Kass Sam - Eat a little better: Great Flavor, Good Health, Better World

VEGETABLES ROAST THOSE

YOU NEED DINNER. You have vegetables in the fridge. Youre not sure what to do with them. My solution is almost always the same: Roast them. Coated in a slick of oil, hit with a generous sprinkle of salt, and cooked in a hot oven, virtually any vegetable transforms from mild-mannered to thrilling. Roasting intensifies flavor and reveals sides of even familiar vegetables that you didnt realize existed. Take broccoli. Raw, its pleasant, slightly bitter, and crunchy. Steamed, its the butt of jokes, at least until butter gets involved. But after you pull a tray of caramelized florets from the oven, the stalks sweet with a soft crunch and the buds salty and crispy, I guarantee no one will be laughingtheyll be too busy eating.

We all know carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts taste great roasted, but theres no need to stop at the usual suspects. You can roast radishes and cabbage, green beans and sugar snap peas, whole scallions, pods of okra, and leaves of kale. While the oven does the work for you, youre free to saut shrimp, sear pork chops, or put away laundry.

I love eating roasted vegetables with nothing more than salt and lemon. Yet when Im having friends over, or if the other components of my meal are dead-simple, I like to raise the bar on plain roasted greatness. Turn the page and youll find recipes for combinations I look to again and again to take vegetables in exciting directions without straying from weeknight-dinner territory.

But while recipes are great, especially when youre unfamiliar with a particular vegetable or technique, its even better to have a basic technique locked down, with a few go-to bells and whistles. With that in mind, here is my basic blueprint for roasting. See for a handful of ideas for ways to upgrade virtually anything you pull from the oven (or grill, for that matter).

THE BLUEPRINT

ROASTING VEGETABLES

1. Crank up your oven. I like to roast hot, anywhere from 450F to 500F, so the vegetables cook quickly but have a chance to develop those beautiful caramelized edges before the rest of them is too soft.
2. Cut the vegetables into pieces that are more or less equal in size and shape, so they finish cooking at the same time. Small pieces cook more quickly but dont always have enough time to get good and brown before theyre overcooked. So I tend to use pieces on the larger sidebroccoli and cauliflower in big florets, fat carrots cut in half lengthwise, and green beans whole. Oh, and once youve washed those vegetables, drain and dry them well. Otherwise, youll be sacrificing the dry heat that makes roasted vegetables so awesome.
3. Dont worry about how much youve got. Theres no need to measure by weight or in cups. As long as you can spread the vegetables in a single layer on a baking sheet with a little space between each piece, youre good. Otherwise, theyll steam, not roast. If they dont fit comfortably on one baking sheet, divide the mixture between two. I like to line the baking sheet with parchment paper (not foil, which can create off-flavors) to prevent sticking and make clean-up easy.
4. Put the pieces in a bowl and drizzle on olive oil or an oil with a neutral flavor, like grapeseed or canola. Toss with your hands, rubbing the oil onto the vegetables and adding more if necessary. You want to add enough that theyre well coated but not so much that pools of oil form at the bottom of the bowl. Next, add salt, tossing as you do so the vegetables get an even, generous sprinkling.
5. Spread the vegetables on a baking sheet or other large pan so that they lie flat in one layer. Roast until the bottoms are deep golden brown (start checking after 10 minutes or so), then flip or toss the vegetables so that most of that color is facing up. Keep roasting until the vegetables are as tender as you like them. I almost always flash them under the broiler after I flip them to get great color before they overcook, but doneness is a matter of preference. Taste them often: Maybe your vegetables are done when you flip themI like a little crunch myself. If theyre too firm for you, just give them a little more time in the oven.

   DOUBLE UP: Buy a second baking sheet. That way, with just another minute or two of prep, youll end up with twice what you need for dinnerand plenty of no-effort awesomeness for the days to come.