squash and eggplant and beets, oh my!

as the leaves turn from green to gold to amber and the nights become crisper and longer, i long for food that is hearty and comforting

we all have our favourites. i have several dozen myself, given a variety of moods, but nothing warms me down to my toes like a bowl of roasted veg, hot from the oven: crisp and caramelized, giving way to a soft, steaming centre and topped with sweet, creamy goat cheese.

really.

can you smell it? the heady, heart-warming aroma of hearty root vegetables mixed with the sophisticated scents of fragrant herbs?  the beauty of this meal is, not only is it comforting and delicious, it's easy.

you will need:

• fresh vegetables
• extra virgin olive oil
• herbes de provence
• goat cheese (try one with honey, which adds a rich, but subtle, sweetness)

a little side-note about the ingredients:

{olive oil}: i may have thought i understood the importance of 'really good olive oil' (must be said out loud in your most pompous english accent - go on, try it), but after a trip to rome, i can truly say that now i do.  the taste is incomparable.  spend the extra pennies and get the good stuff; you won't regret it.

{herbes de provence}: typically a mix of dried savory, sage, marjoram, fennel and lavender from the provencial region of france.  utterly delicious.

gather your goods:

you can use almost any vegetables; for this week's meal, i used butternut squash, yams, beets, carrots, tomatoes, eggplant, bell peppers, onion and garlic.

i have also used pumpkin and, of course potatoes (which i thought i had, oops).  if you have never tried roasted pumpkin you haven't lived; it's the perfect side for any meal. 

cut your assorted veg into cubes.  your root vegetables will take longer to cook than  your peppers and tomatoes, so size your pieces accordingly.  

place your cut-up veggies into a big bowl and sprinkle generously with herbes de provence and extra virgin olive oil,  gently folding the veg so that every piece is coated and glossy, but not bruised in the process.

cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and turn out your combined ingredients in an even layer.

place in the oven at 425 oven for 25 minutes, then give the veggies a toss in the pan and turn the heat down to 350 for another 30 min.

arrange the roasty, toasty, caramelized and perfect veg on a plate and top with goat cheese (doesn't this just look like fall?).  

try this dish as meal, snack or a side for any occasion.  let me know how it turns out!

enjoy!

life is just a bowl of 'em.

who doesn't love cherries?  come on now, you know what i'm talking about: perfectly ripe, firm, juicy and fresh.  delicious.


meet jalapeño (he is a cherry).  i consider him a very special cherry, with his especially shiny, rosy  skin and lush foliage.  we had a bit of a photo shoot and bonded (insert musical montage here), but then I totally ate him.  could. not. resist. 


my quest to discover more about our scrumptious friend led me to even more reasons to love the cherry:

• they are delicious (a given and already discussed, but deserving of another mention)
• cherries bruise like a peach, so keep the unnecessary bashing to a minimum. they are best stored with enough legroom to wiggle about 
• cherry oil and pits contain cyanide (who knew?) – not enough to necessarily be used as a weapon by the CIA, but enough to make you sick if you swallow too many pits - consider yourself warned
• cherries are low in fat and high in Vitamins A, C and E and beta carotene (hooray!)
• they are the highest fruit source of melatonin in all the land (way to go, jalapeño!). melatonin helps regulate your sleep cycle
• cherries can help reduce inflammation in the body (including arthritis)
• one cherry tree can produce enough cherries to make over 70 pies – yes, please!

it's almost the end of prime cherry season (may to august), but not to worry; there are still dried cherries, frozen cherries, cherry jams and compotes, cherry sorbet, cherry pie filling, kirsch, cherry popscicles, cherry jello...

carnivorous eyes and the hippocampus.

welcome to my adventures in delicious.  to say i love food would be an understatement, at the very least. the only thing that could rival my love of food (yes, other than husband, family and boney m) would be travel.  not surprisingly, my favourite thing about traveling is the food, so really there is no competition. 

to eat - to me - is an experience.  an adventure.  a moment suspended, and no, i am not exaggerating.  

but, i do have standards, you know...  
firstly, let's talk about aroma - which, if mastered, is the primary vehicle for anticipation.   it can make or break the success of a meal... and what you may be remembered for (hmm).  smell is the only sense that is tied to the memory part of the brain, called the hippocampus, which is why certain smells will flash you back to a time or place that you may not have thought about in years.  Like, for me, eternity by calvin klein: boom, right back to high school.  hello, 1994, i have missed your angry grunge and plaid.  see what i mean?

what else... presentation!  of the utmost importance, true.  you know the saying "you eat with your eyes first"?  hate. it.  what immediately comes to mind is a visual of big, nasty eyeballs with gnarly teeth; jagged and pointed like the ones from those crazy fish found at the bottom of the ocean.  sick.  i do, however, completely agree with the importance of good presentation.  we do judge our food at first sight.  good presentation does help a meal taste better, i do believe, but is not to be completely relied on.  i have had some pretty nasty meals that looked beautiful (still to come).

all that aside, food is a personal thing. not everything is for everyone, but it's a fun journey finding out.  armed with a self-education in food around the world, i'm off to bring some exotic dishes to life (deep breath)!

stay tuned...