Basic Recipe

• Preheat oven to 450°.
• Dice or slice any root or hard vegetable(s) into similar sized pieces.
• Onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, kohlrabi, parsnip, winter squash, etc. work well diced, singly or in any combination. Garlic can be roasted whole and even unpeeled (squish the soft roasted garlic out of its paper directly onto buttered toast).
• Place on a cookie tray in a single layer. One tray makes a side dish for 4 or a main course for two.
• Toss with 2 tablespoons of olive oil; be sure that all pieces and tray are well coated.
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Roast in oven for about 20 minutes (time depends on the vegetable), turning once, until nicely browned. The vegetables brown on the bottom, not the top.
• Add sauce and serve while still hot

Sauces

• Most vegetables are fine as is, or with a bit of chile pepper or pepper oil for zing.
• For variety, try:
• Sauce 1
• 1 clove garlic, minced or pressed, 2 Tbs. lemon juice, 2 Tbs olive oil, 1/4 cup minced Kalamata olives.
• Sauce 2
• 1 clove pressed garlic, 1 Tbs lemon or lime juice, 2 Tbs olive oil. Then sprinkle with 1 Tbs spices (Halaby red pepper, sweet paprika, coriander and/or cumin) or 2 Tbs fresh cilantro.
• Sauce 3
• Any vinaigrette
• Sauce 4
• 2 Tbs tahini beaten (with a fork) with 2 Tbs water until thick and smooth. Add any of 1 Tbs lemon or lime juice, 1 pressed clove garlic, 1/2 tsp red pepper, 1/2 tsp coriander and/or 1/2 tsp cumin.

Specific Vegetable Directions

• Red peppers
• Roast red peppers whole, in the broiler, not the oven.
• Place aluminum foil in the broiler (roasting peppers leak).
• Broil peppers for about 10 minutes until upper surface is blackened. Then rotate and broil another 5 minutes or so until the next side is blackened. When pepper is largely black but not dried out, remove.
• Place peppers in a paper bag and allow to cool.
• When cool, peel.
• Serve as is, salted, or cover with olive oil and store in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for up to a month.
• Eggplant
• Roast eggplant whole, in the broiler, not the oven.
• Place aluminum foil in the broiler (roasting eggplants leak).
• Stab the eggplant all over with a fork, or slice several deep slits with a knife. This is important -- if the skin is not pierced, the eggplant will explode in the oven.
• Broil for about 10 minutes until upper surface is blackened. Then rotate and broil another 5 minutes or so until the next side is blackened. When eggplant is largely black but not dried out, remove.
• Allow to cool. When cool, remove meat from skin.
• Place meat in food processor or blender and chop until smooth. Or mash with a fork until smooth. Or tear into strips.
• Flavor strips with any combination of 1 clove chopped garlic, 1-2 Tbs sesame oil, 3-4 slices chopped ginger, 1 Tbs. soy sauce, small chopped chile, salt and pepper.
• Flavor mush with tehini (2-4 Tbs for an average US eggplant), 1 clove of garlic (pressed), salt, pepper. Arrange on a plate as you would hummus, and add additional oil and/or spices (1/2 tsp of coriander, cumin, Halaby red pepper and/or paprika) on top.
• Serve at room temperature. Keeps a few days in refrigerator, tightly covered, but the garlic gets stronger with each day, so cut the garlic if you are cooking in advance.
• Sweet potatoes
• Follow basic recipe, except:
• Peel and slice potato thinly. One large sweet potato makes about one tray.
• Toss with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, arrange in a single layer on cookie pan and roast about 25 minutes until nicely brown, turning once.
• No sauce necessary, and if you serve them hot, these never last until dinner. They tend to get soggy and less appetizing as they cool.
• Cauliflower
• Follow basic recipe, except:
• One head makes about one tray.
• Slice cauliflower into thick slices (1/2 - 3/4 inch), vertically, so that the center slices look like a genealogical tree. Remove toughest part of the stem.
• Toss with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, arrange in a single layer on cookie pan and roast about 25 minutes until nicely brown, turning once.
• Sauce lightly with sauce 1, 2 or 3 and serve. Best hot, but fine at room temperature.
• Hard Squash
• Follow basic recipe, except:
• Acorn squash can be sliced into pie wedges, unpeeled, or diced. Most other hard squashes should be peeled and diced.
• Serve hot or room temperature. Sauce 2 or 3 work particularly well if the squash is sauced while hot and then allowed to cool.