Roast vegetables are brilliant. Warm or cold.

Roast Vegetables

Roast veg makes an excellent dinner or lunch. It’s easy – as are most of the recipes on this site – and it’s warming, satisfying and delicious. If there’s too much to eat in one sitting, no worries, roast vegetables make a great cold salad either on its own or with a handful of lettuce or other leaves.

You can vary your veg a lot. The list below is a suggestion. I like to have a couple of starchy vegetables as the base, potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips, then layer on other tectures and flavours. Not all veg are equally roastable. Really wet ones, like tomatoes, courgettes, and mushrooms, soften. Which is a nice contrast to other, crispier and crunchier veg. Onions caramelise, as does fennel. Fennel is lovely roasted. As are lemons. A variety of veg and fruit means that there’s a variety of tastes and flavours which makes the dish more interesting.

Roast veg is good on its own, maybe with a dollop of home-made goats cheese, or a salsa,

Serves: 2-4. Prep: 15 minutes. Cooking time: 30-45 minutes.
Stores: A couple of days in the fridge.

Tools

  • Chopping board
  • Knife
  • Potato peeler (optional)
  • Baking brush
  • Small bowl for the oil
  • 2 baking sheets
  • Greaseproof paper (optional)

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2-3 potatoes, or a couple of handful or salad potatoes
  • 2 tomatoes
  • 1 sweet potato
  • 1 courgette
  • 1 pepper
  • 1 fennel (optional)
  • 2-3 beetroot (optional)
  • 1 onion
  • 2 carrots
  • 1 bulb of garlic (optional)
  • 3-4 sprigs of rosemary (optional)

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C.
  2. Cover the baking sheets in greaseproof paper.
  3. Measure the oil into the bowl and brush a thin layer onto the greaseproof paper.
  4. Cut potatoes, carrots, courgettes and beetroot into roughly inch-sized cubes or wedges.
  5. Cut fennel, tomatoes and pepper into quarters.
  6. Cut the top of the garlic bulb.
  7. Spread the vegetables in a single layer over the baking sheets.
  8. Brush thinly with oil – it doesn’t matter if there’s enough for every piece.
  9. Share the rosemary between the sheets.
  10. Put the sheets into the oven, one towards the top, one towards the bottom.
  11. Leave for 30 minutes. Spear the biggest piece of beetroot. If it’s soft, it’s all done. Else, leave for another 45 minutes.
  12. Serve either in a big serving dish (ideally pre-heated), or on individual plates.

Variations

Roast veg is all about variation. What comes out of the oven depends entirely on what you put in. Mix away: put all your favourite veg on a baking sheet and enjoy the outcome.

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