Moroccan Roasted Vegetable Stew

It’s a stew that is cooked in the oven, weird, but a delightful combination of spices and method. The vegetables all fit onto two trays, and you can roast everything at time, assuming your oven has two racks. All the work is in the chopping.

Ingredients

A little olive oil, Bottle or spray

I medium Garlic Bulb

6 medium Tomatoes, not too ripe,

4 large red and/or yellow Bell Peppers, cored (with seeds and stems removed,) but leave Pepper whole

1 medium onions, chopped into 1-inch chunks

4 medium carrots, chopped into 1 to 1 1/2-inch chunks

2 zucchini, chopped into 1 to 1 1/2-inch chunks

1 small-medium Cauliflower

Salt to taste

I Tbl spoon Cumin Seeds

I Tbl spoon Mustard Seeds

1 tsp ground Cinnamon or 1 Cinnamon stick

3 Tbl spoons Lemon Juice (to taste)

Freshly ground Black Pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease two large baking trays.

Tray 1: Place the Garlic bulb in one of the tray. Core the tomatoes, and arrange them on the tray with the bell peppers.

Place Tray 1 on bottom rack of oven, Set timer for 20 minutes. Turn Peppers with tongs about every 10 minutes, so they don’t blister. Don’t turn the tomatoes.

Tray 2 Scatter the onions, carrots, zucchini, cauliflower, drizzle or spray with Olive Oil m with extra oil, and sprinkle with Mustard Seeds Cumin Seeds and a little Salt.

When timer goes off, place Tray2 in upper rack of oven. Set the timer for 20 minutes. Turn Peppers with tongs about every 10 minutes, so they don’t blister. Don’t turn the tomatoes.

When the timer goes off, remove Tray 1 (tomatoes and peppers) which have now had a total bake time of 40-45 minutes. Set the timer for 15 minutes.

Move the Peppers and Tomatoes to a large glass Oven-proof bowl or casserole dish. Sprinkle the Cinnamon around this hot mixture and toss as best you can. They may mush and fall apart and that just fine. Cover and let sit until the timer goes off.

In the meantime, when the garlic has cooled enough to handle, remove roasted Garlic cloves. This can be accomplished by cutting off one end of the clove and squeezing out the pulp. When complete, add all garlic pulp to the glass bowl and re-cover.

When the timer goes off, remove Tray 2 from the oven (total cook time 35 min) and set aside.

Carefully lift out the peppers, leaving as much of their liquid in the howl as possible. Cut the peppers into strips and return them to the bowl. Then lift out the tomatoes, .chop, and return it to the bowl. Fish out and discard the cinnamon stick if you used one instead of the powder.. Scrape the vegetables and seeds on Tray2 in the glass bowl. Add Lemon Juice and Black Pepper. Mix well.

Cover the bowl, and heat the stew in a 350°F oven for about 20-30 minutes. Serve hot, over or next to Brown Rice or Quinoa, and garnished with minced parsley and lemon wedges.

Optional Garnishes: Minced fresh parsley Squeezable wedges of lemon.

NOTE: This IS an easy recipe. But there are a few steps, each of which take time. I’ve written this for the minimum amount of time in the kitchen and a minimum vegetable cooling in between. If you don’t want to shuffle the trays, resetting the timer in between, prepare both trays and start at some time. Put Tray1 on bottom oven rack for 40-45 minutes and Tray2 on top oven rack for 35 minutes. Just let Tray 2 and vegetables sit aside until it is ready to go into the casserole dish and back into oven. Allow a little more time for the complete stew in the oven, since they cooled some before the final combining.

Abstinent Measuring

1 cup Stew = 1 vegetable

adapted from Mollie Katzen's Vegetable Heaven cookbook