Winter Vegetable Feast

These ain't ya mama's brussel sprouts.

When it's cold outside, and Thanksgiving is over, and you're waiting for the first real snow to hit the ground, there's nothing that warms things up like roasting some winter veg in the oven.

I know I'm not the first one on the bandwagon here, but really: simple, roasted vegetables are the way to go!  Nothing tastes heartier or more delicious than slightly crisped, well-seasoned vegetables that the oven has turned into nutritious dinner-jewels.  (okay, I'm waxing a little poetic, but they're delicious!)

The best part, especially now around finals, is that they're way hands-off.  Throw them in the oven, sit down, go through a lecture, pop up to check on them, and there! dinner's all done.

Oven-baked Carnival squash with a pseudo-poached egg
and roasted brussel sprouts

I like to make my winter squash the way my mom used to, cut in half, gutted, and baked in a pan with a little water in the bottom and foil on top until it's melt-in-your-mouth tender.  This takes about an hour to an hour and a half, so it's good to start ahead of everything else.

Brussel sprouts are a new wonder, too.  When I was little, they were awful: Mom would steam them in the microwave or on the stove, and I remember them being a terrible olive color and smelling disgusting, with a texture that was basically mush.  These I halved and tossed with some olive oil, salt & pepper and popped into the oven 20 minutes before the squash was done.

To pull it all together, I wanted a fried egg with an oozy yolk, but decided I'd made enough dishes for myself.  With the squash done, I put it on a plate, cracked an egg in the middle, and covered with plastic wrap.  Microwave for about a minute or two (check every thirty seconds or so!) until it's done the way you like it, and it looks way prettier than the time it takes to make would suggest.

Bonus: you can actually roast squash seeds in about 5 minutes in the microwave! I did not know this was possible.  I washed them and originally was just going to dry them in the microwave, but after a "nuke for a minute, stir, repeat" for a couple of tries, I added a tiny splash of oil and salt and continued microwaving in 1-minute bursts until they were toasted.  It probably was 5-6 minutes total--I didn't really keep track and since I was trying this out I wasn't even sure it would work.  But it was way faster and just as delicious as the oven, without washing a pan afterwards.