Some Killer Roasted Vegetables

This recipe was originally cribbed from a Wild Oats recipe handout, and sort of grew into my eyeball-it-and-play-around version. People seem to like it a lot.

You can serve fresh mozzarella, marinated tofu, or smoked salmon in with this for a protein item.

You'll want to start with these things:


 * Two cookie sheets for every three people eating (pizza sheets and standard cookie sheets both work fine, and IME hold similar amounts of vegetables)
 * An oven
 * A crapload of olive oil (around 2 tbsp for every sheet you're making, plus 1/4 cup for the dressing)
 * A lemon, and some capers if you have 'em handy
 * Your veggies. When in doubt, use too many.

Preheat your oven to about 400 degrees.

If making multiple trays, you'll want to separate them into slow-cooking and fast-cooking veggies.

Slow-cooking includes winter squash; yams, potatoes, beets, and other dense root vegetables. Fast-cooking includes peppers, mushrooms, and cloves of garlic.

Carrots, turnips, shallots and summer squash are somewhere in between. They're better cooked on the long side, but you can cook them on the short side in a pinch. Carrots caramelize beautifully, by the way. Use lots of carrots, whatever else you're doing.

Chop all veggies to pieces about the thickness of an AA battery. They can be whatever length and width you want, but I recommend making them forkable. Halve shallots; don't do anything to garlic cloves.

Coat them in olive oil with your fingers. Your clean fingers. Your mother would be ashamed of you.

Coat the sheet in olive oil too. Spread out the veggies so that each piece has some surface area on the sheet.

Stick 'em in the oven. While they're in the oven, mix equal parts fresh lemon juice and olive oil. Add a few tablespoonfuls of vinegared capers if you're so inclined.

Cook the vegetables for 20 to 35 minutes, depending on type. Check after twenty minutes, and taste a piece if in doubt. When they're all ready, combine and add the dressing, and any protein items you may have seen fit to include. Then feed to hungry geeks, or yourself.