Eat Your Vegetables!

Maybe some of you don’t particularly care for vegetables. But I know that you know that you should eat more of them. You might not like them boiled; you might not like them steamed; you might not even like them raw; but I know most of you appreciate how wonderful roasted vegetables are. Right? And I’m sure most of you partake of them on a regular basis. Right? You know what I’m talking about—tender, crispy, caramelized morsels of goodness. Piping hot, fresh out of the oven, too hot to hold, but in the mouth they go. Roasted cauliflower, roasted string beans, roasted sweet potatoes. It doesn’t matter—when the tray comes out of the oven, anyone walking by them in my house feels free to help themselves, and pops them into their mouth like candy. I half-heartedly yell “stop” and “there won’t be enough for dinner.” But secretly I’m so happy they are eating veggies.

But an interesting phenomenon occurs when we finally sit down to dinner. I assume that everyone will be so excited to eat the veggies they couldn’t keep their hands off of in the kitchen. So what happens? The second those perfectly cut vegetables get dumped into a bowl with a serving spoon, and are placed on the table, they are done for. No one will touch them. What happened? Between transferring them from the hot baking tray to a beautiful serving dish, what has changed to make them so unappealing? “Eat them,” I say. “You love them,” I plead. But if they aren’t picking them off the tray with their bare hands, apparently vegetables hold no interest. So I guess I just have to line up trays of veggies on the kitchen counter, as they come out of the oven and pretend that I don’t see what is going on. I must allow the veggies to get eaten pre-dinner. I guess there are worse things in the world. Right?

So, how do you keep them coming back for more? Sometimes the right combination of vegetables roasted together keeps things interesting. It can be a little tricky because different vegetables need different cooking times. Case in point: If I roast some zucchini with a potato, I will have a disaster on my hands. But I’ll tell you what you can roast together: this simple combination of colorful and flavorful vegetables. They come together beautifully and deliciously, and the balsamic glaze is the icing on the cake! (But, let’s be honest. There’s no cake…) Try it! And if there are any leftovers that don’t get eaten, puree them with some broth and make roasted veggie soup!

Balsamic Roasted Vegetables

2 large red onions, peeled and cut into wedges

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

2 C. Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved

2 C. medium butternut squash, peeled and diced

8 ounces carrots, peeled and cut on the bias into 1-inch slices

8 ounces fingerling or baby potatoes, halved

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Balsamic Glaze:

1/3 cup vegetable broth

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl, toss the vegetables with the oil, salt and pepper and place on a large sheet pan. Spread the vegetables in an even layer and roast, stirring once halfway through, until tender, 40 to 45 minutes.

For the glaze: In a small saucepan, combine the vegetable broth, oil, vinegar, honey, mustard, lemon juice and some salt and pepper. Cook over low heat until the glaze is reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Serve over the vegetables.

Rachel is a real estate attorney, currently trying to fend off the vegetable pickers in the kitchen. You can find The Kosher Dinner Lady on Facebook and Instagram. You can contact her at [email protected].