roasted zucchini with goat cheese.

There are certain cooking techniques I constantly fall back on.  I love to top leftover hashes with poached eggs.  I love to shred leftover meat and combine it with crushed tomatoes to turn it into a pasta sauce.  But most of all I love roasting vegetables.  

Roasting vegetables is one of my favorite techniques.  Upon contact with a blast of high heat carrots turn crisp and sweet and kale turns into chips!  Easily the best thing about roasting is that a large quantity of vegetables suddenly turns into a manageable amount (it's a great way to shrink overflowing produce drawers!).  My favorite vegetable to roast is zucchini. If you cut the zucchini into rounds they almost turn into chips (use your imagination here, they are healthy chips!)  Drizzled with balsamic vinegar, goat cheese, and basil it turns into a beautiful side dish.

Roasted Zucchini with Goat Cheese

Serves 2 as a side dish

1 pound zucchini, cut into 1/4 inch rounds

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more if your like me and like it spicy!)

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1 ounce goat cheese

A couple of torn basil leaves

Set oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly grease a baking sheet and line up your zucchini rounds. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Roast for about 20 -25 minutes until brown and crispy. Top with crumbled goat cheese.  Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and scatter basil.