Keep It Simple: Roasted Vegetables

While I enjoy cooking and find it an enjoyable challenge to apply complicated recipes, it is true that simple foods are often the most pleasing in both preparation and eating.
I was invited to a friend’s house for a Christmas day dinner. She had invited a number of other couples and singles and wisely asked everyone to bring a dish. I chose to bring roasted vegetables.

I based the idea on something I got from the “Food in a Flash” radio spot where Mike Colameco explained that while he loved Brussels sprouts, he didn’t care for their generally bitter taste in more traditional recipes. He went on to say that roasting them got rid of the bitterness and this was an easy method to prepare them. I tried this on a small scale and realized that it did indeed work (the sprouts were delicious), that it was an extremely easy way to prepare veggies, and that the method could be scaled up or down as you needed.

So here’s not so much of a recipe as a method for preparing roasted vegetables. The volume of vegetables I list below will feed 8 to 10 people. You’ll need two cookie sheets that fit side by side in your oven. I suggest that you test them for fit before you begin.

Wash and rinse all veggies. Choose large sprouts (the small ones can get mushy). 

Cut off the stems and remove the outer leaves of a 8-10 Brussels sprouts. Cut them in half.

Remove the top and seeds of two red peppers. Thinly slice into long strips.

Peel 8 or 9 garlic cloves, smash (I use the flat side of the knife), and remove the center if green.

Trim then cut two large carrots into square strips. The strips should be around 1/4 inch thick or they won’t cook through.

Cut a large yellow squash into slices that are about 1/4 inch thick.

Cut up a head of broccoli, removing the tough stems. You want to end up with floret chunks about the same size as the sprouts (more for visual symmetry than for any culinary reason).
 

Trim, peel, then coarsely slice two small red onions. Separate the pieces.

Place half of all the veggie pieces in a plastic bag. Add some coarse salt and about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of olive oil. Be generous with the olive oil. Securely close then shake and roll the bag around to ensure that all the pieces are well coated. Pour the veggies onto a cookie sheet. Make sure they are evenly spread out and that the sprouts are arranged cut side up.

Repeat with the second half of the veggies, a second bag, more olive oil, and a second cookie sheet.

You can add fresh rosemary to the bags but I prefer to let the flavor (and color and texture) of the vegetables stand on their own.

Depending on how fast you cut up vegetables, the prep can take about 30 to 45 minutes.
Add an additional drizzle of olive oil to the cut face of each sprout. This is necessary if the sprouts are large but can be skipped if they are on the small side.

Move one of your oven shelves on the top rung, put the cookie sheets in side by side, and turn on the broiler. I start out with a low setting for about 10 minutes, then turn it to high for 10 minutes or until I see things starting to smoke a bit, then turn it back to low for another 5-10 minutes. You can give the cookie sheets a bit of a shake but there is no need to turn anything over. Check the veggies often. The sprouts and the broccoli will blacken on the edges which is fine. Poke the carrots with a fork—when they are starting to get done, everything else is already done. Total time should be around 25-30 minutes but this depends on your broiler, of course. You don’t want to overcook or you’ll end up with a soggy mess.

I dumped the veggies into a large Pyrex bowl, covered it with foil, and carried it to my friend’s house. It sat on the counter for well over an hour then was popped into the oven to warm just before serving. The veggies were crisp and flavorful. We gobbled them up along with dressing, ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy. I brought home just enough leftover veggies to have for lunch at work the next day.