Part 2

Oven-Roasted Vegetables

So this recipe is also from the Back to Basics book...it's pretty easy and ultra good!

The Recipe

2 small fennel bulbs (tops removed)

1 pound fingerling or small potatoes

1/3 cup good olive oil

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 pound French green beans (haricots verts), trimmed

1 bunch thin asparagus, ends removed, cut diagonally (3 inch pieces)

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

All the ingredients were really easy to find. This time I shopped at the Food Emporium during my dinner break at work. I had to go with small potatoes instead of fingerlings. I was happy to find the green beans already packaged and trimmed! Yay! Less shit for me to do!

The only tragedy was that there was only one small fennel bulb. I ended up grabbing it and made due with a large one for my second bulb.

Step 1: preheat the oven to 450 degrees...(while this is going on you can cut your veggies)

Don't forget to use your oven thermometer!

Step 2: cut the fennel into 6 wedges each (cutting through core to keep wedges in tact); Place on sheet pan. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise and place on pan with fennel. Drizzle the olive oil over vegetables, then sprinkle 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Toss with your hands.

I had to cut the large bulb into 8 wedges. I ended up cutting the small potatoes into 4 pieces lengthwise. The rest was easy! Why can't everything be as easy as drizzling and sprinkling?

Step 3: Roast the veggies for 25 to 30 minutes (till potatoes are tender), tossing once while cooking.

I put aluminum foil over the sheet pan before I started this whole thing...I soooo regretted it when it became time to "toss once"! I ripped that damned foil so fast it would make your head spin! Note to self: don't be lazy just because you want your clean up to be easier. In the long run, it would have been easier to clean the roasty pan! The other thing was that I had to let it cook for an extra 5 minutes because my potatoes weren't tender!

Step 4: Toss the string beans and asparagus with the roasted veggies. Roast for another 15 to 20 minutes, until the green veggies are tender.

This was pretty easy. Once again I had to cook it another 5 minutes (past the 20).

Step 5: Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over all and roast a few more minutes until the cheese melts. sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve hot.

I am lactose intolerant so the cheese just wasn't an option. After talking with some friends at work I chose to sprinkle it with garlic and herb bread crumbs and roast an extra 5 minutes. It was so good and eliminated the extra salt and pepper at the end!

All in all it was also a wonderful side dish. I loved the way it tasted! It's a good thing too because the chicken (next blog entry) was kind of a hot mess. I can't believe I screwed up Padma's Krispy Chicken again! What the hell!?!? It's the most depressing thing ever! This is how I'm starting off my week!?!? Daaaaamn!