I can’t think of a more perfect fast food dish that’s homemade and healthy. Roasted vegetables warm up the house in the winter while warming up our plates, too. They add such great color, nutrition and taste to other dishes served alongside main courses. Additionally, roasted vegetables can be puréed and blended into soups or used an incredible flavor base for soups, stews and braised meat dishes.
The great thing about roasted vegetables is that just about any type of vegetable tastes wonderful when roasted, especially when dried herbs, salt and pepper are added. To me, it seems like you can hardly go wrong- take your pick.
Here’s how I generally do the roasting:
Wash and dry your choice of vegetables. Wthout drying them well, they will steam instead of roast and you won’t get that nice caramelization that is so appealing in roasted foods.
These are a few that roast really well:
Peppers (of all kinds)
Onions (especially white and yellow onions) & shallots
Additonally, things like garlic, olivesand capers roast surprisingly well, but should generally be added later in the roasting to prevent them from burning and tasting bitter.
Roughly chop large vegetables so that they are in semi-large pieces. If they’re too small, they’ll curl up and cook faster than those that are larger, leaving you with uneven cooking times for those veggies in the same pan.
Place the veggies on a parchment-paper lined baking/cookie sheet. The parchment paper will help to save some precious oil when you’re done cooking because it’s easy to roll up and pour into something else so that it isn’t wasted (much harder to do with a large, square roasting pan).
Salt the veggies, then add your choice of dried herbs (my favorite mixture is dried basil, parsley, and thyme but I also love to add marjoram and mint when I have them).
Drizzle the vegetables with olive oil and place in a hot oven (around 350º F). Depending on the thickness of the vegetables, I usually roast them for about 35-50 minutes, keeping an eye on them and watching for that nice browning I want to see throughout.
Allow them to cool once removed from the oven. If you want to blend them down into soups, or add them to any other dishes, you can do that; alternatively, they’ll keep in the fridge for several days until you determine how many different ways you want to or can serve them up to your family.
Enjoy!
What are your favorite vegetables to roast and how do you serve them?
If there’s ever one recipe that will help create even more recipes, it’s those for roasted vegetables. I absolutely love to fire up the oven and get my produce seasoned and roasted to eat them as-is, puree them into soups or throw them into stews. You can be as creative as you want to be or simply enjoy them straight out of the oven.
French green beans are one of my favorite side dishes. They’re light, go well with most foods and make me feel content that I’m getting a healthy vegetable on my plate. I usually make them Italian style with garlic, tomatoes and olive oil, but this time I opted to satisfy my craving for something Asian.
I had some lovely fresh garlic, sesame seeds that were already toasted, ground cumin, and plenty of good toasted sesame oil. Other than the beans, this is all you really need to make the dish. I think a bit of fresh ginger would be nice, too.
It’s a super-quick side dish to any meal and perfect for late weeknights when you’re in the mood to smell wonderful scents coming from you kitchen. It’s good relaxation cooking.
Our garden zucchini isn’t ready yet, but our basil plant is quite full and the local markets are carrying really nice and plump striped zucchini that I love so much. These two ingredients prompted me to come up with this dish which takes under 15 minutes to make. You could cook the zucchini longer, but that’s up to you. Insha’allah within 10 minutes they should soften lightly. Sour cream is a fine substitute if you don’t have yogurt.
Tomatoes may not be summer-ready here in the Midwest, but there’s no shortage of beautiful ones in the grocery store, perhaps coming in from California. I picked up some beautiful Roma variety, ripening them on the counter for several days before roasting.
After roasting, I really wasn’t sure what exactly I waould even use them for, but I knew they would be beautiful and delicious.
After oven-roasting (they can also be grilled, too, using the recipe below), they’re wonderful when pureed to make a simple pasta or pizza sauce, or just threw them on top of other vegetable mixes, in cooked rice or pasta, on top of meat or fish. You can really do whatever you like with them.
Here’s how to get them beautifully roasted in the oven:
Spinach is that quintessential health food. We know it’s good for us, but how often do we really eat it fresh and lightly cooked?
With numerous health scares related to tainted spinach, it’s a food many people are often weary of eating at restaurants or even fresh or frozen from the grocery store. In that case, it’s easy to grow during the cool spring or fall seasons where you can monitor the health of your own plants and call the shots on what to feed them.
In my opinion, spinach is tricky yet simple to cook. Cook it too long and it can lose its beautiful, vibrant green color. Add too much water and it can be soggy and taste water-logged. With this simple recipe, I’ve found a quick and easy way to get greens into your diet quickly and often.
