Wednesday, December 22, 2010

I don't do green bean casserole...


My mother in law asked me to make green bean casserole for dinner on Christmas night. I told her I don't do green bean casserole, but I would make a bunch of roasted veggies.


I thought, since this was Christmas after all, that I would actually look up a recipe rather than just making a bunch of veggies on the fly....meh.



No recipes looked good to me, but I did find a lot of good instructions on how to roast perfect veggies. It's my favorite way to cook them, you know, because roasting brings out the sugars and naturally caramelizes the vegetables like no other cooking method can. All it takes is a drizzle of olive oil and some salt and pepper. The playing with herbs and spices and other flavors like garlic or bacon can come later.


Martha Stewart has good basic instructions for roasting here.


And here I found an informative (if a bit small) chart of roasting time for a few veggies.



Since that chart was missing a lot of my favorite produce, it inspired me to build on it and compile my own list for you:

Vegetable Roasting Times
{Set your oven to 450 degrees)

Acorn Squash- halved and seeded- 50 minutes
or
Acorn Squash (and any other squash)- 1" cubes- 25 minutes

Asparagus- trimmed- 10 to 15 minutes

Beets- whole- 60 to 90 minutes

Bell Peppers- quartered- 15 minutes

Bok choy- leaves separated- 6 minutes

Broccoli- florets- 10 minutes

Brussels Sprouts- whole- 40 to 45 minutes

Carrots- peeled, 1/2" sticks- 18 to 20 minutes

Cauliflower- florets- 15 minutes

Corn- whole and peeled- 1 hour soaked in water, 8 to 10 minutes in oven

Eggplant- whole, pierced a few times- about 40 minutes
or
Eggplant- 1/2" slices- 20 minutes

Fennel bulb- 1/3" sices- 30 minutes

Green beans- trimmed- 12 minutes

Green onion- whole- 10 to 12 minutes

Jerusalem Artichokes (aka 'sunchokes)- 1/4" slices- 12 to 15 minutes

Leeks- trimmed at green parts and halved- 30 to 35 minutes

Onions- halved- 25 to 30 min

Parsnips- see carrots

Potatoes- 1" cubes or small potatoes- 30 to 35 minutes

Radicchio- quartered lengthwise- 10 to 12 minutes

Rutabaga- 3/4" cubes- 30 to 35 minutes

Shallots- halved- 15 minutes

Sweet potatoes- 3/4" cubes, 25 to 30 minutes

Tomatoes- halved, plum tomato sized- 25 minutes

Zucchini- 1" rounds- 15 minutes






2 comments:

The Saunders said...

totally agree!

Kimberly said...

Hey thanks for the tip on how to roast veggies. This will be a great addition to the my family's potluck dinner on Saturday.

Also, I was wondering if you do advertising on your website. I work for a company called Autofusion, which handles internet marketing for several car dealers, and one of our clients is interested in advertising on your site. Any additional information you can provide would be greatly appreciated! You can reach me at ktran@autofusion.com.

Thanks again!
Kimberly