Adventures In Magic Roasting
I have in a previous post mentioned the joys of roasting vegetables. I’d like to go a little farther today. I’m going to posit that roasting transforms almost any vegetable—and some starches, like potatoes or corn-on-the-cob—into something delicious. Except broccoli. There’s nothing that can redeem broccoli.
Case in point, Brussels sprouts. I’m not a huge fan. I’ve had them multiple times and mostly, they taste like squishy cabbage with a slightly unpleasant aftertaste. On a few occasions, they have been delicious, notably one experience where each sprout was wrapped in a slice of bacon and another experience where the restaurant did something magical with a balsamic vinegar reduction and parmesan cheese. But mostly, I don’t care for Brussels sprouts.
However, when I was at the grocery store recently, I found a 1-pound bag of organic sprouts for a reasonable price. What the heck…at worst, I wouldn’t eat them.
I started out by trimming off the ends and slicing each sprout in half, even the small ones. In addition to revealing any sprouts that need to be discarded because they are bad on the inside, slicing them in half makes more surface area for carmelization, which is a magical—possibly even alchemical—process. I didn’t worry too much about loose leaves.
Once everything was all sliced and trimmed to my satisfaction, I covered a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil (easy cleanup for the win!) and dropped in my sprouts.
The roasting ingredients are a generous drizzle of the oil of choice (I used grapeseed oil, but olive or avocado oil would also be delicious), salt, pepper, and any other herbs or spices the cook’s heart desires (I opted for garlic powder). I tossed the sprouts by hand to coat them in the oil and spices. Then I turned all the sprouts cut-side down, and popped the whole thing in the oven at about 400º until the sprouts were somewhat tender and there were lots of visibly carmelized bits. This took maybe 20-30 minutes. I didn’t really watch the time, so much as watch the sprouts.
Honestly, roasting is magic. I don’t think I’m exaggerating. It transforms bland or slightly undesirable vegetables into something tender, slightly sweet, and often with a completely different flavor profile from the raw veggie. The sprouts came out quite firm, but no longer hard or tough. The “burned” looking bits were exceptionally tasty. And the best part? Oh, the very best part was all the little stray leaves that had fallen off the sprouts but which I’d left in the pan to roast anyway. Those came out like sweet and savory little chips. Delicious!
The moral of the story: roasting is transformative for vegetables and if you don’t much like a particular veggie, try roasting it. You might be quite surprised. I confess, I ate that whole pan of sprouts in one sitting.
