Roasted broccoli and sweet taters

You preheat the oven to 425.

4 to 5 pounds of broccoli (I just got two large bunches), cut into florets (but relatively big ones.)
dry them THOROUGHLY. That is, if you wash them.
(I saw an episode of Julia Child cooking with Jacques Pepin once when Pepin revealed he doesn't wash a chicken before putting it in a hot oven: "The heat kills all the germs," he said in his French accent. "If bacteria could survive that oven, it deserves to kill me." By that logic, then, I didn't wash my broccoli
I wanted it to get crispy and brown. If you're nervous, though, just wash and dry it obsessively.

Now, it's easy. Put the broccoli on a cookie sheet.
Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.
(She says 5 Tbs olive oil, 1 1/2 tsps kosher salt, 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper, but I just eyeballed it.)
Now add 4 garlic cloves that are peeled and sliced and toss them in too.
Roast in the oven 20 to 25 minutes, until "crisp-tender and the tips of some of the florets are browned."
I shook the pan around a bit as it went, but not sure that's necessary.

When it's done, take it out of the oven--and here's where it gets really good—
zest a lemon over the broccoli,
squeeze the lemon juice over the broccoli,
add 1.5 Tbs more olive oil,
3 Tbs toasted pine nuts (I left those out)
1/3 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
2 Tbs julienned fresh basil, (but I left that out too.)


Roasted sweet potatoes
cut the sweet potato into six wedges (cut in half, then cut into thirds), toss in olive oil, salt, pepper and a tiny bit of brown sugar and roast at 425 for 15 minutes, flipping it over, and continuing until brown.
swap the olive oil for vegetable oil, which has a higher smoking point, and raise the oven temp to 450.
leave the skin on The result were fantastic wedgy sweet potato fries; you sprinkle with more salt and serve right away.


Both from:
http://www.amazon.com/Barefoot-Contessa-Back-Basics-Ingredients/dp/1400054354/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1