I have always enjoyed a roast dinner, the meat smells so
nice cooking in the oven and the slowly rendered fat can be ever so tasty… but as I often
cook for myself, the thought of making even the smallest roast meat dinner leaves
me with the thought of huge amounts of leftover (usually dry) meat. Plus lets
face it, eating a big pile of roast meat isn’t the best thing for us. I
honestly don’t think I enjoy it enough (unless very hungover), I’d rather have
my meat spread out over time in smaller portions…
So I say skip the meat and just eat the veggies, which
have always been my favourite part anyway. I went a little banana’s with the amount of roast veggies I cooked up and am currently swimming in
leftovers-but cold roast pumpkin is the shiz.
These days everyone seems to be saying “eat
a rainbow” and it’s safe to say I just did!
listed in order of size cut from largest to smallest...
Jap Pumpkin
Red onions (cut in half)
Sweet potato
Parsnips
Red onions (cut in half)
Sweet potato
Parsnips
Royal Blue Potatoes
Thyme
Rosemary
Salt
Olive oil
I left the skin on the potatoes, pumpkin and sweet potato
because it's supposed to be good for you – so when it’s clean I try to leave it
on. I think the trick with roasting vegie’s is patience. Do it on a cold Sunday
afternoon when you have time to keep an eye on it and wait the 1 to 1 ½ hours it takes
for them to roast and caramelise properly. I had my oven at 180oC,
but it’s really dreadful at maintaining heat so everything took almost 2 hours
in the end, but my oven is crap and at one stage my little thermometer said it
was only 140oC.
I sprinkle a small amount of olive oil over everything and give it a gentle stir before putting it in the oven (alternatively you could use a non stick pan and use very little) – I justify the fat because this is a meatless meal… After the first ~20 minutes in the oven take them out and give them another gentle stir, freeing up any parts that are sticking. I am careful not to mush things up too much, but it isn’t exactly a disaster if it does happen. but becaureful with your onions, those baby's are delicate..
I sprinkle a small amount of olive oil over everything and give it a gentle stir before putting it in the oven (alternatively you could use a non stick pan and use very little) – I justify the fat because this is a meatless meal… After the first ~20 minutes in the oven take them out and give them another gentle stir, freeing up any parts that are sticking. I am careful not to mush things up too much, but it isn’t exactly a disaster if it does happen. but becaureful with your onions, those baby's are delicate..
I sautéed some mushrooms (about 10 large white
buttons) I’d prefer swiss browns but they didn’t have any at the green grocer.
I cooked them down for almost 30 minutes on a low heat, with a bunch of thyme and
couple tsp of olive oil. At the end (after
nice brown shot here) I added a splash of mirin (basically a sweet
sherry/brandy substitute) a dash of whorechestire sauce and then a blob of low
fat sour cream. Which looks yuck but tastes yum...
I justify the fat because this is a meatless meal… Plus it’s a roast which is not exactly a super low fat meal at the best of times, my philosophy is to enjoy it properly and have it infrequently.
I served it all with some steamed cabbage and peas
I justify the fat because this is a meatless meal… Plus it’s a roast which is not exactly a super low fat meal at the best of times, my philosophy is to enjoy it properly and have it infrequently.
I served it all with some steamed cabbage and peas
Pictured here was what I ate, which was way too much and I
felt a little sick afterwards. I think maybe I should have skipped the sour cream
addition… or just eaten less. I think I’d just spent so much time thinking
about it I couldn’t help myself…
*in the final 10 minutes of roasting you could sprinkle
feta and walnuts over the vegies
*add red capsicum, zucchini and eggplant to your roasting
dish and eat with grilled haloumi fresh mint
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