Food & Recipes, Kitchen Hacks
How to Slow Roast Any Veggie for the Perfect Side Dish
Delicious ‘basic recipe’ for vegetables that NEEDS to be in your bag of tricks.
Nobody has all the ‘basic recipes’ down. We all have our favorites that we return to again and again but I’ve found that there’s always room for ‘just one more’ to add to my repertoire. And, when that ‘one more’ can be the basis for any number of variations – it’s a good one to add.
This is the easiest way to put just about any vegetable on the table – and it’s soo delicious. I’ve tried a number of twists on this one for years, but to be honest, the best idea is to keep it very simple. It’s also such an essential preparation that it can (and is often) adjusted or grouped together with just about any main.
Read: How to pick olive oil.
This is perfect if you love beautifully caramelized veggies. It brings in the kind of flavor and texture that only comes from tossing your favorite vegetables with a lot of extra-virgin olive oil, kosher salt, herbs and spices, and aromatics like garlic or onions and then slow roasting in your oven. When you leave them in the oven for an hour or so, they will cook down into something wonderfully soft and nicely caramelized with some crispy edges. Always finish with an acid, like rice wine vinegar, to brighten the dish. You can adjust this idea for any vegetable – a friend just roasted carrots, broccoli and onions and loved it. Check out my video where I tossed trimmed scallions, garlic, ginger, and dried chilies together for a perfect side to serve with seasoned skirt steak for dinner. Here’s how I did it:
- Preheat your oven to 350F. This is a long and slow cook, so the low temp will deepen the flavor thorough caramelizing. This is the right temperature for a slow roast for all vegetables.
- Place the rack in the middle of the oven for even heating.
- In a shallow 2qt baking dish pour in extra-virgin olive oil, add kosher salt, your favorite vegetables, spices and aromatics and combine.
- One note about garlic: place the cut side down so that the oils from the garlic infuse into the olive oil for really impactful flavor. Seriously, you’ll love it this way.
- Roast for about an hour. Toss them two- or three-times during cooking until they’re evenly golden brown, very tender and crispy around the edges. It’s about an hour, but it could be more depending on your oven.
- Remove from the oven, and let cool slightly.
- Add rice wine vinegar, toss some more, and serve!
This preparation is perfect for steak dinners, grilled seafood or roast chicken or you may even consider it as an add-in for other dishes like a soup (Asian style) or with beans and rice (Mexican style).
Have fun!
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