Roasted rainbow veggies — a warm salad.

Hello foodies! I have been heavily distracted by many things the last three weeks to the point where this post almost would not have happened. But I made it! It is delicious and I’m looking forward to you trying it out and giving me some feedback.

just look at that plate of colour, just beautiful — and it's delicious too!
just look at that plate of colour, just beautiful — and it’s delicious too!

The team #onja challenge this week was to make something around the word rainbow. The thing with these challenges is they are open to interpretation, one does not have to make a literal rainbow, but I couldn’t resit. I love colourful food! Especially when it’s tasty. Take this confetti vegetable recipe I did last year for example, or this lovely purple cabbage salad… yum yum.   

I settled on doing a warm salad, and decided to use at least one veggie that I’ve never used before — turnips! I’ve eaten them in restaurants before but never used them in a dish at home.  So here is the mix I settled on: carrots, beets, turnips, cherry tomatoes, sweet corn (used canned sweet corn this time) and zucchini. Not pictured is avocado to bring the flavours together (cause avocados do that so well!) and fresh mint and goat cheese for sprinkling.

ready for washing, peeling and chopping!
ready for washing, peeling and chopping!

Chopped all the veggies that needed chopping (after washing and peeling off course), then tossed then in a bit of corn oil (can use whatever oil you usualy use for cooking) and salt, separately. Except for the turnips, I tossed those in coconut oil.

used foil to make little compartments so that the colour from the beets and the coconut oil in the turnips wouldn't mix with the others
used foil to make little compartments so that the colour from the beets and the coconut oil in the turnips wouldn’t mix with the others

Then placed in the preheated oven at 180°C for 30 to 45 min. When they were in I realised that I had left out the tomatoes (-_-) so they went in in a separate pan. In hind sight, I should have put the beets, turnips and carrots in one pan (they need longer to cook, up to that 45 min mark), then the zucchini and tomatoes together in another pan (done in 30 min). So keep that in mind when you get ready to make yours.

wasn't enough room for the tomatoes in the big pan so they went in the oven in another smaller pan
cherry tomatoes went in the oven in another smaller pan

Another thing to keep in mind is to lay all the veggies in one layer. Don’t pile, they will sweat and steam instead of roasting.

while the veggies are roasting, prepare the avocado and garnish. For the avocado, just slice and squeeze a lemon over it to keep it from oxidizing
while the veggies are roasting, prepare the avocado and sprinkles. For the avocado, just slice and squeeze a lemon over it to keep it from oxidising
for the garnish, chop up some fresh mint and ...
for the sprinkles, chop up the fresh mint and …
goat cheese! Yes that is goat cheese. But if you are not a fan, feta will do just fine.
goat cheese! Yes that is goat cheese. But if you are not a fan, feta will do just fine
here are the veggies, nicely roasted...
here are the veggies, nicely roasted…

And now to serve, which I discovered was quite a challenge. It’s a warm salad, so it has to get to the table for guys to serve while it’s still warm. I didn’t manage that very well so ended up having to warm plates in the microwave after serving. Why? Because I was determined to serve my warm salad as a rainbow!! (^_^)

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and there you have it! My roasted rainbow veggies. What are the turnips supposed to be you ask? it’s a cloud,… yes, there’s always a cloud somewhere with the rainbow

The veggies cooled while I was busy trying to figure out the best way to arrange the them. But read on, I have a better idea for the next time I do this.

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What I really didn’t want was to serving the salad already mixed because the beets would colour all the other veggies  and it would not look even a little appetising. It’s better for each veggie to be served separately. So the next tine I do this, I’ll quickly put all the veggies into small bowls of similar size and arrange the bowls in a line at the table to make the rainbow. That way they get there faster, and still warm.

yum! it is as delicious as it looks, I know I must say this often but this really is delicious (^_^)
yum! it is as delicious as it looks, I know I must say this often but this really is delicious (^_^)

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So hubby had this for dinner last night and gave it a stelar rating! Yaaaaaaaay! I’ve been asked to bring back the husband rating so here it is.

Husband Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆

This is awesome alone but if you’d like to add something, a boiled egg would be great. It would also go nicely with a steak or roast chicken if you fancy some meat.

Remember to check out all the other #onja posts from the team (links in blogroll on the sidebar and the onja page!

Blessed weekend everyone!

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About aika

Making, eating and sharing good food are a splendid way to start, brake and end a day! I post good eats on www.pendolamama.co.ke. Life is a feast, eat up!

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