Roasted cauliflower, and sage and thyme roasted chicken

I like roasting things. Take any vegetable, and it's delicious roasted. It's the same with meat (no, not fish...I don't think). When in doubt, put some olive oil and salt on it and put it in the oven at 450 degrees. It might smoke up the kitchen a bit, but the outcome is usually good.

When we visited my mom this summer, she made us a sage-lemon-butter roasted chicken. In that spirit, I created a sage and thyme roasted chicken, and stuffed a quarter of a lemon in its cavity (it was a small chicken). Other than needing to shove butter, sage, and thyme under the skin, this could not be easier; just stick it in the oven until the meat reaches a safe temperature. For those who find the idea of poking around under chicken skin gross, just think: it makes the skin crispier and more delicious.

Since we did have a Romanesco cauliflower (a greenish-colored cauliflower that looks like a cross between cauliflower and broccoli), when the chicken was resting on the counter I put the florets into the hot oven. They were just coated with olive oil and salt, and cooked until tender. With a squirt of lemon juice to finish, the flavor was both bright and sweet.

No recipes here; just three guidelines: cook at 450 degrees (or, if you're brave, 500), don't be afraid of salt, and keep an eye on things; you don't want what you're roasting to burn. Depending on the layout of your kitchen and the sensitivity of your smoke detectors, you might also want to set up some fans to clear the smoke.

Aloo gobi, and making my own garam masala

When we were in Connecticut, we stopped at Trader Joe's, which has to be one of my favorite food stores. (Three things I love that are missing from Canada: Trader Joe's, Target, and widely available unsweetened iced tea.) We picked up two of their Simmer Sauces - basically cheater sauces for weeknights: one for chicken masala, and one for chicken korma. They were still sitting on the counter, waiting to be put away, when I opened up this week's box of veggies - so Indian cuisine was already on my mind.

So, rather than just use one of the sauces, I thought "why not try to make aloo gobi?" Aloo gobi is one of my favorite dishes to order when out at an Indian restaurant - it's cauliflower, potatoes, and delicious Indian spices. (I'm sure I'm not giving it a thorough enough description. Honestly, I'm no expert in Indian food beyond knowing what I like to eat - so here's a link to a description of aloo gobi on Wikipedia.)

My first search for recipes turned up this one, which looked easy enough. However, I had no garam masala in the apartment. Rather than just give up, though, I remembered that a) garam masala is a spice mix, and b) I have quite a few whole spices in my spice cabinet that I've purchased for such a purpose. So I found a recipe for garam masala here. Is it the most authentic? I have no idea; I'm sure every Indian cook has their own blend that they prefer. All I know is that the apartment smelled like an Indian restaurant while the spices were toasting, and it smelled good.

The recipe turned out well, I think; P approved. It was spicier than when I've ordered out, but good with the rice and the store-bought naan (no, I didn't make my own naan last night, too - that's coming later, probably on a weekend night). I did add the garam masala before it was finished cooking; sprinkling ground spices on top of the vegetables didn't seem that appealing to me, but I leave whether that was correct or not to the experts. I now have a ton of garam masala left over, so expect more experimentation with Indian foods over the next few months...

This week's haul

This week's box is full of things I'm very excited to use:

- 7 ears of corn
- 3 tomatoes
- a head of cauliflower
- a head of lettuce
- a cucumber
- 2 carrots

I'm really looking forward to the corn and tomatoes; I think those are the vegetables that evoke summer to me the most. Even if the weather isn't super summery, the food in my kitchen can be!