Not quite an old shoe...

roasted vegetable magic, originally uploaded by michele wynne.

...but close. Here is where I obsess over illustrate the amazing transforming powers of my favorite roasted vegetables.

I can't think of anything that brings me more joyful anticipation (well, besides Disneyland) than shopping at Rainbow, a not-so-nearby, ginormous, grocery co-op that features an impressively massive bulk foods area.

This is just way cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once I get home with my bags of beans, lentils, flours, teas, spices and nuts, I have to go to town on the pantry. The afternoon is spent freeing up big jars, transferring remnants into smaller jars and making new labels. I love making new labels. Yes, I'm a geek.

I'm also left to ponder the fates of questionable remnants.  You see, until today, I've neglected to date anything. So whilst scrounging for containers, I found a jar holding a mystery whole wheat ziti. First off, I have no idea what on earth even possessed me to buy whole wheat ziti to begin with. Perhaps it was back in the day before I thought that Whole Foods was the devil and found it on sale at the same fleeting moment I went on a healthy eating mini-tangent and thought whole wheat pasta was a good idea. I have no idea how long it's been sitting on my shelf. It wasn't even in the pantry, it was on a shelf by the window. Sitting out in broad daylight for what has to be at least a year. I think I put it there for decoration, although I can't imagine why I thought ziti, the color of wet cardboard, would be decorative. I almost tossed it, but thought better of that because I loathe throwing food away, so I cooked it. I had no plan for it when I threw it into the pot. I just wanted to see if it was palatable. It was. Just barely. It wasn't great but it didn't suck either. It wasn't quite an old shoe.
I hesitated this next move, sacrificing my dynamic duo, but what the hell. I chopped up and stirred in the last of my roasted peppers and tomatoes <sniff>, freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano, a couple of pinches of salt, a few grinds of black pepper and fresh basil. It was pretty damned good.
This would just KILL on homemade pasta! Oh yeah, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record, the other great thing about these roasted vegetables is the olive oil that you use to store them in is super flavorful. It's already sauce.