(JeffreyW’s Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Carrots and Parsnips)
From our Food Goddess, TaMara:
Tried to fit some actual cooking into what has been a very busy week. The weather is very warm here right now, so I want to rush out and buy plants and get summer underway. But even 90 degree (!) temps can be deceptive – at this altitude they still recommend planting after Mother’s day to be safe. We’ve had 90 degrees to freezing whiplash before.
Roasting seemed wrong for our summer like weather, but most roasting recipes can be adapted for the gas-grill as needed, so I went with it. Roasting adds great flavor to foods, vegetables in particular. The slow cooking method adds a touch of sweetness and depth to almost any vegetable (current cooking crush Ming Tsai even has a recipe for roasting radicchio). For a quick dinner you can add vegetables tossed with olive oil to the bottom of a roasting pan, top with chicken breasts rubbed with oil and seasoned with salt & pepper and roast until the chicken is required temperature. One pan dinner in about 35 minutes.
This week I roasted Asparagus topped with mozzarella and tonight’s sweet potato recipe. And here is the link to JeffreyW’s Brussel Sprouts, Carrots and Parsnips.
For dessert I made a batch of Orange Brownies. I think for the weekend, though, I’m going to stick to stove top cooking and grilling. What’s on your menu this week? Does weather affect what you want to cook?
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
4 medium sweet potatoes, cut into 1 or 2 inch pieces
2 medium red onions, cut in to 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
sprig of fresh thyme, cut into 4 pieces
salt & pepper (about 1/2 tsp of pepper or more, finely ground)Preheat oven to 425. Combine all ingredients in baking dish. Toss to coat the veggies and bake for 35 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are tender and onions are soft.
Next Week: Awesome Cookies
BethanyAnne
My favorite thing to roast are beets. Roasted beets, with blanched beet leaves and vinaigrette – yum.
Litlebritdifrnt
I absolutely adore roasted parsnips, unfortunately the DH doesn’t like them, so I am restricted to making them when my Mum and her better half are visiting.
Face
Brussell sprouts were the bane of my childhood. The mere sight of them makes me cringe. They’re the mutant Mini-Me of cabbage and taste similarly.
floridafrog
@bethanyAnne: yes, yes roasted beets – also, too -baby beets with baby asian turnips and adolescent carrots tossed in olive oil, lots of thyme and slow roasted – add a little home baked bread and decent pinot noir and dinner is served
Raven
Roast chicken or turkey bones for stock!
Litlebritdifrnt
@Face:
I adore cabbage, therefore I adore their small cousins brussell sprouts. I can quite easily eat cabbage in all forms, raw in a good coleslaw, steamed, or boiled.
chrome agnomen
how do you call something white a brownie? not saying they’re not delicious, but…
schrodinger's cat
Garlicky Roasted potatoes
1. 2 pounds Red bliss potatoes, cut in wedges
2. 2 tbsp olive oil
3. 1/4 cup water
4. Juice of two limes or lemons
5. 4 to 6 cloves of garlic crushed
6. Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
7. Oregano (or rosemary)
Mix all the ingredients from 2 to 6 in a bowl. Coat the potato wedges and the mix in the bowl. Spread on a cookie sheet, bake in an oven at 450F. For about 30 to 40 min. Flip the wedges at around 20 min mark.
These wedges are delicious with roasted chicken
Schlemizel
I love roasted vegetables. As mentioned above, beets and parsnips are fantastic. Really if you hated these things as a kid you should try them roasted, it changes them a lot.
I like to put a little truffle oil on the after they come out of the oven. Parmesan cheese too and it becomes the main dish under my current diet. Well worth it if you are not minding your fat intake.
Schlemizel
For roast beast I really like the result I got from Alton Browns technique. Brown is a difficult character, in some ways he makes cooking really accessible and explains a lot about whatever is going on in the process. On the other hand he can be a real pain in the ass, a bit of a snob & can make things needlessly complex. His prime rib roast tends toward the PItA complexity thing but it really does work perfectly.
Its a long, slow cook at low temp followed by finish in a blazing hot oven that adds the crust at the end.
foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/dry-aged-standing-rib-roast-with-sage-jus-recipe/index.html
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Face: Brussels sprouts are the spawn of Satan, known in kinder words as evil little cabbagelings.
Roasted cauliflower is wonderful. Slice thin, toss in olive oil with sliced garlic, then sprinkle with coarse sea salt into which you’ve ground dried rosemary* and then added smoked paprika and freshly ground pepper. Toss again, so herbs and spices coat the pieces. Roast and enjoy.
* If you have fresh rosemary, mince and then crush slightly with the flat of the knife to release the aromatic oil. Stir into sea salt mix with paprika and pepper.
ant
I always oil, then salt, then roast. I salt with old bay seasoning.
roast at almost 400.
carrots are very popular done this way. very sweet with no sugar added.
yum
Wag
It’s not roasting, but grilling Romaine lettuce brings out the sweetness and depth that is missed withe the raw lettuce.
While the steaks are resting, split the Romaine heads lengthwise.
Drizzle the cut side generously with olive Los ans sprinkle with kosher salt
Scrape the grill, then place the lettuce cut side down
Grill for 2 minutes
Drizzle with Balsamic vinegar
Serve immediately with the grilled steak
Xecky Gilchrist
I loooooove some roasted squash! mmmm
shortstop
roastedparsnipsmmmmmmmmmmmmm
J.W. Hamner
I guess I would have to agree that roasted beets are probably the champ of roasted vegetables… but all roasted vegetables are pretty awesome, and I’d say your basic roasted potatoes are actually my favorite. As simple as they are it seems I get really bad renditions more often than not… I demand a creamy interior and a crispy exterior, but most often you get the latter with a completely hollow interior.
The #1 key to roasted potatoes is par cooking. You either need to parboil them or steam them in some manner before you start browning or they are going to suck. I favor the old New Best Recipe technique of doing them in the oven but covering the wedges in foil for the first 20 minutes or so they steam before commencing with the browning. I’ve done other methods with parboiling … indeed, that’s how I make my home fries in the skillet… but I still always return to the old way unless time is a limiting factor.
BethanyAnne
@floridafrog: Mmm, that sounds good. Someone here mentioned cooking quartered brussel sprouts in a pan with olive oil and pine nuts about a year ago. Love it.
andy
Alton Brown says to avoid that old-people smell cook your sprouts in as little water as possible and with some kind of fat to temper some of those strong flavors.
Yutsano
@BethanyAnne: Bacon definitely helps too. Or pancetta. There really is something amazing about pig fat.
I love love love roasted chicken. Almost more than fried. Especially the skin. I will roast a Cornish hen just for that alone.
opie jeanne
I made Italian meatballs.
The recipe is from this entertaining little video:
screen.yahoo.com/the-perfect-italian-meatball-27096548.html
opie jeanne
Here are two of the things I made tonight.
Italian meatballs:
flickr.com/photos/snowwhite/6971879998/in/photostream/
brownie’s from Lora Brody’s book:
flickr.com/photos/snowwhite/7117957875/in/photostream/
brettvk
@J.W. Hamner: Would placing a sheet of parchment under the potatoes fix the sticking problem? Sticking is my main problem with oven-roasting spuds. Or would oily parchment burst into flames when you take the foil off?
opie jeanne
@brettvk: I use parchment paper when I oven-roast potatoes and other veggies. Haven’t had any of it burst into flames yet, but the roasting temp is 400 or less. When I tried it at a slightly higher temp, like 450, I noticed that the edges of the paper were brown.
opie jeanne
@BethanyAnne: I do that with my Brussels sprouts. It’s really good, and if I have some pancetta it goes into the pan too.
Yutsano
@opie jeanne: I’m gonna make these one of these days. And Chef John infinitely entertains me.
J.W. Hamner
@brettvk:
That’s an interesting idea… and it’s certainly worth trying… I’ve used parchment paper when baking bread in a 500+ degree oven so I don’t think there is much to worry about in the spontaneous combustion department. I’m somewhat curious as to whether the browning would be as good, but even if it was slightly worse it would probably be worth saving the hassle of trying to scrape potatoes off of the pan without busting them.
kerFuFFler
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
I used to loathe Brussels sprouts as well but have since learned that they tasted foul because my mom had overcooked them, boiling them till they were reduced to vengeful, sodden wads of bitterness.
The trick is to cut them in half for quicker cooking. Place the flat side down in some oil or butter in a preheated pan and cook a couple of minutes over moderate heat until slightly browned, not scorched. Add a little garlicky raspberry or balsamic vinaigrette, cover and continue cooking another minute or two over reduced heat. (There should still be a hint of crunchiness left.) Garnish with toasted pecans and perhaps some Gruyere. Yum!
Just Some Fuckhead
Yellow onions instead of red onions, otherwise yum!