Sultry Spiced Vegetables

Trying to eat more veggies, but tired of the same old dishes? I was feeling this way over the weekend, so I dreamed up a recipe for a roasted vegetable salad with feta that ended up being out of this world.

I started with a giant sweet potato, a yellow onion, a peeled eggplant, a bunch of carrots, and some butternut squash chunks, cutting and peeling everything as needed. After tossing them in oil, I put the carrots, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash into a 420 degree oven to get started while I prepped the dressing.

The dressing was really full of flavors and textures which made this veggie dish so enjoyable. I used about a teaspoon of red pepper flakes, a teaspoon of coriander seeds, crushed, and a half teaspoon of cumin. I absolutely love coriander, so I kept some of the seeds whole, roughly crushing them in a bowl with the back of a spoon.

One of the other key ingredients in the dressing was a fig jam that was in my swag bag from the Boston Food Blogger launch party.

To a little bowl, I added a teaspoon of the jam, the spices, and about a half cup of balsamic vinegar. Then I streamed in olive oil until the dressing tasted just right.

When the veggies were soft and browned, roasted to perfection, I scooped them into bowls and poured some of the dressing over them, tossing to coat all of the warm vegetables.

I cut up a bit of Athenos feta to sprinkle over the top.

And sat down with a glass of wine and a really satisfying dinner. I planned on heating up some chicken sausage with these veggies, but I ended up pretty full from them.

Do you like roasted vegetables? What are your favorite veggies to roast?