Perfect for a side dish for a summer barbeque or a weekend dinner for your friends, broiled vegetables are a healthy, easy, and quick dish to make. These go well with a chicken main dish or as a healthy lunch on their own, and the leftovers are excellent. My favorite part about this dish is the flexibility; you can pick and choose your favorite vegetables to add and skip the ones your mom always made you eat as a kid but you never liked. So here’s how to do it:
When you go to the market to pick up the vegetables, make sure you get a variety of colors. I always add tomatoes, red onions, and lemons to add color to the greens. Red, green, and yellow bell peppers also look nice in the mélange. You can add zucchini (yellow or green), brussles sprout (if you’re into that kind of thing),
Chop up all the vegetables and slice the lemons and tomatoes, you’ll want about one square inch pieces for the vegetables. Make sure not to cut the onions up too small.
Peel and crush about 2 cloves of garlic.
Take a gallon size Ziploc bag and pour about a cup of olive oil into it. Add the garlic, and crushed fresh rosemary (take fresh rosemary, or dried if you don’t have any fresh) and rub it in your hands, this will release the flavor.
Add a tsp of sea salt and a sprinkle of pepper, oregano, and any other herbs you like (I always like to add a pinch of cooking lavender, it goes well with the rosemary).
Add the vegetable chunks, lay the bag on its side and let the vegetables marinate, flipping the bag every half hour or so. Let it marinate at least an hour, the longer you let it marinate, the better your dish will be.
Set your oven to “Broil” on High, or 450 to 500 degrees, and turn the oven light on.
Lay out all the vegetables on a tray (with sides), spreading them out as much as possible.
When the oven has preheated, put the tray in on the very top shelf (if you have to adjust the oven shelves, do so to ensure that the top one is as high as it goes). Leave the vegetables in for about 10 minutes, then turn them over and let them broil for 10 more minutes. As with any broiling, you need to watch the dish to make sure it doesn’t burn.
The color variation in this dish makes it look nice in a plain white serving dish. I like to add a splash of balsamic vinegar to spice things up and maybe another pinch of salt.
Sources:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonicwalker/413984462/
http://jeenaskitchen.blogspot.com/2008/07/roasted-vegetables-recipe.html