Roasted Vegetables and Bacon over Brown Rice

I am obsessed with roasting vegetables. I don't know what I am going to do when we are really into the heat of the summer and turning on the oven is the last thing I want to do. Luckily, turning on the oven is still an option.

I ended up with this dish because I was craving rice, which is really an anomaly seeing as the only kind of rice I usually like is risotto. I used a long grain brown rice and the package said it would need 50 minutes to cook. Whoa, no. It was done in about 30 minutes. Check your rice!

I had picked up a package of bacon at the grocery because it was on sale (I can't resist a sale!), so I decided it would add a salty crunchy bite to the veggies and rice. And I am still trying to use up the block of ricotta salata that went into this, so that got crumbled up on top, too. Overall it was extremely satisfying and reheated well the next day.

Roasted Vegetables and Bacon over Brown Rice
Serves 2

Ingredients

3/4 cup uncooked brown rice
3 small/medium golden beets, peeled and cubed
2 broccoli crowns, cut into florets
1 15oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
4-5 slices bacon
Chunk of ricotta salata

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cook rice according to package instructions and set aside.

2. Toss vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes (or until tender), stirring once.

3. Line a second baking sheet with foil and lay the bacon on the foil. When there is about 10-12 minutes remaining for the vegetables, lower the oven heat to 400 and add the bacon baking sheet to the oven.

4. Drain the bacon on a paper towel-lined plate. Mix the rice and vegetables together, and crumble the bacon and ricotta salata on top.