Pepper Design Blog

YUM.

That about sums up this favorite that I wanted to share with you today. I am a huge fan of roasting veggies and I pop a full cookie sheet into the (hot, hot!) oven at least once if not twice a week. Roasting allows the natural juices of carrots, sweet potatoes, beets and even green beans to caramelize into sweet, gooey-yet-crunchy deliciousness (think tender and full flavored on the inside with a honey-coated crispy skin on the outside).

I have a couple of tricks up my sleeve to make these extra delicious.

Back in college there was a small cooking school a few miles away from campus. On the occasional Saturday morning I headed on down to an awesome class on cooking fundamentals such as roasting, all things chicken or even an entire class on every sauce you can think of. I love to experiment and I love to learn how to expand my little toolbox of technique (which is meager, I must admit). Kev and my’s recent date night included a class called ‘Snout to Tail’ and it was on – yep, an entire pig.

These veggies are a staple in our house because they allow us to really take advantage of our CSA veggie box contents, to make every meal nutritious, and to enjoy what is seasonal and of the earth that week (oh wow, that’s really always the tastiest).

I also dig that the girls love every vegetable out there. Roasting takes it to the next level because roasted veggies taste almost as though they’ve been candied.

I attribute the girls’ great love of all things veggie to BLW, but if there’s ever any push back at the dining room table a quick mention of how that evening’s veggies were prepared (as in, ‘don’t you love the candied beets’) puts any obstinance to rest.

My tricks: all veggie chunks are of similar size for similar roasting results. I like to cut zucchini, carrots, parsnips and squash into strips, beets, Brussel sprouts and chard stalks, etc into chunks (which if you compared my strips by folding them up, they would be the size of the chunks and are about the same volume).

Another tip: plenty of freshly squeezed lemon juice before and right after they come out of the oven.

I always line my cookie sheets with foil. These veggies will become so juicy and the last thing you want to be scraping off of your pan is sticky residue.

I preheat the oven to 450 degrees and then toss with the veggies: a coating of olive oil (not to the point that they’re drowning but a good layer), pepper and coarse sea salt (so key!), herbs that I have on hand (love fresh rosemary), a thorough dousing of lemon juice.

Into the oven they go for between 20 & 30 minutes (keep an eye on those guys, you want them to be cooked and even shriveled, but not burnt). Actually, the edge veggies might experience a little charring and that’s a good thing.

Soooo good for green beans, Italian broccoli and asparagus too.

Happy roasting. Hard to convey how much I rely on this easy technique. It’s not as hot as broiling but I’m beginning to prefer cooking at these high temperatures. :)

PS I’ll post a Taylor update on Baby Led Weaning soon, it’s been very easy this time around!

Hey ya’ll, if you’re free and would like to join in on a ‘Wallet Friendly DIY Decor’ twitter chat with me I’ll be over at Wise Bread to join Home Depot and Apartments.com at noon (PST) Thursday. Lots of fun ideas sure to be shared!