Wednesday 14 January 2015

After my triumphant squash roasting initiation last year I have moved this aspect of my culinary repertoire forward leaps and bounds over the last couple of months. I have had to come to terms with the fact that my lack of confidence in the roasting department was really down to a lack of adventurousness and the only way to overcome this has been through practice! Believe it or not I realised I even had a bit of a hang up about roasting potatoes, never mind roasting vegetables!

I’m delighted to say I have now not just conquered but, indeed, mastered the roast potato and have produced several batches of beautiful golden crunchers; my hang up with the spuds centred around the “basting” aspect of doing them. You know the bit half way through where you have to get them out of the oven and turn them over? There’s something about getting that hot tray of oil out of the oven that had me worrying!

So having crossed that hurdle the next step, to roasting vegetables, was a minor leap but one that had to be taken. Can cooking vegetables really be as easy as chopping them up and putting them in the oven? YES! Ok so you have to baste them too but apart from that it really is very easy. Red onions, whole cloves of garlic, beetroot, squash and mushrooms I roasted on Sunday and what a delight! Fabulous flavours and textures, complemented by a cauliflower cheese and the roast ‘taters.

What really got me excited was the fact that I used the left over roasted vegetables with two handfuls of green lentils to make a taste sensation soup the next day!  

If you fancy doing some roasting, which with the weather the way it is has to be a favourite choice, then look no further than the farmers market for all the ingredients you need; every Saturday in the Cornhill and Union street from 9-2, at Gloucester every Friday from 9-3 and at the Designer Outlet in Swindon every Sunday from 10-4.