Beer Battered Squash Blossoms

This recipe is from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian - we used squash blossoms (somewhat hard to find; try them if you can find them at your local farmstand or market) but essentially you can batter and fry almost any vegetable, although the cooking time varies. Once we finished with the squash blossoms, we had leftover batter and subsequently battered and fried zucchini. [But note: this was simultaneously a brilliant and a horrible idea - brilliant because it was very good, horrible because I ate too much and had a stomachache the rest of the night.]


oil for frying (neutral eg. vegetable, corn...)
1 c flour + more for dredging
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
pepper
1 egg
3/4 cup beer (or sparkling water)
kosher/coarse salt for finishing







Put enough oil in deep pan on stove over medium high; prepare veggies as you allow the oil to heat - bring oil to 350 degrees. Mix batter ingredients but be careful not to overmix. Dredge veggies in flour, then dip in batter. Add veggies to oil - don't overcrowd to allow for proper browning. Cook and turn once if needed, until golden (a couple minutes). Drain and serve, sprinkled with coarse salt.

Roasted Winter Vegetables

Maybe this is old news, but I just recently discovered how delicious carrots, parsnips, potatoes, yams, and butternut squash are cut up and roasted in olive oil and salt and pepper.  You can cook them in any combination (carrots and parsnips are delicious together), just make sure the veggies are cut in similar sizes so they will cook at the same speed.  My picture features potatoes and sweet potatoes, so I've included the recipe for that, but whatever you have on hand will be delicious.


2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut in 11/2 in cubes
2 baking potatoes, peeled and cut in 1 1/2 in cubes
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 tbsp kosher salt (or to taste)
1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper


Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Prepare your vegetables, minding that they will shrink while cooking, so don't make the pieces too small.  Place the cut pieces on a sheet pan.  Add the olive oil, salt, and pepper and toss well.

Roast for about 25-35 minutes, depending on the size of your vegetables (1 1/2 in cubes usually take 25 min), and turning once half way until golden and crisp.  Serve hot.