Some creative fridge cleaning

In an effort to free some room in the fridge before receiving our weekly CSA share, I decided to make a very large quantity of yummy roasted vegetables.  I didn't want to just roast them in salt, pepper, and olive oil like I normally do regardless of how delicious and simple it is.  Luckily, I stumbled upon a recipe for Moroccan Roasted Vegetables in a Moosewood cookbook.  Just the pizzaz I was looking for!  The spices are warm and full of flavor without being overwhelmingly strong.  The different textures of the vegetables I put together worked wonderfully.  What's great about this recipe is that you can really use any oven-hearty veggies you have on hand - the vegetables I had were somewhat different from those in the original recipe.

Moroccan Roasted Vegetables
Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, cut into 1/4 inch half-moons
• 2 large zucchini, cut into 1/4 inch slices
• 5 medium carrots, cut into 1/4 inch slices
• 10 cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup cooked split chickpeas
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tsp cumin
• 3/4 tsp turmeric
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp paprika
• pinch of cayenne (or to taste)
• 1 tsp salt
• pepper (I'm certainly generous with my pepper)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Mix together all the ingredients in a very very large bowl.
3. Spread the seasoned vegetables onto an ungreased baking tray.
4. Bake for 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven and stir well.  Bake for another 20 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

I served these as a side (well on my plate, the pile of veggies looked more like the main dish) with some paprika buttermilk roast chicken (courtesy of Smitten Kitchen).  Yumm!

Beautiful colors - the more colors, the more vitamins (or at least that's what I've been told throughout my life...)

Then, the next day I made some quinoa (cooked in chicken broth and with a few tsp lemon juice, inspired by Giada) and mixed in the leftover veggies as well as some golden raisins.  Topped with a few toasted cashews, it was the perfect leftover re-think!  I wish I had a picture...alas, I gobbled it up too quickly.


Now, for dessert.  In my last post, I mentioned that the tart dough recipe made enough dough for two tart crusts.  Hmm, what would I do with the second potential crust?  With veggie tart leftovers already in the fridge, I decided to go in the sweet direction.  I was craving tarte au riz, a classic Belgian dessert (or afternoon snack!...or breakfast, for me at least).  It's basically rice pudding baked in a pie crust.  However, the crust is never a flaky, buttery pate brisee, but rather it is more of the bready-yeasty variety, similar to the tart dough recipe I posted.  What could be better?  It's one of the things I look forward to most when we go to Belgium!  Although I will never be able to replicate the real thing 100%, this was pretty close and scrumptious as well.

Tarte au Riz
Adapted from http://www.food.com/recipe/belgian-rice-tart-tarte-au-riz-454401

Ingredients:

• other half of the batch of tart dough (See previous post about gruyere spinach tart.  I left the second batch of dough in the fridge overnight, and it was absolutely fine the next day!  I'm guessing it could even stay in the fridge an extra day without too much harm.)
• 4 1/2 oz arborio rice
• 2 1/2 cups whole milk
• 3 1/2 oz sugar
• 1 egg, separated
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Put the rice, milk, and sugar in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and then let simmer for 30 minutes until it looks rice-pudding-like (i.e. creamy with the rice cooked through).  You may need to add more milk if it looks too dry or if the rice is not yet cooked.  
2. Remove the rice from the heat and let cool.  
3. Preheat the oven to 430 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Roll out your tart dough, line a 9-inch tart pan, and trim off the excess dough*.
5. Using a pastry brush, brush some of the egg yolk onto the dough.  Put the crust into the oven for 5 minutes.  Remove and set aside.
6. Fold the rest of the egg yolk into the cooked rice.
7. Whip the egg white until you have stiff peaks.  Fold the egg white into the cooked rice.
8. Pour the rice mixture into the prepared crust.
9. Bake the tart for 25-30 minutes or until browned on top and set in the center.  The tart may brown faster than you desire - mine got dark brown after just 15 or so minutes.  If this happens, just drape some aluminum foil over the top and problem solved!
10. Remove from the oven and let cool.

*Note: to get even more out of your tart dough scraps, drizzle them with olive, sprinkle with salt, and throw them in the oven for some yummy "pita" chips.

Pretty pretty.  I love the simple beauty of this tart.

And into my belly it went.