Roasted Root Vegetables
My cousin Julie asked me for this recipe, so I figure I’ll make it happen here. Essentially, this recipe is super easy: prep your root vegetables, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, some herbs, and maybe some vinegar, and roast at 400° for somewhere between 45 minutes and 1 hour 15 minutes (“You must cook it until it is done!”). If you stopped reading here you would be fine, but some variations and nuances follow.
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Prepping: there are two things to consider here.
- First, size of the various pieces. After peeling the vegetables, you want to chop the vegetables into pieces that are roughly the same size, so they cook at about the same pace (not too small).
- But this is directly influenced by the second factor, vegetable density. Some vegetables are thicker and are going to need a little more heat applied to them. I don’t know if density is really the scientific reason, but, let’s say, rutabagas tend to be a little bit tougher than carrots (unless you get those two-inch diameter beasts like they used to have in Chinatown when I lived in NYC). My suggestion is to either a) live with it for the sake of cooking simplicity, which is preferable in my opinion, or b) cut the ones you think are tougher into smaller pieces.
Seasoning: there are three components here, and varying each of them can really vary the flavors in the dish each time you make it.
- First, toss the vegetables with some extra virgin olive oil to coat them.
- Second, get some fresh herbs, roughly chop them, and toss them with the vegetables as well. Also season with salt and pepper.
- Third, adding a little acidity helps bring out the flavors, so citrus juice or vinegar is good here.
Cooking: Spread the vegetables evenly over the pan (shouldn’t overlap too much), and cook them at 400° - 425° for 0:45 - 1:15. Sometimes you might want to increase or decrease the heat, but essentially you want to cook them until they’re as tender as you want to eat them.
Variations:
- Parboiling. The best variation, though it does add an entire extra stage of preparation. Simply boil the vegetables for 4 - 6 minutes until they are just slightly cooked after prepping them, then season and cook. This idea came from Jamie Oliver (whose Jamie at Home show is awesome for organic and vegetarian cooking, though he does cook the meat as well). You can check out his recipes here: Roasted Carrots and Beets & Roast Carrot and Avocado Salad.
- Individual acid & herbs. To give the dish more complexity, you can toss each vegetable in a specific herb and specific vinegar. So, give the carrots orange juice and sage, and give the purple beets rosemary and balsamic vinegar. (Also h/t Jamie Oliver).
- Liquid. It’s also possible to use some liquid to help cook the vegetables, and either entirely or partially cover the vegetables in the process. Technically, this would be braised root vegetables, but I find that sometimes I want to add some vegetable stock and cover the vegetables for the ten minutes or so, letting the steam cook them a little faster and add some moisture. Some recipes you’ll find cook the vegetables with some liquid from the beginning.
Next time I cook them, I’ll be sure and post some pictures.
(rg)
