'Tis the SEASON

Ahhhhh. The car is dug out of its blizzard-ness, and so are we. Lucy is cruising around Soho with a couple of friends and her camera (at least, I guess she is...she was supposed to text me when her train got to the city...hmmmmm), the robot is vacuuming, and the vegetables are roasting in a 425 degree oven. Surely all is right with the world. The initial idea with the butternut squash was to roast it with some spices and red onion, and then make soup. But who am I kidding? Now that I smell it, there's no way I will puree any of the roasty, carmelized goodness that will come out of the oven. I LOVE any kind of roasted veg by itself; over a whole grain like bulgur, whole wheat couscous, or quinoa; over whole wheat pasta with a fresh grind of black pepper and parmesan cheese; and two days later for lunch in a whole wheat pita along with a smear of tahini-free hummus and whatever else happens to be left over in the fridge.
I almost was going to give you the specific low-down on how to roast the cauliflower, but I did that on an earlier post and don't want to show the full level of my dementia by repeating. Although, if ever there was anything to repeat about, it's roasted cauliflower. Ever since Melissa started making this a few years ago, it's one of the things I crave and can't get enough of its nutty deliciousness.
Since this post is supposed to be about seasoning, just let me say two things about the salt and pepper that flavors the cauliflower. 1. If you don't already have it, stop what you're doing and go to the grocery store and buy KOSHER SALT. Use it EVERY time you salt something (unless you use sea salt, but that's lots more expensive), except for baking; it's preferable to use Morton's plain-old salt for baking. But Kosher salt is waaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy better for all your other cooking---a significant flavor bump you'll come to appreciate. 2. Use FRESHLY GROUND PEPPER from a pepper mill for all your cooking. Just do it. I keep a one-handed pepper mill at the stove to make life easier, and I use my Pampered Chef silicone funnel to re-fill it, or otherwise I have a huge mess on my hands and little peppercorns everywhere.
After Thanksgiving I made a little business trip to Hartford CT and found myself near a Penzeys spice store, where I bought one of their new spice blends, Arizona Dreaming. The ingredients label reads, "spices (must be the secret part), ground ancho, onion, garlic, paprika, citric acid, lemon peel, chipotle pepper, red pepper, jalapeno, cocoa, natural smoke flavoring." I've been using it on everything where I want a little kick, and my butternut squash will be particularly tasty.Speaking of which....in the time it's taken me to write to you, both the cauliflower and the squash are out of the oven. You know it's a good day when I have two Pampered Chef bar pans full of roasted goodness calling my name. Go roast yours.