Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook (11 page)

 

HOW TO PREPARE YOUR ROASTING PAN

 

Baking parchment, often called “parchment paper,” can be a baking sheet’s best friend when roasting vegetables. It isn’t completely necessary, but it does help to protect your sheet and to make sure that your veggies don’t stick.

Oven temperature:
400°F

Prep:
Remove the rough stem bottoms. Drizzle and coat the asparagus with olive oil, salt, and fresh black pepper. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. If you like, add minced garlic 5 minutes before the asparagus is done, and mix it in with tongs.

Roast:
15 to 20 minutes, depending on the size of the asparagus. The tips should be a bit crispy and the stems should be lightly browned and crinkly.

Complements:
Tarragon, thyme, crushed fennel seeds, rosemary, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, or fresh lemon juice.

Fancy it up:
Because we worry that you might not be eating enough capers, why not try tossing in a few tablespoons of capers along with the asparagus in the roasting pan?

Oven temperature:
400°F

Prep:
Remove the rough knobby stem; slice the sprouts in half lengthwise. Drizzle and coat with olive oil, salt, and fresh black pepper. Place cut side down on a baking sheet. If you like, add minced garlic 5 minutes before the Brussels are done and mix in with tongs.

Roast:
15 to 20 minutes, depending on the size of the sprouts. The cut side should be browned and crispy in places.

Complements:
We prefer these plain and unadulterated.

Oven temperature:
400°F

Prep:
Slice head of cauliflower in half and remove leaves. Slice into bite-size chunks, drizzle and rub with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and fresh black pepper. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet.

Roast:
Roast for 15 to 20 minutes, using tongs to turn them halfway through cooking.

Complements:
After cooking, add fresh chopped parsley and drizzle with fresh lemon juice, if you wish.

Fancy it up:
Make a yummy Indian side dish by adding a teaspoon each of crushed cumin and coriander seeds before cooking.

Oven temperature:
350°F

Prep:
Remove the stems. Slice as described above, or cut into ½ -inch cubes for use in a soup or salad. If you want to go with salting the eggplant, rub each slice with kosher salt and place in a colander; put the colander in the sink. Let sit for 20 to 30 minutes, allowing any excess liquid to sweat out. Rinse each slice and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Whether or not you salted the eggplant, rub the slices with olive oil and sprinkle them with fresh black pepper (if you salted them, there is no need for salt here; if not, sprinkle with salt now.) Place on a baking sheet.

Roast:
15 to 20 minutes. You may want to spray with a little oil intermittently to prevent the eggplant from drying out. The slices should be lightly browned.

Complements:
Tarragon, thyme, crushed fennel seeds, rosemary, oregano, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, or fresh lemon juice. Or go in a Middle Eastern direction and sprinkle on ground cumin and paprika.

Fancy it up:
Top roasted eggplant with lightly sautéed chopped garlic, sliced black olives, fresh parsley or dill, and drizzles of high-quality olive oil.

Whole Eggplant

 

ROAST a whole eggplant in its skin? Are you mad? Mad about tender, melt-in-your-mouth eggplant, maybe. Take a small to medium-size eggplant, prick little holes all over it with a fork, place it in a “cradle” of foil on a baking sheet, and bake it at 400°F for 25 to 35 minutes, until it’s collapsed and easily pierced with a fork. The resulting interior (don’t eat the charred skin) is creamy, delicate, and delicious scooped away from the exterior and mashed with a little olive oil, lemon, salt, and a touch of cumin. Use as a dip with toasted pita triangles, cucumbers, and carrot spears.

 

Oven temperature:
400°F

Prep:
Trim the tops. Drizzle and coat with olive oil, salt, and fresh black pepper. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. If you like, add minced garlic 5 minutes before the beans are done, and mix it in with tongs.

Roast:
12 to 15 minutes

Complements:
We prefer these plain and unadulterated.

Roasting Garlic

 

SOME articles from the ’80s, such as stirrup pants and banana hair clips, are best left to lame theme parties and annoying “You know you’re a child of . . .” e-mail spam. However, the wonderful roasted garlic was everywhere during that decade is here to stay, if we have anything to say about it. It’s so mellow, sweet, and simple to make. There’s no excuse not to work roasted garlic into everything from salad dressings to hummus.

If you can tease up some “mall hair,” then you can make roasted garlic. Take one or more whole, unpeeled, and unseparated bulbs of garlic. With a heavy, sharp knife, slice off approximately ½ inch of the entire top of the bulb, exposing the insides of the garlic cloves. Drizzle about 1 tablespoon of olive oil onto the top of the bulb, making sure the cut cloves are covered with oil and some oil sneaks into the spaces between the cloves. Wrap tightly in foil and bake at 375°F for 20 to 30 minutes, until the cloves are very soft and turned a deep golden color. For slightly caramelized cloves, unwrap the tops of the bulbs and let them roast for 8 to 10 additional minutes.

It may seem like a big waste to heat up the oven just to roast a few cloves of garlic. Sometimes we use our toaster ovens. Other times, if we know we’re going to have the oven fired up for an hour or more (when making a casserole or roasting other veggies), we’ll wrap up some garlic and sneak it into the oven even if we have no particular roasted garlic in mind, just to have it on hand. Roasted garlic, if stored in a tightly sealed container, should keep for about a week.