Roasted Veggies

Garlic posing with my favorite garlic press 

I love garlic. I go through an enormous amount of garlic. I own four different garlic presses. I don’t think I have ever been without a garlic press. Why am I reflecting (obsessing my husband would say) on garlic and garlic presses? Well, I thought everyone had a garlic press until I went to Nashville to help work on some houses affected by the floods last year.  Yes, there are still some people that are not back in their homes.  It is amazing the amount of work that still needs to be done. It also makes my garlic press ramblings seem incredibly silly. Well, they are silly, but it is so much easier focusing on garlic than all the people whose homes were destroyed and still in the process of rebuilding (in Nashville, New Orleans, Alabama, Joplin, the list goes on and that is just the U.S. (sigh)).

I spent half of the day painting (myself and the walls) and half of the day cooking. I took two knives and some critical spices (including a nice head of garlic) but I didn’t think to take a garlic press because everyone has a garlic press. But then I also thought (incorrectly) the places we working on would have bathrooms. (A huge thank you to Judy who let us into the apartment clubhouse where we had access to a bathroom and to the lady next door who let us use her garden hose to clean up). 

Painting trim

So for a week I minced garlic with a knife.  Not that big of a deal but with the amount of work and limited time, I really missed my garlic presses. By the last day of cooking, I did not want to mince any more garlic, so I used whole peeled garlic cloves and they were amazing. (See I managed to tie the lack of garlic press to the recipe). The key to this recipe is to make the veggies as close to the same size as possible.  It looks like a lot (it fills two cookie sheets), but once the roasting is complete, it reduces by half.  

Roasted Veggies

1 Zucchini, Sliced into Rounds

1 Large Sweet Onion, Sliced

3-4 Potatoes, Sliced into Rounds

Handful of Baby Carrots

6-12 Cloves of Garlic, Peeled

Couple of Sprigs of Rosemary, Chopped

Salt and Pepper, To Taste

¼ Cup (60 ml) of Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 450F/232C/Gas Mark 8 (Convection Oven 425F/218C/ Gas Mark 7). Place the chopped vegetables in a plastic bag and add oil, salt pepper, and rosemary. 

I used the plastic bag that I bought the zucchini in

Toss to cover the vegetables and the place on a cookie sheet and roast for 45-60 minutes (convection 35-45 minutes). Turn the vegetables every 15 minutes or so. 

The bottom line: Will I make this again? Yes, I can’t wait until I have fresh zucchini from my garden. This may be a daily side dish this summer. Also I will be using whole cloves of garlic instead of mincing the garlic and adding it to the olive oil.