Roast Your Veggies

How the heck is it mid-August already?! Wasn't it just January!? The older I get, the faster time flies by. To slow time down a bit, I really like to spend my evenings cooking. I'm not the type to make "quick and easy" suppers, because I just enjoy it too much.  One thing I'm kind of obsessive about is keeping my fridge clean. By clean I mean that I like to use all of my fresh ingredients in the fridge before I buy anything else. I hate wasting food, and I hate a cluttered fridge. Because of this, my style of cooking is what I like to call "MacGyver Style," where I take what I have and create something delicious from it.  This is almost always seasonal, and sometimes it turns out better than others.

It took a while for this creative and instinctive cooking skill to bubble to the surface, but I have really honed my ability. If you know me, I'm quite vocal about my love for creating a dish out of what some would deem as strange ingredients, and I'm constantly playing "Chopped" with myself during the week. Because of this, my friends often text me a list of ingredients and say "HELP!"

One such friend, Hangry District contributor Robin Dienel, sent me a list of farm fresh ingredients in need of inspiration.  So with that I give you, Charred Garden Vegetables with Blood Orange Sweet Potato Mash. Here's how we did it:

Charred Garden Vegetables with Blood Orange Sweet Potato Mash

Hangry Timer: 30 minutes
Feeds: 1-2
Cost: Varies depending on your garden ;)

What you Need:

1 handful Green Beans, trimmed
1 Yellow Onion, quartered
1 cup Cauliflower, cut into florets
1 Sweet Potato, mashed
3 Tbsp. Butter
1/2 Blood Orange, juiced
5 Cherries, halved and pitted
1 tsp. Curry Powder
Red Pepper Flakes, or a spice of your preference
Wedge of Blue Cheese (optional)
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
 

What to do with it:

Preheat oven to 400º F.

Boil sweet potato until it is fork tender.  Mash until smooth. Add butter and a big squeeze of blood orange. Stir to combine. Add salt to taste.

While the potato is boiling arrange the cauliflower, and onion on a baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, curry powder, and red pepper flakes.  Toss to coat.

Roast the onion and cauliflower for 10 minutes.  Add the beans, coated with a drizzle of olive oil and salt, and continue roasting all three vegetables for 10 more minutes. Taste and season if necessary.

Swoosh the sweet potato mash onto the bottom of a plate.  Top with the roasted vegetables. Finish with halved cherries, a squeeze of the blood orange, a wedge of cheese if you like, and a sprinkle of fresh parsley.

DEVOUR!

*Use whatever vegetables you have available. You can also create a mash out of hard squash, parsnips, carrot, white potato, etc. Be creative!

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