Thank you all so much for your positive responses to my new series, it’s so lovely to know that you are all with me 🙂
So, here we go…part 1: roasting vegetables
If you recall from my introduction post, the inspiration behind this series is a friend of mine who is on a weight loss journey and who needs some ideas for making vegetables interesting. For me, vegetables are THE most interesting food, but for some people, it’s a challenge to include more of these wonderful plant foods in their meals, so I’m hoping to provide him, and maybe you, with new ideas..
Starting with the wonderful world of roasted vegetables.
For me, this is my favourite way to enjoy vegetables. If all you ever do is steam or boil vegetables, I fear that you may not find them sufficiently interesting for long, especially if you don’t have much love for vegetables in the first place.
Roasting them not only celebrates their flavour but also adds some colour, crunch or caramelisation, sometimes all three. How wonderful 🙂
This is not about having your lovely vegetables swimming in oil, actually, I think that too much oil spoils the produce. That’s why I use spray olive oil. And I mean a 100% olive oil in a spray bottle, not one of these ‘1 cal per spray’ offerings that are anything but 100% oil. And I don’t use a spray because I’m limiting my intake of oil, good fats are so important in your diet, I pile on the olive oil, coconut oil, rapeseed oil at will, but for roasting vegetables I think that a spray works best. A light mist of oil is all the vegetables need, like this cauliflower..
So, here’s my method…let’s start with the cauliflower, this is honestly the best way to eat cauliflower..
Heat your oven to 200C (mine is a fan assisted oven – try between 200C and 220C in a standard convection oven – experiment until you find your perfect temperature)
Take your cauliflower and remove the outer green leaves
Chop the cauliflower (all or half of it, however much you want to cook) into florets and then cut some in half or quarters as necessary, aiming to get even sized pieces
Spread in a single layer across a baking pan
Spray with olive oil so that each floret has a couple of sprays on it
In the oven and roast for 45-50 minutes (depending on the size of your pieces) until you see nice browned crunchy edges
NOTE: After 20 minutes take the pan out and move the cauliflower around and spray with another light mist of oil, then put back into the oven and leave it to roast
And that’s it – really simple, just chuck it in and leave it basically! And it’s so good!!
And this works with all sorts of vegetables. All that might differ is the cooking time, you need to keep an eye on your pan to gauge the time required…this broccoli didn’t need as long…and the tops were so wonderfully crunchy..The spring onion below needed a lot less time, more like about 15 minutes, and again, so tasty!
With the sweet potato and courgette you need longer, and hang it out as long as you can, vegetables really benefit from that extra 5-10 minutes to get a really nice finish. I don’t always bother to peel my sweet potato, I like the skins, so consider just giving your sweet potato a wash then chop it into even sizes to roast..
As you will see below, you really can roast everything. And yes, those are radishes in the photo below and they are brussel sprouts in the top photo..if you think you don’t like sprouts, try roasting them! Just remove any grubby outer leaves, cut them in half, spray with oil and roast, the crunchy edges it creates are so good. The radishes and sprouts probably only need 25-35 minutes roasting.
People are often concerned with how much oil you need to cook aubergines, but with roasting, just the spray is enough..and look at the browned edges, so good! It’s all, so good!! I keep saying it because it’s true!
Something I typically roast is a mixture of peppers, red onion/shallots, garlic and often mushrooms too, these are favourites with my husband..and roasting shallots and red onion really brings out their natural sweetness. If you leave them long enough, the onions start to caramelise, which is just so good!!!! (And really scrape all of the baked on bits from the pan, they’re the best bits!!!)
Peppers and onions have a high water content and are therefore less dense than some of the other vegetables above, consequently they only need 25-30 minutes in the oven.
So..to roast your vegetables, follow the guidelines above but assess the time required based on the texture of your vegetables – practice makes perfect.
I often roast several trays of vegetables at a time, we always have a choice of several on the table. Try all of your favourites but also something new; butternut squash is wonderful roasted, again, I leave the skin on; cauliflower is a household favourite; try swede and pumpkin; and carrots work beautifully…you’ll see more roasted vegetables as this series goes on.
And if you’ve got leftovers, they are great cold the next day, or whizzed into dips…but more about that later…;)
Coming up in the next post: the wonderful world of spices – adding flavour to your vegetables.
I hope you like my roasting ideas, please do ask me if you have any questions, or add your ideas in the comments..
They are all looking absolutely stunning! I’ve just started steaming veg in order to cram more greens into my family, but the roasting looks even more exciting … Thanks for the inspiration, Elaine!!
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Thank you, I hope they like it 🙂 xx
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I’ve never seen cauliflower look as good as you have them Elaine. WOW! You’ve started off this new series with a POP!! Great tips, great photos. I love my veggies, so any future posts would be great. Many thanks.
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Thank you so much Loretta, I’m so glad you like it 🙂 xx
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Roasting can indeed change one’s opinion on formerly disliked vegetables. For me it was Brussels sprouts and beets.
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Cool 🙂 yes, I forgot to mention beetroot, so good roasted!!
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I’m with you. Roasting is my absolute favorite way to enjoy veggies! I’m drooling over that perfectly roasted cauliflower!
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Yay!! Thank you xx
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How could anyone not like these vegetables! Beautiful post.
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Thank you so much 🙂
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You are so right about the oil. Too many times people mistake roasting with frying… 🙂
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Definitely! I think people think of how their Mum roasted potatoes and think they need to use the same amount of oil!
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I have a baking tray full of vegetables in the oven right now but after reading your post I think I may be heavy handed with the olive oil, next time will try a spray. Great post Elaine.
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Thank you so much, Suzanne 🙂 it has to be down to individual taste of course, but I have definitely found that the spray option works well x
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Beautifully roasted vegetables! I think I usually put a lot more oil on roasted vegetables than I need to…especially for eggplant because it’s so absorbent. The green onions look especially delicious…golden and browned and a bit caramelized…Can’t wait for the next installation!
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Thank you so much 🙂 I think it’s easy to do with aubergine, but roasting doesn’t require as much oil and they still cook well. The spring onions were really tasty, definitely worth trying. 🙂
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Oh, those roasted peppers and caramelized onions look so good!!!! Ok, I’m gone to roast some right now! I just bought a whole bag of peppers at the farmers market.
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Yay!!! Enjoy!!!!
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If you have access to an outdoor grill then you can roast veggies in a grill basket too. Especially if it’s hot outside and you want to avoid the oven. Use indirect heat to get an even roast.
May I re-blog your veggie series for my patients and friends?
Tracey
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Great tips, Tracey, thank you so much 🙂
And yes, please, do share, that would be absolutely wonderful. I’m so glad you think it’s worth sharing 🙂 x
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Pingback: Pimp Your Veg part 1 : roasting vegetables | eatlivefit.net
Look so amazing Elaine! totally yummy! love the new series!
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Thank you so much, Lynz 🙂
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Great post on vegetable roasting! I like the idea of spraying the oil on. Radishes and green onions will be a new try for me. Vegetables are most interesting to me as well. Excellent series!
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Thank you so much, Gerard, I’m glad you’re liking it 🙂
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Reblogged this on What's for dinner, Doc? and commented:
Elaine @Foodbod shares her secrets for preparing fabulous vegetables. She’s a vegetarian who turns veggies into works of delicious art. “Eat your vegetables.”
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The roasted vegetables look delectable Elaine and the last picture makes me really hungry! 😉 xx
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I’ll take that as a compliment!! Thank you xx
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I’m in total agreement on roasting, it brings out the very best in vegetables. I’m going to have to try the olive oil spray though. Wonderful idea. I usually just toss them in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil. The spray sounds like a better choice. Great pictures.
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Thank you so much, I hope it works well for you 🙂
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Wow what a great idea, and cuts down so much on oil. Absolutely love this!
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Thank you so much 🙂
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Roasting is my favourite way of enjoying veggies ..just perfect. .. thanx for such love post…
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Thank you Chitra 🙂
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Pingback: Pimp Your Veg part 8: dips, dips, and more dips! (perfect for using up leftover vegetables) | foodbod
Hi, Elaine. I am thinking of roasting veggies and turning them into a dip with tahini. (Yay! You are such an inspiration!) The veggies include onions, bellpeppers, garlic and carrots. Maybe I will put only olive oil salt and pepper. Do you think that will be good? 😀
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Ha ha! Nice to know I’m having a positive impact 😀😀😀😀
I’ve done it with roasted carrots, onions and garlic before, or I’ve done it will red pepper and garlic, bit not necessarily all together..why not give it go and let’s see what happens?! xxx
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Okay, will do and let you know. 😀 Thanks, Elaine. x
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I look forward to it xxxx big love 😘😘😘
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Once or twice a week I roast a couple of trays of vegetables, honestly the flavour is superb. I live in the tropics so brussels sprouts are not a vegetable we see often, but we can get frozen ones. I discovered that you can put them onto a pan, light spray of olive oil and they go crispy and crunchy, so now I can add roast brussels sprouts to my repertoire.
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Wonderful! It’s the only way to eat sprouts in my book!!
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hi Elaine , I visit your site for vegetable recipes , that is to say recipes that are different , I always said I would never go on the keto diet because I love to eat my sourdough bread , but lo and behold after this summer my scale decides differently, so making vegetables attractive is now my goal (I’m now baking bread for my husband alone 😥) greetings Michelle 😘🙋🏼♀️
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Hi Michelle, hopefully my blog can help, I’m all about making vegetables the star of the show 🥰🥰
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