Easy, healthy and delicious. That is what I love about roasted vegetables but let’s get real here, I’m over the boring potatoes or broccoli. I still need easy but I also need variety both for my palette and my sanity. Why not experiment with a variety of vegetables? I really don’t think you can go wrong with roasting any vegetable out there. My latest vegetable obsession is asparagus so I sometimes add extra of it in this dish. Feel free to adjust quantities based on what is a favorite in your household.
Tips:
- Watch the pine nuts carefully as you toast them, they burn easily.
- Depending on how evenly your oven cooks, you might want to rotate the pan half way through the roasting process.
Roasted Vegetables with Lemon Dressing
Ingredients:
1 bunch of asparagus cut into 1” pieces (discard stem end pieces)
1 large red bell pepper diced into bite size pieces
1 large zucchini, sliced and quartered (or two small zucchini, sliced and halved)
1 ½ cups matchstick carrots
1 medium shallot, chopped
1 ½ teaspoons garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Salt & ground black pepper
1/3 cup pine nuts
Dressing:
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 1 medium lemon
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh basil
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Place all vegetables in a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste. Stir ingredients until evenly coated with olive oil. Spread vegetable mixture onto prepared cookie sheet. Roast in oven for 20 minutes.
While vegetables are roasting, place pine nuts in a skillet over medium heat. Stir nuts in pan until they are slightly brown and aromatic then remove from heat.
In a small bowl, mix all dressing ingredients.
When vegetables are finished roasting, put them back in the large bowl. Pour in the dressing and add the pine nuts. Stir until all ingredients are evenly coated in the dressing.
We all know vegetables taste better with cheese. In fact, I’m pretty sure it is some kind of culinary law. This dish is incredibly simple to make but looks like you put a lot of effort into it and tastes delicious. Ahhh, the power of feta!!! Seriously though, it is the perfect combination for entertaining. When having guests over for dinner, the last thing you want to do is spend all evening in the kitchen while everyone else is socializing. Keep the dinner simple by including this as your side dish. I have even paired these beans with a pre-roasted chicken from the store on a busy weeknight.
