Roasted Vegetables with Walnut Gremolata, a la Bonnie

As most of us vegetable fiends already know, roasted veggies are amazing. However, when you top them with this delicious walnut-lemon zest-parsley-parmesan paste, the amazingness gets upped significantly! Also, the leftovers are fabulous served cold. Adapted from epicurious.com.

4 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1-inch rectangles
4 parsnips, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, then crosswise
2 medium turnips, peeled, halved, cut into 1-inch-thick wedges
1 pound brussels sprouts, trimmed, halved
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
About 4 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fresh parsley
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
zest of one lemon
1 small garlic clove

Preheat oven to 425°F. Toss carrots, parsnips, turnips, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower in a large bowl with 3 tablespoons oil, or however much you need to make them slightly shiny. Transfer to rimmed baking sheet (or to multiple baking sheets, as it's best if all your veggies have at least one side touching the pan); sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until vegetables are tender, shaking the pan every 15 minutes so they don't stick. It'll be about 1 hour. Basically, you want them to be soft, and for at least one side of each veggie to be browned - that means that they'll be sweet and delicious.

Now, for the gremolata! Pile the walnuts, parmesan, parsley, garlic, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and lemon zest into the food processor. Add some fresh pepper. Process for just a few seconds, until everything is coarsely ground together. The paste should be fairly dry; if it's wet, add some more walnuts.

Drizzle vegetables with remaining 1 tablespoon lemon juice and toss. Sprinkle gremolata over vegetables just before serving.

Aloo Gobhi (Potato and Cauliflower Curry)

After many failed attempts to make North Indian food, this one finally turned out brilliantly! This is courtesy of the blog "Sanjha Chulha" ("Common Oven"), at http://sanjhachulha.blogspot.com - with a few adjustments.

1 small head of cauliflower, cut into small pieces, making 2 cups of cauliflower florets
2 tbs vegetable/canola oil
1 large onion, cut into small pieces
2 garlic cloves, chopped into small pieces
potatoes, chopped into small pieces - about 2 or so cups total (I used about 8 small red ones)
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp salt
2 tsp garam masala (I love MTR brand)
cayenne pepper, to taste
1 tbs butter
1 tbs peeled and finely grated ginger


1. Wash the cauliflower by swishing it around in a bowl full of cold salted water. This adds a little bit of salt before you begin frying.
2. Heat the oil in frying pan and add the onion, garlic and potatoes and fry untill the color of onions is deep yellow and its translucent (approx. 10 min.)
3. Add the cauliflower and fry till the onions are now brown (approx. 3-4 min.)
4. Add the turmeric, cumin, coriander, cayenne, salt and garam masala, stir and fry. (approx. 5 min)
5. Mix well.
6. Add the butter and mix, add 6-7 tbs cold water and simmer. (approx. 5-10 min. but it depends, so keep checking till the potatoes are done. if they're taking a while, cover the pan and let it hang out for a few minutes).
7. Stir in the ginger and cook for a minute or two.
8. Serve with rice or roti (flatbread - the naan you can buy at trader joe's is pretty tasty!)

Priya's masala-roasted vegetables

So it turns out that grad school not only eats your soul; it also eats your palate. Over the past year I've had less and less time to cook, and have therefore turned to the world of frozen burritos and food court meals to sustain me. Even now that my last paper has been turned in, I've had ZERO motivation to cook fresh veggies and have still been poking around the frozen prepared food section of my grocery store whenever I'm hungry. TV dinners are addictive. (Cue audible gasp from readers who are aware of the amount of vegetables I normally consume).

But then, last night, I was saved by a certain lovely lady named Priya, who cooked up these delicious veggies for me and made me remember how much I love veggies AND cooking AND her.

For those of you who aren't into spicy food, this would be delicious with just olive oil, garlic, and salt, though the masalafication makes it extra yummy. You can also of course pick and choose which vegetables you'd like to roast.

Ingredients:
1 head broccoli, cut into florets
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
a handful of brussel sprouts, halved
olive oil
salt
a few cloves of garlic, chopped (2 if you only kind of like garlic, 4 if you think it's fan-tabulous)
garam masala or curry powder (preferably MTR brand, if you can find it, but any other kind will do)

Preheat oven to 425. Toss veggies with the garlic, a few glugs of olive oil (mush it around with your hands until all the vegetables look a little shiny), a sprinkle of salt, and a sprinkle of garam masala. Spread veggies out on a shallow pan or two. Roast them in the oven for about 15 minutes, then pull them out and taste one. If it's still crunchy, put it back it for another 5-10 minutes. Continue until they're starting to brown a little on the bottom and are soft and delicious.