (pickling or some combination
Like all of the “ethnic” foods I cook, this dish doesn’t make any claims to being particularly “authentic,” but it is tasty and filling. Once you learn the technique, you can ring changes on it with different fillings and varieties of sauces. See also the recipe for Enchilasagna, which uses the same kinds of ingredients but
We served this salad at Thanksgiving this year. The first step is to cook the squash. We used a butternut squash, but other winter squash varieties would work. The squash we used made about twice as much as we needed for the salad. Cut off the hard ends of the squash and then peel the
A traditional side dish at Thanksigiving, some people use this to stuff their turkey, but the emerging consensus is that it’s better to bake it separately — which is good news for us vegetarians! I made this for the first time at this year’s Thanksgiving, after reading a dozen different recipes and extracting the elements