Roasting Seasonal Vegetables

I prefer roasting vegetables over almost any other method of cooking. The flavors concentrate in the oven, rather than leaching out into the water when boiling.

Today, I was inspired at the farmer’s market by really fresh yellow squash and zucchini squash. Then I saw some shiny poblano peppers, which added another layer of flavor to the somewhat bland squash mix. Finally, I found some sweet baby broccoli (not broccoli rabe, which I find bitter). These were tender thin stalks of broccoli and they looked fantastic.

I cut the squash into large chunks, added chunks of poblano peppers, seasoned with olive oil, salt & pepper, and tossed together on a sheet tray.

On another sheet tray, I cut the stems from the florets of the baby broccoli, chopping the stems into several bite-sized pieces, and tossing them with the florets, as mentioned above, with olive oil, salt & pepper. I also had a big bunch of fresh dill on hand, so I chopped some dill and sprinkled it over the broccoli pieces on the sheet pan before roasting.

The squash roasted for 15 minutes at 400 degrees, and then I tossed them around on the sheet pan and returned to the oven for another 15 minutes. At that time, for the last 15 minutes, I added the broccoli to the oven — which takes less time to cook than the squash mixture. Altogether, the squash roasted for 30 minutes and the baby broccoli for 15 minutes.

To serve, I lined the broccoli down the middle of a platter, and then flanked with the squash mixture on either side for a nice presentation. The broccoli was garnished with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese before serving.