Roasting vegetables is a great way to bring out the natural sweetness and flavor of our garden vegetables, especially the root vegetables.
The best way to achieve tender, creamy and flavorful
roasted veggies is to preheat your oven to 450 deg F.
and lightly coat the veggies with a fat of some kind.
Put the coated veggies in a roasting pan that will allow
the heat to circulate around them as they cook. Put the pan in the oven
covered for 20 minutes, then remove the cover for 20 minutes more and you are done.
Fat
The fat you use can be oil, bacon grease, butter or any combination. For a healthier dish try to use the very smallest amout of oil that you can. I cut my vegetables into 1/2 or 3/4″ chunks and put them in a large bowl. I warm a tablespoon of bacon fat with 2 tablespoons of olive oil to thin the oil and aid in better coverage. Pour the oil over the veggies in the bowl and toss with your hands until well coated. Spread out on in the pan and season with herbs, salt and pepper.
Pan
A roasting pan works nicely but a cookie sheet is good too. There really is no right or wrong here, pile the veggies up no more than two layers thick, if possible, to allow for even cooking, but you can also turn or stir the veggies half way through the cooking too.
Cover
A roasting pan usually has a cover, but if you use a cookie sheet, try covering with aluminum foil.
MultiTasking
My favorite way to roast veggies is while I’m also roasting a chicken. Use the big chunks of vegetables as a rack on the bottom of your pan to hold the chicken up. The juices of the chicken add to the flavor of the vegetables and you have a one dish meal.
We will add many recipes for roasting in the near future. Until then try roasting a few veggies and let me know what you think. – Farm On you Fat Farmers – Jughandle