Moroccan Roasted Vegetable Stew

I roast veggies in the oven frequently to just munch on. Oddly, vegetables like asparagus, peppers, broccoli and brussel sprouts are the first ones to disappear in the roasted vegetable platter. Carrots are not a favorite in my house and they just remain unwanted along with the onions. This stew from Mollie Katzen's 'Vegetable Heaven' made me overcome my dislike towards certain vegetables. The veggies cook together and flavors come through as one in this stew. You can roast more veggies than required for this stew and have the extra ones as a snack.

The recipe calls for adding cumin and mustard seeds to the vegetables before roasting them. Although I was concerned about burnt cumin seeds and mustard seeds, that did not occur. Try not to omit these; they do add a lot of flavor.

Moroccan Roasted Vegetable stew- 4 servings

1-2 T olive oil
10-15 pearl onions, with skin or 1 medium onion, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 large carrot, diced into large cubes or a handful baby carrots
1 medium zucchini, diced into large cubes
a handful of button mushrooms, roughly chopped
Salt to taste

1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
8 cloves of garlic, skins left on
4 -6 ripe tomatoes, halved and cored
2 large red peppers
1 cinnamon stick
1 can 15 oz fava beans or chick peas, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375º Line two large baking trays with foil, brush with olive oil.
Scatter onions, garlic, zucchini, mushrooms and carrots onto one tray, drizzle with oil and sprinkle cumin, mustard seeds and pinch of salt. Place on bottom rack of oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until tender. Let cool.

I prefer to broil the peppers to get their smoky flavor. I baked tomatoes along with other veggies in a separate baking sheet for 15 min until slightly blistered and skin comes off easily. I did not want to dry out tomatoes too much. The tomatoes will give the liquid component in this stew. If you prefer a lot of liquid, you can add a small can of diced tomatoes instead. Peel peppers, roughly chop and add them to a bowl along with tomatoes. Place cinnamon stick in bowl. Remove skins from onion and garlic. Squeeze out roasted garlic & add to bowl. Add remaining veggies to the bowl, beans and add to taste salt and black pepper.

Let the veggies mingle for a couple of hours. Just before serving, remove cinnamon, cover bowl and heat stew in microwave for 5-10 min. Add the lemon juice liberally.

I served this on some couscous flavored with orange juice and pistachios.