Quick Roasted Vegetables

I found myself with an abundance of produce, but not time to can or blanch even for freezing. I hate for food to go to waste so I picked through and found the fruit that was closest to ending up in the compost bucket without actually having gotten there yet.

I came up with eggplant, peppers, tomatoes. I also threw in some  garlic, onion /celery from the pantry/fridge respectively.  You could do this with almost any vegetable you have on hand. Harder vegetables such as carrots should be sliced thin to quicken the roasting time. Quantities of any one vegetable are not very important.

Preheat oven to 350F. If you want dark carmelization turn oven to 400F

I chopped up the eggplant  (this was two Japanese eggplants)and salted it in a colander. Let it sit for up to an hour. Rinse and set aside.

Chop up everything else and put it on a sheetpan along with the eggplant. A roasting pan  with deeper sides would work fine as well.

Salt, fresh ground pepper, some basil and oregano from the garden and a generous glug of olive oil (up to 1/4 cup) to finish it off.

Put in the oven, for about an hour, stirring occasionally, until all vegetables are tender and starting to carmelize.

Serve hot over rice or pasta, or if cold add to salads, sandwiches, top eggs with it.  Makes a nice room temperature appetizer spread on  toasted bread rounds too!

Eat Well and Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
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