Roasted Veggies

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Dried Thyme

If you don’t like a particular vegetable, or are not sure if you like it, try it roasted. Roasting makes every vegetable super tasty–even broccoli, spinach, or celery, veggies you wouldn’t necessarily think of putting in the oven.

Not sure what roasting is?
It’s baking at a high temperature — like 400 or above.  How to roast most veggies: toss with a little olive oil and generous sprinkle of salt & pepper, lay out in a single layer on a baking sheet, and roast at 425 or 450 until the edges of the veggies are brown & a little crispy, and the insides are soft.  The timing will depend on what veggie you’re roasting.  Some examples:

• Asparagus: 12-15 min
• Broccoli florets: 17-20 min
• Cauliflower florets: 35-40 min
• Mushrooms, halved: 15-20 min
• Brussels Sprouts, halved: 15-20 min
• Chopped kale or other greens: 3-6 min
• Zucchini chunks: 20-25 min
• Butternut Squash chunks: 25-30 min
• Snap Peas: 10-12 min
• Fingerling potatoes: 25-30 min
• Sweet potato chunks: 20-30 min
• Carrot chunks or slices: 20-30 min
• Frozen corn (rinse kernels under hot water to thaw first, drain well): 12-15 min
• Apple or pear chunks (not a veg, but yes, roast them!): 15-20 min
• Garbanzo Beans (not a veg, but yes, roast them!): 15-20 min
• Tofu cubes (not a veg, but toss with your fave sauce & roast it!): 20-25 mins

My new favorite thing to roast: chopped greens.  Toss with olive oil and minced garlic, then roast for 6-8 minutes until the edges are crispy.  So good!!

….and the list of yummy things to roast goes on.  Some other roasting tips:

• Keep the veggies the same size so they’re done cooking at the same time.
• Don’t overload the baking sheet — a single layer is key for the veggies to brown.  If you overload, the veggies will steam each other and you’ll get a big pile of mush.
• Amount of olive oil you use is up to you, but to get the vegetables to brown/caramelize, they need to be well-coated.  Not swimming in oil, but coated.  This will also prevent sticking.
• Reduce clean-up time by laying a piece of foil (shiny side down) on your baking sheet.
• Sprinkle dried herbs of any kind along with your salt & pepper to boost flavor of the veggies.
• Experiment with different kinds of salts & peppers — these can bring out different flavors in the veggies.  And don’t skimp on the salt–it makes all the difference in the taste of the veggies.
• The smaller you cut the veggies, the shorter the cooking time will be. Above I say that sweet potatoes take 25-30 min to roast, but you can easily cook them in 20 min if you cut them into thin “fries.” Same goes for any of the above, so make sure to check on your roasting veggies every 10 min or so.
• Try adding some minced garlic to the olive oil before you toss the veggies in it–your house will smell divine, and you’ll think you’ve become a gourmet cook!