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.