Balsamic Roasted Vegetable Sauce/Spread

This recipe is flexible, simple, vegan, and gluten-free!

Ingredients

• 4-16 cups vegetables, a combination of any of the following:
  • carrots
  • summer squash
  • winter squash
  • sweet peppers
  • eggplant
  • onions
  • garlic
• olive oil and balsamic vinegar (1 T. of each for every 4 cups of veggies)
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• fresh herbs of your choice (I used rosemary, sage, thyme, and oregano. It’s also great with just basil.)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400, and line one or two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Chop your vegetables. Chop slower-cooking veggies like carrots and winter squash smaller than quicker-cooking ones, so they will all get done at the same time. Make sure you include some onion and several cloves of garlic!
3. Toss the vegetables with the oil and vinegar in a large bowl. Spread onto the baking sheets.
4. Slide baking sheets into the oven and bake, stirring every fifteen minutes, until tender.
5. After 30 minutes or so, sprinkle with the salt, pepper, and roughly chopped herbs.
6. When all the veggies are tender but not burnt or falling apart, remove from the oven and cool 15 minutes. Transfer to food processor or blender and puree, adding as much filtered water as necessary to achieve desired consistency. Serve as a sauce over pasta or grains, or leave it thicker and serve as a spread on crusty bread or crackers.