Roasted vegetables have lots of flavor and usually come cheap. You can buy squash, potatoes, and carrots for only a few dollars and then dress them up to make a fantastic side dish. Add chicken, sausage, grains, or greens and you have a meal. You do need time to sit around the house while the oven is on, so save this recipe for a night when you will be working from home but won’t have time to stand around and cook.
You Will Need
- Firm vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, squash, cauliflower, or onions
- Olive oil
- Salt
You can also include sprigs of fresh herbs, a good pinch of dried herbs, or whole, peeled garlic cloves for seasoning.
Knife
Cutting board
[Optional] Spoon from your silverware drawer if scooping seeds from a squashRoasting pan or tray large enough to hold all vegetables snugly
Oven (toaster oven will do if making small portion)
Oven mitt
Tongs or serving spoon
Steps
1. Preheat oven to 425ºF.
2. Scrub vegetables to remove dirt (peel onions and garlic rather than washing). You do not need to peel carrots or potatoes; many nutrients are concentrated in or near the skin. You may want to peel squash if it has a thick, inedible skin and you are cooking it with other types of vegetables. When I am only roasting squash, I roast it peel-on and remove the flesh later.
3. Prep your vegetables. Thicker vegetables take longer to cook than smaller ones. If you are cooking potatoes and carrots together, chop them up so you have similarly-sized pieces. On the other hand, if all you have is a handful of carrots, you can leave them whole unless some are really giant. I usually cut onions and squashes in half and remove all seeds from the squash (I would also peel and cube the squash if roasting it with other items). Leave garlic cloves whole.
4. Place vegetables in a roasting pan or tray, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt. Add any extra seasoning such as garlic or herbs. Use your hands to toss everything together and then redistribute the contents in an even layer.
5. Throw the vegetables in the oven and let cook until browned and tender. You should be able to easily slide a knife through anything in the pan once they are ready. Serve hot, or tossed with greens and dressing to make a salad.
Additional Notes: You can make a delicious variation on this recipe by roasting citrus with your vegetables. Cut an orange in half, remove any seeds, and place the orange cut-side down in the tray with the vegetables. The juices will seep out and flavor everything as it cooks, and you can squeeze the hot juices over the vegetables at the end for some extra tang. Credit goes to Jamie Oliver for writing about this technique.
