Saturday, October 3, 2009

More Fun With Roasting

I have a feeling the "colder" months to come are going to see me using my oven more and more. I'm a fan of slaws and all, but nothing beats a roasted vegetable, especially a root vegetable. Mmmm, starches....

Not much rhyme or reason to what I decided to make this week (well last week now). Basically just whatever sounded good and was in season, as is my way sometimes. Check it out:
  • Coq au vin, courtesy of the Pioneer Woman. Coq au vin, if my French isn't too rusty, just basically means chicken in wine. You had me a wine. This recipe turned out quite delicious. The vegetables went well, the chicken was juicy and tender, and the sauce was sweet and complex. I used brown rice pasta for the first time, and I'm hooked. It's light like regular pasta, but closer nutritionally to whole wheat pasta. Yum! I forwent the stick of butter that she added, of course. This recipe is definitely a keeper, perfect for fall. I used chicken breasts, rather than a whole chicken. I was too lazy to cut one up. The picture to the right is the coq au vin, pre-roasting.
  • Oven roasted broccoli, courtesy of Alton Brown. I had this on the side with the coq au vin. Pretty straight forward. Roasting made is tasty, and the cheese and bread crumbs adds to the deliciousness. Definitely a good preparation for a simple side.
  • Golden beet and pomegranate salad, courtesy of Simple Recipes. Over a bed of arugula or mache with some walnuts sprinkled on top, this was sweet and delicious. I used Alton Brown's method of seeding the pomegranates under water, that way I got zero juice on me. I was amazed. AMAZED! If it stains, I usually get it all over myself. So my hats off to Alton, as usual. The beets and pomegranate seeds worked well together and I liked the hints of orange. Without the extra lettuce and nuts, it was a bit plain for a meal. Since the beets had some great looking greens on them, I went ahead and sauted those in some of the leftover chicken broth and a wee bit of butter. They went great with the salad as well.
  • Brown rice with winter squash and cashews, courtesy of The Kitchn. I've made this one a few times now. I had some acorn squash to use up. It's yummy. I highly recommend this one. Instead of boring old brown rice I like to use the brown rice medley I buy at Trader Joe's. It adds a bit more of a nutty flavor and the texture. I was out of cashews this time, so I used pecans. Nom!
I feel like I'm forgetting something...but that's what I can remember making for the week. Heh. It was good and I felt good eating it! I think everything here was a keeper.

4 comments:

Diana Mo' said...

i gotta try that roasted broccoli. sounds awesome. i dunno why it never occurred to me to roast it before.

JuLo said...

It was super delicious! It never occurred to me either before watching Good Eats. Love that show!

Kelly said...

Wow, I always thought Coq au vin sounded good, but i figured it was hard to make.. this looks pretty easy! I might have to try it next weekend :)

JuLo said...

Kelly, if I can do it, you can do it! That's always my motto because I'm just a run of the mill frazzled mess in the kitchen. ;p

I always thought it sounded complicated too! That's why I love the Pioneer Woman's website. She simplifies everything.