Shiny Happy Vegetables

Had a pretty indulgent week, so I spent today trying to make up for the last several days of excess. Started the morning with green tea instead of the usual cup of coffee. Bit the bullet and ate the last brown-flecked banana from the old bunch instead of taking a greeny-yellow one from the new bunch. Took the dog for an extra-long walk at the beach, and then made her a "special supper" of poached chicken breast and brown rice (instead of her usual dry kibble, sort of a restorative day for her too). Thought it best to break out an oldie-but-goodie for dinner with some lemony oven-roasted vegetables and broiled salmon. 

Here's the thing I love about oven roasting. If you line your pans well with foil or parchment paper, the cleanup is so much faster. Less time washing up after dinner = more time to relax.

Can you do a Detox in one day? Maybe...maybe not. This meal might have qualified, except for the fact that it was topped off with a light shower of Parmesan. Sometimes just a little bit of good-quality cheese goes a long way. Gives everything a tiny dose of unctuousness. A smattering of cheese works wonders to hide cooking "blemishes" too (over-cooked pasta...I'm talking about you). Either way, it was a meal that left my conscience and my stomach satisfied.

Garlicky Lemon-Roasted Vegetables with Toasted Almonds 
You can actually sub with any combo of vegetables. Asparagus, Broccoli, Carrots. Here's what, though. If they have different cooking times, so be it. The ones that cook quickly can be thrown in at the end. Nothing I hate more than over-cooked vegetables, except for the aforementioned pasta.* A good trick when oven-roasting vegetables is to blanch them first so they stay soft and smushy on the inside, but sticky with caramelized bits on the outside (*Best remedy for over-cooked, mushy vegetables that remind you of a high-school cafeteria? Smush them with a fork and stir them into mashed potatoes with a little oil, rosemary and, you guessed it, Parmesan. If you don't like the cheese and herb idea, try Sriracha or sesame oil, depending on the vegetable, of course).

6 fingerling or nugget potatoes, blanched until partially cooked for 10 minutes and then halved
1/2 lb green beans, blanched for 1 minute
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
Coarse salt and white pepper
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 Tbsp grated Parmesan

Preheat oven to 400. Line a roasting pan tightly with foil. Coat foil with olive oil and drop in potatoes and half the garlic. Toss to coat. Roast 10 to 15 minutes or until they start to brown. Scooch the potatoes over in the pan and add the green beans with the remaining garlic, making sure to coat them with a bit of oil. Sprinkle the almonds evenly over the vegetables. Roast for another 5 minutes to desired doneness but be careful to avoid burning the nuts.

Using coarse salt and white pepper gives you soothing bits and shards of saltiness as opposed to unexpected  black pepper punches. Shower the hot vegetables with the cheese first and then season to taste so you can use a little less salt. Serve with broiled fish.

Enough for three servings (or two hungry people).

BTW: I cooked my salmon fillets in the oven beside the vegetables on a separate pan. More or less the same amount of time, but the fillets were less than 1" in thickness.