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Wednesday 10 March 2010

Roasted Garlic Vegetables and Brown Rice



Ever since I stumbled on the secret of making a sauce out of roasted garlic, I have used this trick many, many times. I usually make a pasta dish but figured one day that it would probably go well with rice as well. The best thing about this dish is that you can use any kind of vegetable and you will still get a delicious tasty dish.





The Lovely Wife had bought some brown rice and I decided to serve this dish with it. The irony of brown rice is that in days of yore, it used to be eaten mainly by those who didn't have enough money or who were sickly. Nowadays, where most of us are more health conscious, we realise that brown rice is actually much healthier than white rice and is in fact more expensive now. Funny how things work out!

This is how I made the vegetables.


Ingredients
1 tsp oregano
200 g mushrooms - sliced
1 stalk celery - chopped
1 stalk leek - chopped
2 zucchini - sliced
200g spinach - blanched and chopped
2 tomatoes - chopped
2 red capsicums - cut into large squares
1 large bulb garlic
Black Pepper
Method
Cut the end of the garlic and then place the garlic bulb in a small dish. Pour about a teaspoon of olive oil over it and roast in a 200C oven for about 20 mins till soft. Squeeze the cloves of garlic out of their skin and process to make a paste.

Fry the oregano till fragrant. Add in the mushrooms and cook till juices are released. Add in the leek, celery and zuchini and cook till just tender. Add in the spinach and tomatoes. Pour in the garlic paste and mix well. Finally toss in the capsicum and cook till slightly tender. Serve with brown rice



The brown rice has a nice nutty flavour and a nice bite to it. It went really well with the vegetables and it was a most satisfying meal. The Lovely Wife rates this as one of her favourite dishes and I like it too. I also have to admit that with this kind of dish, you really don't need meat to enjoy it. Then again, maybe some meat may make it better...

4 comments:

Meeta K. Wolff said...

delcious comfort food in my books. simple yet so wholesome and satisfying. shall i tell you another awesome secret. try wrapping a whole head/knob of garlic in aluminum foil and throw it on the grill till soft. perfect spread on toasted bread or with all sorts of meat and veggies!

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

This is my kind of dish. The aristocrats didn't know what they were missing because brown rice is the best.

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Yum! Just what I need right now with a slight cold too. No need to sacrifice taste when you have healthy food too!

Elle said...

Roasted garlic is sooo good, but I've never used it as a sauce before. Love your vegetable combination Dharm...no wonder you wife liked it so well. Brown rice has more flavor, too, which might be another reason for increased popularity...sad that it has become so expensive, relative to white rice, but worth it.