My passion du moment is roasting vegetables, and this time of year there are so many good choices.  Last night’s dinner was a medley of some of my favorites:

• baked russet potato
• baked sweet potato
• roasted small onions in their skins (from Chocolate and Zucchini)
• roasted Provençal carrots (from Patricia Wells)
• roasted organic Maitake mushrooms
• roasted sweet red and orange peppers

OK, so I wilted the spinach in a sauté pan; sue me!

Here is my dinner plate; I took the sweet potato, Barbara, the russet, with sour cream and scallions.

The potatoes, the peppers, onions, and mushrooms were oven-roasted at 400º F.  The carrots were pan roasted with olive oil, garlic and Niçoise olives.  The most ingenious technique is the one for the onions, which I picked up from Clotide Dusoulier, who, in turn, learned it from Katie Quinn Davies.  I purposely bought a bag of small onions (but not cippolini for this), and they were perfect.

As you know by now, I am more of an adapter than an inventor.  The votes for easiest dish go the the roasted peppers:

• take one red and one orange pepper
• cut in half lengthwise
• remove stem and seeds
• place cut side down on a roasting pan
• roast at 400º until soft and the skin starts to pull away
• place peppers in a plastic bag to steam themselves
• peel off the skin, slice in strips
• rehydrate a small handful of salt-preserved capers from Puglia, add to peppers
• drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt
• enjoy!

I opened a bag of organic baby spinach, and added a small amount of olive oil to the pan from the carrots.  Cover and sauté/steam until just wilted.  Serve.

I feel these vegetables were indicative of the south of France or a good bit of Italy.  So for a wine, I decided to go with a bottle 0f 2012 Grêle, from Château de Roquefort in France. Please read the back label for the remarkable story of this wine.  Oh, yes, it was delicious.  And will never be replicated, because — due to its origins — no one knows the actual blend of grapes that made it.