Oven-roasted vegetables are a favorite side dish with roasted chicken, pork, and even fish. The chopping goes quickly, the cooking part is easy, and the dish can tolerate sitting around or being re-heated.Feel free to choose your own selection of vegetables and tubers according to what's in the fridge, cupboard, or garden.
Ingredients
3-4 russet potatoes
2 sweet potatoes
1 bunch of celery
4 large carrots
3 medium onions
Salt
Pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Procedure
Roughly chop all vegetables and tubers into 1-inch (give or take) pieces. Place them in a large cast iron skillet (or two medium ones if you need the space). Don't pile them too high or it will take too long to roast the veggies, and the ones in
the middle will steam instead of roasting. Caramelization of the onions and sweet potatoes is essential, as the sweetness produced offsets the salt you'll add, which results in a delectably potent flavor.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Put the vegetables in the skillet(s), oil liberally with extra virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper liberally as well. 1-2 teaspoons of kosher salt (or 1/2 to 1 teaspoons table salt) per medium cast iron skillet of veggies is a reasonable guide.
Place the veggies in the oven. Roast for about 1 hour, stirring the vegetable
s every 15 minutes or so until done. The veggies are done when the larger hunks of carrots and potato are soft enough that you'd want to keep eating when you bite them.Pay attention to taste when checking doneness. You may need to add salt or other seasonings to achieve "outstanding side dish" status.
I found you while looking for oven roasted vegetable recipes and am I ever glad I did! I hadn't even thought to use a cast iron skillet for this but had mine stuck away in the back of a cupboard. Many years back, I acquired several skillets, a dutch oven and a set of muffin pans. I used my dad's bead blaster to clean them all up, then seasoned and put them away greasy but never used them much except for the Griswold muffin pans that were my Grandmothers.
ReplyDeleteLast week after spending several hours reading through your posts, I dug out my #8 skillet and roasted up a Brussels sprout, asparagus, snow pea mix from Trader Joe's. I added a cut up onion and a bunch of garlic cloves. Mixed up some balsamic vinegar and Dijon mustard with little olive oil, fresh thyme and rosemary....salt and pepper. WOW! The pan worked great and the veggies were awesome! Even cold the next day, they were great.
Since then, I have used cast iron instead of non stick for several things and it has always performed beautifully. I am a convert and ready to toss out my last non stick pan.
I even bought a skillet and lid as a Christmas present for a friend.
Next thing I want to do is bake a cake in cast iron.....apple cake with lots of cinnamon sounds good. Any ideas, suggestions or recipe?
Thanks so much for all the great info on cast iron.
Hi Lima,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement! Glad to hear that you are getting rid of your teflon!
My wife has a great apple cake recipe... so let me see if I can get that posted.
Thanks!
-Derek
Derek,
ReplyDeleteCurious if you ever cook the chicken in your dutch oven alongside a heaping skillet of your roasted veggies (wanted to try both the same night). Would that change cooking temps?
Signed
A novice
Hey Mike,
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! Both the chicken and the vegetables are happy at just about any temperature between 350 and 450... but 350 should be fine for both at once. I'd probably start them at the same time. If the veggies finish early, you can pull them out, and then put them back in for 10 minutes while the chicken rests before carving. Always better to have your veggies done early as opposed to your meat.
Mmmm... now I'm getting hungry!
-Derek