20 ways to use roasted summer vegetables

When the vegetables are abundant in late summer, roasting them is a great way to use a lot at once. Once roasted, the possibilities for incorporating them into meals are endless.

Mon, Aug 15 2011 at 1:55 PM

Related Topics:

Recipes, Vegetarianism & Veganism, Waste

YUM: Roasted vegetable panini. (Photo: Muy Yum/Flickr)

Last week, I made ratatouille for the first time, and it was so good — a seasonal delight. I used Smitten Kitchen’s Ratatouille’s Ratatouille recipe, and I highly recommend it. I was a little overzealous with cutting vegetables, though, and I ended up with more vegetables out of the dish than in the dish.

The next morning, I roasted a large baking sheet full of the remaining vegetables in my oven, adding extra onions and garlic. I made Panini for lunch using the roasted vegetables, whole grain rolls, pesto and goat cheese (see the photo above), but I still had a lot of vegetables left.

I used mozzarella cheese on my husband’s sandwich — putting hummus spread on the bread before filling it with the roasted vegetables would have worked, too. I got to wondering what else I could do with the vegetables.

So, I posed a question to my Facebook friends, “How can I incorporate roasted vegetables into meals.” I got plenty of suggestions.

Add them to lasagna or pizza
Simmer them in broth to make a quickie soup
Top a salad with them
Toss with some beans and vinaigrette for a yummy cold side dish
Add to a pasta salad
Puree with broth into a soup
Throw them over some pasta and add chicken or shrimp and a little locatelli cheese
Make roasted veggie risotto
Create an Italian-style fried rice
Puree them and put them into a meatloaf
Cook up some organic ground beef or buffalo and mix in the roasted vegetables. Lightly season with salt/pepper
Make a filling for Quesadillas
Add to omelets
Use them for pasta primavera
Make roasted vegetable hoagies. Pile them on and melt some provolone over the top.
Puree and add to pasta sauce
Use them in a frittata
Make tacos or veggie burritos, just need some Mexican cheese and salsa or pickled jalapenos
Serve cold on a toasted English muffin with drizzle of olive oil
Stir into leftover macaroni & cheese (homemade, preferably)

With all these options, there’s no reason to ever let vegetables go bad in your crisper. Just roast whatever you’ve got, and use in a day or two or freeze in small, meal-ready batches.

Do you have other suggestions for incorporating roasted vegetables into meals?

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