How to prepare many veggies for roasting! 4/6/10

Ok, with this week being spring break I have time to not only shop for grocery's but try new recipes for dinner! With it being spring produce looks lovely at the grocery store.

I will be grilling various veggies to use over the next few days. This is a great thing to do on Sunday to save time cooking during the week. You may say to yourself...How hard can it be to grill veggies? Well the truth is, there are various ways to prepare different veggies to bring out the best of each of them!

So you say; Whats on the menu?
Asparagus, Eggplant, Sweet Onions, Zucchini, Red Bell pepper, and Roma Tomatoes.

Preparation:
Wash all veggies in cold water to keep them from wilting! Turn oven on to 400 degrees. Next drizzle olive oil over cookie sheet (about 2 Tblsp).

Eggplant: Trim off both ends of the eggplant. Next you will want to cut the eggplant into 1/4 inch think strips. When done you want to sprinkle the eggplant with salt to sweat the bitterness out (let sit for approx. 30min).

Asparagus: Trim of the bottom 1/3 of stalk, put on the baking sheet and roll the Asparagus in olive oil coating each side. Next sprinkle salt, pepper, and fresh garlic over the top.

Sweet Onion: Peel the think outer skin off of the onion and then chop the onion into chunks; remove the core and add to baking sheet.

Red Bell Pepper: From the stem of the pepper cut it into for large pieces. This gives you the opportunity to use the pepper without having to deal with all those stubborn seeds! Next cut the pepper into 1/2 inch strips with the flesh side out to aid in cutting and add to baking pan.

Zucchini: Cut off both ends of the Zucchini. Next cut it length wise (should look a bit like a boat). Add to the baking sheet sprinkle with fresh oregano,salt, lemon zest and lemon juice to give the zucchini a fresh spring flavor.

And last but not least.....

Roma Tomatoes: (when cooking it is best to use romas because they are big on flavor but easy on juice) These are simple as can be! Cut length wise, sprinkle with salt and go!


When you are done, sprinkle olive oil on the top of all your veggies (2Tblsp) put the baking sheets into the preheated oven and bake for 25-30min until golden brown!