Celebrate Your Vegetables

One thing you can say with certainty about Italians is “Italians Celebrate”.  Italians celebrate the seasons, food, drink, art, religion, literature, family, community and amore. You name it, Italians celebrate it. 

During the height of the great Roman Empire there where 182 official days of celebration. The scheduling of all these events may be what prompted Julius Caesar to reform the old Roman calendar and replace it with the new Julian calendar.

Before the new Julian calendar astronomers were a bit confused about the difference in a solar year and a lunar year.  The old lunar calendar calculated a year as twelve months of 28 days.  Because of the shortened year, over long periods of time the lunar calendar caused months and seasons to become out of sink with seasonal rituals and sacrifices.  Christmas in July and out-of-season sacrifices must have been a scheduling nightmare for the Emperor.

To remedy this Caesar consulted with an astronomer from Cleopatra’s court and introduced the new Julian calendar. The new calendar consisted of twelve months with a total of 365.25 days.  This added an additional 22 days each year for celebration.  Leap year added an extra day to the calendar every four years. This was a great accomplishment and should be celebrated.  Hail Caesar!

Just like here in New England, Italians are currently celebrating the harvest season.  Local farm stands and markets are loaded with beautiful fruits and fresh vegetables.  As a chef, celebration enthusiast and lover of fresh local food…..I wish I could add a few more days to the calendar each year to celebrate the harvest season. 

One of my favorite autumn recipes is a simple dish of roasted vegetables, which can be prepped ahead of time and left in the oven for hours. 

Roasted Harvest Vegetables

Fresh vegetables from your garden, local farmer’s market or farm. 

The selection depends on what’s available and your own personal taste.

A few suggestions:

• Red and Yellow Pepper, Squash,  Zucchini, Fingerling Potatoes, Eggplant, Celery, Fennel (one of my favorites) , Green Beans, Heirloom Tomatoes, Broccoli, Onion, Asparagus and Wild Mushrooms­­.
• Washed, peeled if desired and chopped to uniform size

• Arrange in large shallow baking dish
• Coat lightly with extra virgin olive oil
• Add a splash of balsamic vinegar
• Season with chopped garlic, sea salt and course ground black pepper
• Add your favorite herbs – Rosemary is always a good choice

Bake for two hours at 200 degrees until tender and slightly browned.

While you wait - Celebrate the harvest with a nice glass of vino ….or maybe two.

Drizzle with white truffle oil and/or dust with grated parmesan before serving.

Enjoy as a side dish or as a vegetarian main course.