Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Roasting Vegetables

I mentioned yesterday that we like roasting vegetables. The technique is rather simple and doesn't add fat to the vegetables. Personally, I believe this makes for some of the best tasting vegetables since the heat carmelizes the natural sugars in the vegetables.
I haven't roasted all vegetables so I don't know what wouldn't work with this but so far it's been nothing but success.
Over the weekend, I roasted sweet potatoes with a little salt and dill. The result was a vegetable that almost was eaten before it made it to the table. My son would sneak a "chip" as he found more and more excuses to come into the kitchen.
With sweet potatoes, I peel the outer layer and then slice into "chips". Layer them single layer on a baking sheet and sprinkle with seasonings. I sprinkle lightly because the seasonings are there to accent the vegetable not cover the flavor - maybe as much as a full tablespoon of dill and salt for 3 sliced sweet potatoes. Put in a 350 degree oven until tender. The time frame will depend on the thickness of your slices. I believe it took less than 20 minutes to cook my sweet potatoes and I had expected it to take longer.
Other vegetables to roast:
potatoes (wash well and slice)
Brussel sprouts (roast whole or quarter if larger)
asparagus
squash

Sadly, that's all I can think of that we have roasted. It will just encourage me to try more. I think we'll try cauliflower and eggplant. I bet those will be just great.

I have roasted corn on the cob but with a slightly different technique. I leave the husk on the corn and set it on the rack in the oven at 350 (can roast them over a fire as well this way). You may want to remove the hair to prevent them from catching fire. I haven't had a problem in my oven but they burn every time over a fire.
This makes for a tasty vegetable but my family hates trying to peel the hot husk from the corn.
We've roasted different vegetables over a fire than in the oven: mushrooms, zucchini, onions, peppers. They make wonderful toppings to roasted meat.
Tomorrow, I'll talk about steaming vegetables. One thing to remember with either technique - they work best with fresh vegetables but that shouldn't limit you from trying to roast frozen. We have roasted frozen brussel sprouts without a problem. Canned vegetables have too much water for roasting.

1 comment:

Katie-Anne said...

I love roasted veggies. It's like winter comfort food to pull out a tray of roasted potatoes, butternut squash and carrots. Usually I use rosemary as my seasoning, or occasionally thyme. Like you, I don't use much as I prefer to taste the veggies rather than the seasoning.