roasted chickpea ratatouille

I've been pretty absent/pretty busy/pretty neglectful lately about posting but I have been collecting photos and recipes!  Here on the last day of September 2014, I'll do a run on posting and share some of what I've been cooking.

For quite a while now, I've been roasting veggies instead of most other preparations, because the flavors intensify and I adore that crispy crunchy goodness. So this recipe didn't surprise me - well, except for the chickpeas part. Roasted chickpeas? Had to give it a try.

I'm not sure this really qualifies as a ratatouille, but here is the original recipe on Love and Lemons, where she used a few different vegetables than I did, as well as different vinegar, but the basics were almost the same. This blogger also cooked hers a bit longer than I did; I think I like a little more crunch to my goodness than she perhaps does.

I did not use eggplant nor did I serve mine on rice. Dillon has texted me earlier in the day, asking for alfredo, so I combined that request with this experiment and served these veggies over whole-wheat egg noodle alfredo. It. Was. Amazingly. Good.  I also roasted cabbage and, on a whim, fennel. It was the first time I'd roasted fennel, and I can tell you that it was my favorite part of the meal. I will be doing that again. Stevie adored the chickpeas, which I thought were a little too hard, so when we made this again a couple days later, I decreased the cooking time by 5 minutes after adding the vinegar.  I liked the chickpeas much better then.

Roasted Chickpea Ratatouille

1 fennel, cored and diced
2 roma tomatoes or 8 large cherry tomatoes, cut into wedges (roma) or halved (cherry)
2 or 3 medium yellow squash or zucchini, quartered lengthwise and then cut into 1.5 inch wedges
1/4 of a head of cabbage, chopped into large pieces
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
dried chili flakes (optional)
couple tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place all the vegetables and the chickpeas on a baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt, pepper, and chili flakes (if using), then toss gently to coat. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and toss gently with spatula, then bake for 5 more minutes. Serve hot over rice, noodles, or just eat as a side without a starch.

roasted cauliflower

You must forgive me for the poor quality of these pictures. I have to say, the blog is lucky to have any pictures at all! 


It was only after getting this sparkly citrusy heavenly cauliflower out of the oven that I realized I had only eaten a meager lunch of 2 steak fingers and a small chicken finger, leftover from yesterday and reheated in the oven. Plus I got carried away making cookies for tomorrow's cookie fellowship at church, and wasn't watching the time - it was 7:45 before I started eating.

The unsurprising result was that I unattractively wolfed down my food. I even apologized to my son and husband, who were both eating in different rooms (yes, it was a TV night for them) for the unladylike behavior - they hadn't noticed.

I was so HUNGRY. And it was so GOOD.

So, before I turned lupine and did the unattractive wolfing thing, I managed to snap 2 pictures for the blog.  Not pretty, and not professional, but maybe they will cause you to stop and take notice of a very underrated vegetable.

You gotta give it a try. You might be howling at the moon too.

Roasted Cauliflower

1 medium head cauliflower, washed and cut into florets of approximately equal size, and not too big
1/4 cup olive oil
4-6 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4-1/3 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.  Place prepared cauliflower in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon juice until well blended; pour immediately over cauliflower and, using your hands or a large spoon, toss until the cauliflower is well coated with the olive oil mixture. Scoop cauliflower into a baking dish that is large enough to accommodate all the vegetable in a single layer, yet doesn't spread them out too far from each other. Pour and scoop all the remaining 'sauce' over the cauliflower. Roast in the oven for 8 minutes, then remove and, using a wooden spoon, stir thoroughly. Roast for 10 more minutes and then mix with the wooden spoon again. Roast a final 5 minutes and remove from oven. (You can now put it in a serving bowl, if you wish, but you don't have to - we just helped ourselves from the stovetop). Finally, sprinkle the cauliflower with grated cheese and parsley, and serve immediately.

of sprouts and slow roast tomatoes

I love my little occasional window garden of sprouts.  And I love using sprouts to flavor stir-fries, salads, tacos, pho bo and other soups, sandwiches, all sorts of yummy things to eat.  I learned this technique on Honest Fare, and here is the post, with some pretty pictures.  Beware of growing too many - the first time I did this, I used half a bag of lentils and I had more sprouts than I could eat (my mother warned me...). This time, I probably did 1/3 of a cup in a wide-mouth pint Mason jar. My plans are to start more as I begin to eat one batch, and have a fresh supply on hand at all times.

Windowsill Sprouts

You'll need a clean clear glass jar, cheesecloth, a jar ring or rubber band, and some kind of dried bean that you want to sprout.  I've only used lentils so far and they are tasty.

Rinse 1/3 cup of lentils and inspect for stones or bad seeds.  Place in a bowl and cover with cool water overnight. The next day, rinse the lentils and put in the jar. Cover the jar with a layer of cheesecloth cut to fit over the top, and secure with a jar ring or rubber band. Place in a sunny spot (I haven't done it in direct sun, though - a bright place on the counter or windowsill out of direct sun is fine).

For the next 6 or 7 days or so, morning and evening, rinse the lentils through the cheesecloth with cool water. Be sure to drain all the water out each time so they won't be soaking in water all the time. You'll see sprouts begin to form, and fill the jar. They are ready to eat when the leaves begin to open.  Remove them from the jar, rinse in cold water, and spread out on paper towels to drain for a bit.

Store in an airtight container lined with paper towels. They should keep in the fridge for about a week.

(I left the pictured sprouts in the jar for 2 or 3 days more, and it was filled to the top with larger, opening green leaves. You'll know when they're ready.)

When my brother shared a huge mob of cherry tomatoes with me recently, we just weren't eating them fast enough and I needed to find something to do with them. I made a recipe of fresh salsa, but we still had a good many little maters.  Google to the rescue, I found an easy recipe and slow roasted them in the oven. I was amazed at the flavor these chewy little rubies packed inside. I've mostly enjoyed them on salads, but I think tonight, it's time to give them a try on a homemade veggie pizza. :)


Oven-dried Cherry Tomatoes
(please note - these will not be completely dry using this recipe, so do not store them for long periods of time. A couple of weeks in the fridge, or a month or so in the freezer should be fine)

cherry tomatoes, washed, destemmed, and cut in half
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
dried basil leaves

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit a cookie sheet or broiler pan. Place the halved tomatoes, cut side up, in a single layer on the parchment paper. Sprinkle the salt, pepper, and basil over the top evenly. Bake for 3 hours (4 hours if you have big tomatoes). Let cool before storing in an airtight freezer bag or plastic container. Use over salads, in soups, on pizza, or even as a chewy snack.

Asparagus Tart

This is a wonderful recipe I originally found on Not Without Salt. I've also added thin sliced tomatoes to this underneath the asparagus, and that was wonderful too.  The recipe here is just a tad different in preparation and in a couple of ingredients; if you want the original, you can find it here.

Asparagus Tart

about a pound of fresh asparagus spears, snapped to remove tough ends
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 package (1 sheet or piece) of puff pastry, thawed
1/4 cup cream cheese (or Mascarpone, if you have it), softened
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 large clove garlic, minced
red pepper flakes, to taste (a good pinch or so)
½ cup pecans, toasted and roughly chopped
shavings of parmesan cheese, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste

Pre-heat your oven to 420 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the puff pastry on it. Roll the pastry longways to measure about 8x12. If you have to prep ingredients now, cover the pastry with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator until ready to assemble the tart.

Preheat a grill pan on the stove.  While that heats, put the asparagus in a large bowl and drizzle the olive oil over it, tossing to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Grill the asparagus about 2-3 minutes on each side, then remove to a rack or place on paper towels. Set aside.

In a bowl, combine cream cheese, cream, garlic, red pepper flakes, and salt & pepper. Retrieve the puff pastry and spread the cream cheese mixture over the pastry, leaving about a 3/4 inch border.  Place the asparagus spears in a single row over the cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle with salt & pepper if needed, and bake for 20 minutes. Lower the heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes. Remove from oven, place the parmesan shavings over the top, and put back in the oven for 1 minute. Remove from oven, sprinkle with pecans, and serve hot.

Delish. :)