Today I wanted to try something different with some of the vegetables in the fridge and decided to do the following: roasted zucchini, baked asparagus and sauteed broccoli.
What else did I have to use? Goat cheese, onions, garlic and a variety of spices.
What’s in your fridge or spice rack?
Baking and roasting vegetables is one of my favourite ways to cook vegetables when I don’t want to stand at the stove.
Roasted zucchini, onions and garlic
Roasted Zucchini, Red Onions and Garlic
Ingredients:
Three medium sized zucchinis
Half a medium sized red onion
Half a bulb of garlic
1 tsp of smoked paprika
1 tsp of powdered garlic
2 tsp of oregano
Sea salt to taste
2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 425F
2. Slice zucchini with a mandolin slicer set to a thicker setting to ensure slices are even and will bake evenly.
3. Toss with olive oil, coat with seasonings and set aside. (You can also save the paprika to sprinkle over the spread out slices as I did today).
4. Cut up the onion into thick slices so they don’t burn when baking.
5. Peel garlic and toss the chopped onion and garlic with the zucchini to coat with seasonings.
6. Spread zucchini, onion and garlic out on a baking sheet, covered with parchment paper or foil. (I ran out of parchment paper so had to use foil this time). Try to keep the slices from over lapping if possible or the slices will end up more soggy vs roasted.
7. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Then set the oven to broil on medium and broil for 5 minutes to give everything a golden brown colour.
8. Set aside and let cool before you eat. Enjoy!
Baked asparagus, tomatoes and goat cheese
Baked Asparagus, Cherry Tomatoes and Goat Cheese
Ingredients:
One bunch of fresh asparagus
A handful of cherry tomatoes
200g of soft unripened goat cheese (you can use Parmesan, seasoned goat cheese or any other cheese of your choice that bakes well without melting completely)
2-3 tbsp of Extra virgin olive oil (enough to lightly coat the vegetables)
Lemon Pepper seasoning to taste (about 1 tbsp was used)
Sea salt to taste if needed (the lemon pepper seasoning has salt so I skipped it this time)
Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 425F
2. Rinse vegetables and pat dry.
3. Toss with olive oil, coat with seasonings.
4. Sprinkle goat cheese over the vegetables and be as liberal with it as you’d like. (I needed to use it up so I used about 200g).
5. Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. Then set the oven to broil on medium and broil for 5 minutes to give the cheese a golden brown colour.
6. Set aside and let cool before you eat. Enjoy!
Broccoli
Asian Inspired Sesame Broccoli
Ingredients:
One crown of broccoli, cut up into florets
1 tsp of coconut oil
1 tbsp of sesame oil
1 tbsp of fish sauce
1 tsp of ginger powder
1 tsp of garlic powder
Sea salt and pepper to taste
Cayenne pepper, sesame seeds, or chili flakes can be used as well
Instructions:
1. Heat pan on medium and once warmed up, lower to low heat
2. Place coconut oil in pan and broccoli florets
3. Sautee for 5-8 minutes, until at desired softness
4. Sprinkle with seasonings and coat florets
5. At this time you can sprinkle in the sesame seeds, chili flakes or cayenne pepper as desired
6. Set aside and let cool before you eat. Enjoy!
If you have any other suggestions or spice blends that you prefer, please share! I’d love to hear from you and try them out. Please keep in mind that I don’t usually measure things as I cook but eyeball them, so the ratios are approximates based on how much I used.
Fuel your body well and it will keep moving better for life,
Dr. Shruti Sharma
