Roasting is right for quick dinner

The best fast dinners come from the oven, Ina Garten says in her latest book, Go-To Dinners (Clarkson Potter/ Penguin, $47). Meat, vegetables, even fruit will become crisp and flavour-enhanced when roasted, writes the woman known as the Barefoot Contessa.

Her tips on roasting begin with a warning to make sure your oven is preheated; it can take up to 30 minutes. Use an oven thermometer, and roast on sheet pans so heat can circulate, she writes.

Garten's 13th cookbook, illustrated with larger-thanlife photographs by Quentin Bacon, promotes preparing part of a recipe in advance. Vegetables can be cut and bagged hours before roasting, Garten writes. Only potatoes need to be cut up at the last minute or they turn brown, she warns. Cut-up foods such as squash, potatoes, peppers, even tomatoes take on texture and flavour when roasted.

Today's recipe is an example of Garten's easy oven dinners.