Roasty Toasty

You may have heard that here in northern California we are short on water. There have been dire warnings of water rationing each evening on the news and we fear the fires that come in the summer after too-dry years. We watch anxiously the measuring of the Sierra snowpack and wonder if we'll be collecting shower water again for our gardens this summer. Conversations with neighbors tend to drift to the amount of water each flush or car wash uses and how to reduce it.

Well, you could have fooled me!

After weeks of unrelenting heavy rain when nary a shadow could be seen on the ground through the heavy cloud cover, and the dog and I both have muddy paws when we come in, it would seem that our water situation must have at least been slightly improved. The Powers That Be have not relented in their harangue about water levels, however, so I decided it was time to declare officially in my kitchen that water rationing is in effect.

This batch of roasted vegetables is my first offering to the rain gods. It's all warming and tasty and toasty, good for what ails you, especially on a rainy day. All you do is cut up winter-type veggies in roughly same-size pieces, toss them in some good olive oil, drizzle them to taste with balsamic vinegar and sprinkle them with Garam masala before roasting them in a 350-400 degree oven until they are tender, roughly 40 minutes. I used unpeeled kabocha squash, red yam and russet potato, all cut in slivers. To those, I added a white onion, sliced lengthwise through the root end to keep the spears together and a full head of garlic, sliced across the top to expose the cloves. The roasting softens the skins to delicious edibility and the flavors mingle nicely in the oven.

Best of all, it uses not a drop of precious water to deliver its roasty toasty flavors.