annatto ghee roasted vegetables

Roasted vegetables are a treat. And, pan-roasted vegetables are quick and easy to throw together on a week night. With just a touch of flavored annatto-garlic ghee, these roasted vegetables come to life...

We had a good yield from our garden last year. Some of the hubbard, crookneck and butternut squash we harvested have been resting in the cool basement, aging gracefully. I wanted to use them up soon, so, I've been incorporating squash in my recipes lately. Perhaps over the next few weeks, I can share some of them here.

The varieties we harvested from our garden cook up in no time - just throw the chunks in a hot pan, cover and let the steam soften them - takes just a few minutes, usually.

This roasted vegetables recipe here is the first in the series I hope to do on Various Ways To Use Up The Squash From Last Year :-)

Ingredients
6-8 new baby potatoes, cut in half
3-4 cups of cut squash, cut into fairly big chunks
1-2 bell peppers (green, or red, or yellow)
10-12 asparagus spears (optional)
2-4 cloves of garlic, peeled, sliced
coriander for garnish
salt to taste
2 Tbsp annatto-garlic ghee

Preparation

par-cook the potato halves and asparagus in microwave or boiling water, drain, set aside

heat 1 Tbsp annatto-garlic ghee in a pan, add the garlic, bell peppers, a pinch of salt and sauté till pepper softens a little; remove from pan and drain

add another Tbsp annatto-garlic ghee in the same pan, add the squash, sauté a bit, cover and let the squash soften a bit; then, throw in the potatoes and asparagus, some salt to taste, adjust the heat, and pan-roast the vegetables till desired brownness, stirring as needed; toss in the garlic and peppers sautéed earlier

Serve warm with chicken breast, or, toss in with pasta, or serve with some hot basmati rice. I enjoy it as-is - a meal by itself.

flavored ghee

Ghee is just butter, with milk solids and water removed by gentle heating and simmering.

A dab of ghee is all it takes to make fresh home-made rotis, corn bread or dinner rolls that much more irresistible:-)

Ghee, aka clarified butter, is a staple in my mom's kitchen. She usually had home-made ghee handy. She didn't use it a lot, and certainly didn't fry foods in ghee at home, but, once a fortnight or so, usually on Sundays, my mom used to just serve up ghee and rice for lunch, that's it. It felt like a cleansing meal. And we would get diluted buttermilk as a snack/drink.

These days I like to make ghee at home, with some infused flavors.

Pictured above are annatto-garlic ghee (orange-red, on the left back), mint-jalapeño ghee (greenish, in the front), and cardamom ghee (yellowish, right back).

The procedure is very simple: Gradually melt unsweetened, unsalted butter in a pan. Add any flavoring ingredients at this point, if using, and let it simmer gently. The seething bubbles will get vigorous as water is evaporating away, and then, the bubbling will die down a little. Skim off any foam that rises to the top. Try not to stir once milk solids start separating. It takes a little trial and error to gauge the smell and color when ghee is ready. Off heat, without shaking the pan, strain through a cheese cloth into a container. The clear liquid is ghee.

A box (16 oz) of butter yields about 8 or 9 oz of ghee.

Ghee remains spreadable at room temperature and doesn't need refrigeration if stored air-tight and kept moisture-proof.

Any favorite herbs/spices can be used to infuse wonderful flavor and aroma to the ghee - like rosemary, marjoram, sage, thyme, ginger, garlic, mint, chilies, cardamom and so on.

Add the flavoring to the butter at the start or at any point in the process that results in the infusion strength to your liking. I have experimented with adding it at different stages and found that I like the infusion strength when added right after the butter has melted and is just beginning to bubble. The quantities below are just a guideline, for use with 16 oz of butter.

Here are three of my favorite flavored ghee infusions.

Annatto-Garlic Ghee: 4 Tbsp annatto paste, 6-8 cloves of garlic crushed or minced finely.

Mint-Jalapeño Ghee: ½ cup mint leaves and 1 large jalapeño, broken down into a coarse paste using blender or food processor.

Cardamom Ghee: 6-8 pods of small green cardamom, crushed.