Even though I love to cook, I have to admit there are many nights that I come home from work tired, annoyed, aggravated, hungry, over-worked and just not in the mood to cook. But unlike in the movies, a fairy Godmother never shows her face to cook me my dinner while I relax in a nice bubble bath (and while we are talking about that no one cleans the tub so I can take that bubble bath either!). This is where some stand by favorites come into play. This dinner is about the opposite of time consuming or thought provoking but it tastes good, pretty much cooks itself and it fancy enough that you could even serve it to company! What makes it even better is that a little prep in advance, gets this dinner on the table in the time it takes to sear a steak (about 15 min total including rest time).
The secret of this dinner is to peel, cut and dice the vegetables ahead of time and then dress with oil and herbs and roast. I try to do a big batch on Sunday or whenever I have a few hours of TV time to enjoy. My veggie roasting involved 2 pans this time, one for harder root veggies (potatoes in this case) dressed with rosemary & thyme and one for some of the softer end of summer veggies: bell peppers, zucchini, eggplant, red onions etc with just some salt, pepper, olive oil and a bit of basil and oregano sprinkled on top. When its time to serve either heat in the oven for a few minutes at 350 F or about 3 minutes in the microwave (or a hot frying pan). Just don't forget the cardinal rule of veggie baking (and stir-frying): even size vegetables have even cooking times!
