Roasting Vegetables is great!

its a great way to get rid of those lingering vegetables and its simple and quick to do! I see it as a fridge cleaner and an easy way to make a simple side. (but i end up eating them on its own!)

Prerequisites

There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to this. But i like to add in

• At least one onion like vegetables. This can be any sort of onion. I like the red flavour that comes with red but white oinions, shallots anything of that sort adds some real bite

• Some sort of starchy plant your roasting food so you might as well stick a potatoes in there and get some fries in your salad. sweet potatoes and yams would also work

• Some kind of skin plant when I say skin plant I mean a plant with a waxy skin the best example i can think of is a bell pepper. it adds bite and the high water content keeps it soft. it can add in some nice texture variance

• A root vegetables Carrots, turnips, parsnips, Swedes. these are probably the biggest offenders of the prison of your fridge we call the vegetable crisper. I say off with there heads! these brown up really nice and can add in a sweetness usually associated with these vegetables

• Anything else you may have most vegetables seem to do well in the oven so if its sitting there then you could probably stick it in. Mushrooms are some of my favorite things to add onto the tray but if its sitting there then go for it. This is not a universal rule and provides a segue into

Stuff you probably should not add

I would recommend not roasting any sort of brassica as they usually release a lot of water under heat and it will make your roast sad. I find they work great for soups and stews. Another dish I will probably cover. Any sort of watery vegetable would probably have a similar affect. an exception to this would probably be tomatoes. Because of there quite robust skin they get some really nice colour and they pick up a nice flavour when grilled.

Stuff to add in after

• Some sort of acid. I like to either use some sort of lemon or some vinegar as it cuts through some of that richness that the fat can provide. I do not recommend using industrial grade acids as that is not safe, but if you do have industrial grade acid I question that you would need this disclaimer

• Salt Its the universal spice. I like it course and flaky for a bit more [heterogeneity]( but table salt would also work but you would probably have to pre mix it

• A fat I like a melting fat such as butter or ghee but I have also done this with olive oil and that works really quite well! any sort of oil or fat could and should work. use what you like and more importantly have on hand. Coconut oil is great if you want a vegan saturated fat

You could also do some herbs and stuff. Go wild and give it a go!

Cooking them.

This is not meant to be a pretty dish so get out a tray, hack up the veg and stick it on the tray and whack it in the oven at around 200°C or 392°F and keep and eye on it Taking out to stir once in a while. once its brown and cooked then you should be good to eat. test any hard vegetables for done-ness and eat!

If you plan on cooking thick cut potatoes then i recommend par boiling them to get the inside cooked. That can leave you with a really nice crust and a soft inside.

I don’t peel my vegetables as I like the flavor contrast the skins add but you can peel them. you may need to dry your vegetables afterwards though as moisture that the veg will output will inhibit browning.

What now?

You have a bunch of roasted vegetables and you don’t know what to do with them? well now you have a no nonsense side dish that you did not have to nurse or really spend any time on. You could also eat it as is, as it its a great snack! Really the world is your oyster in this regard. go wild! If you have any suggestions do mail me!