Farm to Table: Roasted Vegetables

This is the third post from our Farm to Table series, where I purchase produce from a local farm or market and use it to make a home cooked meal. 

Tremper Hill Farms

A new farm stand opened in 2016 on Route 28 in Mount Tremper. Offering fresh local produce at a fair price, Tremper Hill Farms, is both family owned and operated.  Last weekend I made my first visit to check out this new farm stand and I was quite impressed by the quality and selections!  The brussels sprouts especially caught my eye, and I decided they would be great roasted!  I grabbed a bundle of them along with some cherry tomatoes, shiitake mushrooms and broccoli. I also picked up a yellow onion and some garlic.  I’m going to roast them up and serve over pasta with a garlic and oil  – should be very yummy!

Here’s what I used:

1 cup brussels sprouts
1 cup shiitake mushrooms
1 bunch of broccoli
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
1/2 large yellow onion
8 cloves of garlic
salt & pepper
olive oil
juice of half a lemon
1 tsp of crushed red pepper (or more – to taste)
pasta of your choice

Roasting Vegetables

Roasting vegetables is one of my favorite ways to cook them.  It’s so easy to prep and no fuss to cook. Plus the roasting concentrates the flavors of the vegetables giving you an end result of sweet and caramelized deliciousness!  For starters you’ll need a roasting pan, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Sound so easy, doesn’t it!

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Meanwhile, clean and prep your vegetables. For the brussels sprouts, cut off the end and slice down the middle.

Slice the shiitake mushrooms and cut the broccoli into small pieces.

Cut the cherry tomatoes into quarters. Add the sliced onion as well as some olive oil and salt and pepper. Toss well. Roast in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, mixing the vegetables around every 10 minutes.

While the vegetables are cooking, prepare the garlic and olive oil.  I used about 8 garlic cloves but you could add even more if you like a strong garlic taste.  Finely chop the garlic and saute in olive oil over low-medium heat for 10 minutes or until it starts to become slightly brown. Be sure to keep the heat low enough so the garlic can cook slowly without burning. You want to have a good amount of oil in the pan, about an 1/8 inch high.

Add the crushed red pepper (remember – a little bit goes a long way!) and lemon juice. Continue to cook the garlic for another 5 minutes and then put aside.  Cook your pasta, retaining one cup of pasta water.  Then drain and put aside.

Once your vegetables are done, spoon over pasta, add your garlic and oil mixture and toss together. Add pasta water as needed until you get the perfect consistency and the pasta is well coated.  Voila!  It’s delicious! Enjoy.