vegetable sides

Roasted Broccoli with Ginger Soy Sauce

roasted broccoli
| ellenfobrien

Roasted broccoli is made more interesting with addition of ginger soy sauce. And, it’s a no fuss way to incorporate vegetables into your meals!

Because you line a cookie sheet with foil, this side dish also means no clean up, which is a big plus in my household.

Broccoli is a highly nutritious vegetable: providing fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, iron, and potassium. It also boasts more protein than most other vegetables.

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 12 minutes

ingredients
  • 2 cups broccoli florets
  • 2 tbs soy sauce
  • 2 tbs ginger paste
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 tsp each, salt & pepper
  • 1/4 tsp red chili flakes
cooking instructions
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees
  • Cut florets to about 1″; uniformity is important to ensure even cooking
  • Mix soy sauce, ginger paste and chili flakes in a small bowl; set aside
  • Line a cookie sheet with aluminium foil
  • Toss florets with olive oil, salt and pepper
  • Spread florets onto cookie sheet and place in hot oven for about 12 minutes, until fork tender
  • Remove broccoli from cookie sheet and place on serving platter; drizzle sauce and serve hot

Note: you can substitute roasted green beans for the roasted broccoli, if desired. If you want to buy a whole head of broccoli and use the stem as well as the florets, simply trim off the little side leaves and slice into 1/4″ coins. The stem will add additional texture.

Carrots & Parsnips

| ellenfobrien
carrots and parsnips

This is so simple that I wouldn’t really say it’s a recipe — but it is one of my favorite veggies dishes of all time and reminds me of happy family Thanksgivings — always a nice go-to option when I’ve had a really stressful day. (BTW: lots of Americans don’t seem familiar with parsnips; my Mum was English and she introduced our family to this wonderful root vegetable.)

Prep Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

  • Carrots: whole carrots are best, but you can use baby carrots (pre-peeled) to cut prep time
  • Peeled, coined parsnips
  • Salt/pepper, to taste

Cooking Instructions:

  • Heat a large pot with salted water
  • Prep vegetables
  • Once the water is at a rolling boil, add veggies to the pot
  • Cook until vegetables are fork tender
  • Drain vegetables
  • Whip until you achieve a smooth, but not totally pureed, texture
  • Test for seasoning; add salt and pepper, as desired
  • Note that any leftovers can be used to make the equivalent of potato pancakes — mix the leftover veg with an egg, Panko breadcrumbs and dredge with flour. Make patties about 1/2″ thick; preheat olive oil to 350 (you need about 1/2″ of oil in the pan) and cook about 5 minutes on each side. The patties should be crispy and brown; keep an eye on them — you want to ensure that they don’t burn!