Roasted Vegetable Medley

One of my favorite things to do in the kitchen is to open the refrigerator door, look at what's inside and come up with a meal then and there.

Usually, I base what to make on what we have in the fridge (and what needs to be used before it goes bad), but for this particular meal I based everything on one big, round, beautiful dish.

When good friends of ours renovated their kitchen last year, we were the happy recipients of some of those we-haven't-used-this-in-years-we-should-probably-get-rid-of-it dishes. On a regular Tuesday evening in November, Josh led me by the hand into the sun room and showed me what he knew would make my heart skip a beat (or two, or three): a table covered in kitchen goodies.

There was a bundt cake pan (which I had always wanted even though I have never made a bundt cake in my life, but I will...), a pizza stone (I had literally been looking at those in the store the day before), 5X7 loaf pans, various rectangular baking dishes, and one beautiful, huge, round, and very colorful quiche pan. At least I assumed it was a quiche pan, although I had never seen a quiche that big in my life.

So on this particular evening, my goal was to fill this dish with as many colorful veggies as possible.

Mission accomplished.

Then I set out to make something edible with all of them. I present you with my result: a dish I dubbed Roasted Vegetable Medley. Which really is just a fancy word for Whatever-Vegetables-You-Have-Available-In-Your-Kitchen Medley.

It may not look like the fanciest of meals, but it really is delicious (I promise!). I urge you to give it a try. You won't be disappointed and your fridge will thank you.

Roasted Vegetable Medley

I happened to have the below vegetables this evening, although this would work with any mixture of vegetables (broccoli, zucchini, green beans...the sky is the limit!). I also happened to have some crumbled blue cheese on hand, which I decided to throw in and it was delicious. If you have any sort of strong tasting cheese I urge you to toss it in. I'll bet your results will be fabulous. Have fun!

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, pressed
3 medium tomatoes, diced
2 teaspoons herbes de provence
1 big bunch swiss chard, chopped
1 lb mushrooms, quartered
2 medium bell peppers (or about 10 mini ones), roughly chopped
3/4 cup white wine
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup parmesan
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

In a large pot, sauté the onion in the olive oil until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the bell peppers and cook about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, mushrooms, and herbs and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes, the white wine, and salt and pepper. Cook about 2 minutes until the tomatoes break down. Add the swiss chard and mix well so that it is coated in the tomato juices and cook, stirring often, for another 3 minutes. Stir in the parsley, and cheeses. Pour everything into a baking pan and bake for 30 minutes.

Spoon into bowls and top with freshly ground pepper. Serve hot!