Roast Vegetables: The Essentials

Something very special happens when you roast a vegetable. Giving veggies a little bit of browning releases some of the natural sugars and make every vegetable better. It's such an easy thing to do. Almost the same amount of prep and cooking time as if you were steaming or boiling, and the flavour is so much better.
Meet my nemesis. The Brussel Sprout. I love most vegetables,  but there is something about these that just turn me off. Since roasting makes every veggie better I thought why not.
First wash your veggies. I wash every fruit and vegetable, even if I am not eating the skin, even if I am peeling the skin off. I'm a bit anal about it. I get quite annoyed if someone hands me an unwashed orange. Wash your veggies. Then I cut off a little of the stem, peeled off a few outer layers, and quartered them. Generally I only cut them in half, but these were massive.

Then I foil and parchment my baking tray, add oil and salt and pepper right onto the parchment. When I put the sprouts on the tray I tried to put on of the cut sides down. Then I put more oil, salt and pepper, and a little glug of balsamic vinegar.
When you roast other veggies you can feel free to add any spices you like. Cumin goes really well with carrots, maybe a little honey too, some butter in addition to the oil. How about some cauliflower with some basil, oregano, and parmesan. Celery (yes celery) with some za'atar spice. Douse beets with oil salt and pepper, wrap in foil and roast. The possibilities are endless.
I set my oven to 350ºF (the universal oven temp) and stuck those awful little gems in. How long do they cook. As long as they need to. Half an hour maybe. Check them and see how they are. I tried to let them roast on one side until they developed quite good colour. Depending on how done you like your veggies, you could take them out at this point. They will be cooked but still al dente. If you like them a little more done stir them up and put them back in for a little bit. I put them back in. The outside leaves got brown and crunchy. The inside was tender, not mushy. The balsamic got sticky and sweet.
Now like I said I do not like brussel sprouts. They tasted much different roasted then they do boiled. Instead of tasting like farts, they were nutty, sweet, salty, and sour. They tasted just slightly like sauerkraut. Still not my favourite,  but these were pretty darn good.
So do you have a vegetable you hate? Try roasting it. It's easy and really delicious.