This is the time of year when we are so lucky to live where fresh vegetables abound. We should take advantage of this, as vegetables should be the most important part of our diet.

Also, there are so many delicious and interesting ways to prepare them. Try enticing folks to consume more vegetables to go with their meat and pasta dishes.

• Head of Cauliflower
• Bunch of Broccoli
• Olive Oil
• 2 Cloves of Garlic crushed
• Basil and your favorite herbs and/or spices

Rinse and clean the cauliflower and broccoli. (Remove and save stalks of both vegetables so you can make your own veggie water to use in making other dishes.)

Cut both into serving pieces and place these in your favorite roasting dish that you have covered with olive oil.

Add to the dish any herbs or spices that you favor.

Place the pan in the oven you have preheated to 375 degrees. How long you cook this dish depends on whether you like your vegetables: crunchy or soft. I like mine crunchy.

If you choose, you can add other veggies like pieces of carrots and/or peppers. Salt and pepper to taste. These veggies can be added to some cooked pasta, adding cheese like Pecorino Romano, if desired.

Beets

• 4 or 5 yellow and/or red Beets
• Olive oil
• Mint leaves
• A couple of cloves of garlic

One vegetable that we should be preparing more is beets. If you are lucky and also get beet greens, they can be prepared as any side dish to go with a meat or fish dish, as a leafy green

Wash the beets and place them in a pot with enough water to cover them. Cook until they are soft enough for you to pierce the beets with a knife.

Remove them from the heat and allow to cool. Take off the outer skin and cut the part off each beet that is the remnant of the stem.

Cut the beets into pieces and place in a baking dish with olive oil and a clove or two of garlic. Put the pan into he oven at 375 degrees for enough time; they will need to sofen fully. Toss the fully cooked beets with a bit more olive oil and mint leaves. This dish can be served hot or cold as a salad. Beets are very healthy, besides being delicious. Vegetable dishes are considered to be superfoods and go well with any meat or fish dish.

Now that the-winter-that-wouldn’t-give-up finally did, it’s time to turn our sights to the wonderful products our gardens, local farms, and waters provide for us. Let’s start with one of my favorite appetizers, which involves more clever shopping with a sharp eye than it does cooking

Tomatoes and Mozzarella

• Ripe tomatoes sliced thin
• Capers, rinsed
• Mozzarella, sliced thin
• High quality extra virgin olive oil

• Roasted red peppers*
• Fresh basil
• Sun dried tomatoes cut in half
• Italian bread

Slice tomatoes and place on a platter as the bottom layer, the only layer that covers the entire platter. Place sliced mozzarella on tomatoes without completely covering the tomatoes. 

Crisscross with red pepper strips, being sure to add juice from peppers if they are homemade. Dot with sun dried tomatoes pieces on top. Sprinkle with capers. 

Drizzle olive oil and place basil leaves on top. Serve with crusty hard bread

Roasting Red Peppers

The quality of this dish depends upon quality of the ingredients. For instance, the red peppers are better if you make them yourself. This is easy.

Wash peppers and place on a baking sheet. Put in the oven on broil and as each side blackens turn the pepper. When all sides have blackened, remove from the oven and allow to cool. 

When I was a kid, cooks used to put the peppers in a paper bag to cool. (I no longer do this.) Once peppers have cooled, remove outer skin. Tear the flesh of the peppers into strips.

Put peppers pieces in glass containers and cover with olive oil to preserve. A raw clove of garlic can be added to a container if so desired. A jar of peppers freezes beautifully.

By

Phyllis Mallah

Smoked Chicken

• 1 whole chicken, preferably organic

• A barbeque with a cover

• Powdered ginger

• Garlic powder

• Soy sauce

Since you are smoking the chicken you will need to create a drip pan to go under the chicken.  Place a piece of heavy duty aluminum foil in the center of the bottom grate.  Fashion sides and heap the charcoal around the foil. 

•  Prepare the chicken by rinsing under running water and patting dry. 
• Bathe the chicken in soy sauce.  If salt is a problem, Bragg is a safe alternative. 
• Rub the skin of the chicken with plenty of garlic powder and ginger. 
• When the coals are ready, place the chicken on the grill breast side down and close the cover.  
• I usually pour the liquid left in the dish over the chicken. 
• As the breast begins to brown, turn the chicken, breast side up.  Chicken is done when the skin is golden brown crispy. 
• This will take as long as the size of your chicken and fire.

Roasted Vegetables

• Try roasting a variety of vegetables: eggplant, Brussels sprouts, zucchini (yellow and green), tomatoes, peppers, asparagus, and even carrots. 
• Prepare the vegetables by cutting them in even pieces. 
• Oil a baking pan and season the vegetables with a variety of herb and spices, i.e. cinnamon, basil, onion and garlic powder, thyme, etc.  
• You can even add bread crumb and/or grated cheese. 
• Finally, splash a bit more olive oil on the vegetables and put in hot oven about 375 degrees. 
• Watch the vegetables until you can figure how long it takes for each kind of vegetable to cook. 

Sometimes I roast two different vegetables at a time and the hot oven warms the house at the same time.  Experiment!      

By

Phyllis Mallah