These are two very easy sides to make, because your oven does all the work! The hardest thing would probably be cutting up the vegetables! Preparing your veggies with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper, and then roasting them at 400F gives a nice carmelization to them all. And if your lucky to have a "convection roast" setting on your stove, that's even better.
Roasted Sweet Potatoes and
Green Beans,
Dried Cranberries,
Toasted Hazelnuts, all tossed with
Brown Butter and Sage. I saw this combination in a magazine and loved it ever since! I think it was shown with whole pecans, which would be equally delicious!
Brown butter and sage, is simply made by melting some butter on medium heat, tossing in some fresh sage, heat until the white milk solids turn brown, and sage is crispy.
Balsamic Glazed Roasted Acorn Squash
Taking balsamic vinegar and simmering it down until it becomes a dark, sweet rich syrup, and then pouring a generous drizzle over your squash, makes it irresistibly good!!!
Have a great day, and Buon Appetito!!
Farro is an ancient grain that has become quite popular these days, it has a rich nutty flavor with just the right amount of chewiness with great health benefits as a bonus! It's easy to prepare with no fuss at all, just cook up some vegetables to add to it and it becomes the perfect main or side dish!
I made this salad over the weekend to serve alongside some grilled meats but it was just as good eaten all by itself for lunch the next day. Bursting with color, it makes you think of spring doesn't it?
Cooking the farro is super easy, cover the grain with water, add a little salt, bring it to a boil then cover and simmer for about 20 - 25 minutes, drain, then spread it out on a baking sheet to cool down.
I roasted red, yellow and green peppers, red onion, asparagus, minced garlic, zucchini, artichokes hearts and peas, all in a 425F oven tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper until tender but not mushy. You can use any vegetables you want just make sure to cut them into bite size pieces.
When everything cools down toss the farro with the vegetables into a large bowl and add chopped fresh parsley and basil, a couple of sliced scallions, if you have some lemon olive oil drizzle some of that all over or make your own by whisking fresh lemon juice with olive oil, add salt, pepper and a generous amount of freshly grated Grana Padana cheese. I like to toss and taste to see how everything is flavored adding a little more of this and a little more of that!
Happy Spring!
