ISO pan-roasting veggies guru

[AlaMoi]

seeking pan roasting guru for vegetables.....
we've had super roasted vegetables in multiple places - some surprising places, like convention buffet offerings...
I've done many attempts, used many vegetables.  some worked some not worked.
we eat pretty much any good stuff, I've listed the candidates below.  
#1 - obviously(!) not everything listed is used every time...
#2 - some of the stuff has different cooking times... some is par-cooked and added, some goes in at the 'medium to last' minute

 

"The Problem"
seasoning.
salt&freshgroundpepper is a given, but really good dishes had other seasonings that smack the dish into orbit.
_that's_ where I'm trying to go.

personally I'm adverse to sage (bad history, captive history with sage on everything....) and
both DW and myself are "soapy" tasting cilantro types.
I have a large herb/spice cabinet filled to overflowing.....

so, seeking seasoning guru with advice on how to dress up the salt/pepper/olive oil roasting pan of veggies....

things used - not "all" - but these we eat:
potato - chunked - white/gold/red
sweet potato - chunked
carrots
cauliflower
asparagus - tips & short stalks
zucchini - sliced or speared
butternut squash
acorn squash
Delicata squash
broccoli
onion 'shells' - yellow / sweet / Vidalia - not red
small shallot
pearl onion
sweet green/red/yellow pepper
red beets
fennel root - sliced
mushrooms
turnips - chunked
parsnips - chunked

 

[&roid]

Couple of thoughts - 

 

Cauliflower - harissa 

Onions - balsamic vinegar and thyme

Fennel - chilli and lemon

Broccoli - red chilli and slivered garlic, maybe some parmesan

Parsnips - honey and caraway seeds

 

 

[Anna N]

I am reading @AlaMoi’s post as carefully as I can and get the impression that the interest is more of a selection of vegetables being roasted together as opposed to a single vegetable being roasted. Some clarification would be helpful.
It’s much easier to suggest seasonings for a single vegetable. I find a little garam masala or commercial curry powder excellent on parsnips but not necessarily on other things. 

[FauxPas]

I used to love making variations on Moosewood Restaurant's roasted veggies. I haven't made any of these for years but this thread reminded me of them and I need to try them again. 

 

One of their cookbooks has three versions of roasted veggies, tossed with a dressing before roasting - Italian, Cantonese or Caribbean. The recipe and instructions are here. It was a good starting point for me! 

[TdeV]

@Okanagancook has posted her renditions/variations of Panch Pora Spice for okra. Here's one:

 

"Found a couple of pictures of the dish..one has some mushrooms added and another with eggplants.

And I found my patch phora recipe

 

2 T black mustard seed

2 T cumin seeds

2 T black cumin seeds

1 T fenugreek seed

1 T fennel seed "

 

I find this good on many vegetable mixtures.

 

 

Edited October 9, 2022 by TdeV
Word choice (log)

[Okanagancook]

salt and pepper in all of the below

 

I like tossing roasted broccoli in a vinaigrette of garlic, anchovy, lemon juice,kalamata olives, olive oil.

 

Dukka tossed with roasted root veggies is nice.

 

I like to roast carrots with olive oil and chili flakes.  Toss with a gremolata (orange zest, shallots, salt, and parsley).  Make a glaze with reduced orange juice and honey and drizzle on top.

 

roasted beets tossed with lemon juice, toasted cumin seeds, olive oil and chopped fresh mint.

I love parsnips.  Add rosemary and 1/2 inch lengths of bacon when roasting the parsnips.  5-10 minutes before done sprinkle with a little brown sugar and cider vinegar and finish off in the oven.

 

 

[weinoo]

Pimentón of various heat levels.

 

Espelette

 

Herbs de Provence

 

Thin lemon slices

 

Lots of bay leaves or even better, great powdered bay from B & B

 

Edited October 9, 2022 by weinoo (log)

[ElsieD]

I don't have anything interesting to contribute but I do like espelette on winter squash.  I'm enjoying this thread.  I've never done much with vegetables other than slap some butter and s & p on them so this is a great thread.  I just remembered I like nutmeg on green beans.  And tajin on corn.

[AlaMoi]

3 hours ago, Anna N said:

I am reading @AlaMoi’s post as carefully as I can and get the impression that the interest is more of a selection of vegetables being roasted together as opposed to a single vegetable being roasted. Some clarification would be helpful.
It’s much easier to suggest seasonings for a single vegetable. I find a little garam masala or commercial curry powder excellent on parsnips but not necessarily on other things. 

no clarification is required. 

I'm open to using whole different bunches of vegetables.

not interested in what herb/spice/seasoning works with one single vegetable from Saturn.

more interested in seasonings that work super with earth-style vegetables.

[gfweb]

51 minutes ago, AlaMoi said:

no clarification is required. 

I'm open to using whole different bunches of vegetables.

not interested in what herb/spice/seasoning works with one single vegetable from Saturn.

more interested in seasonings that work super with earth-style vegetables.

 

Even more clarification is required.

[lemniscate]

Chicken,  ham,  mushroom,  onion, or beef bouillon powder. 

 

Powdered soy sauce.  

 

Kinder's Buttery Steakhouse.

 

Knorr Pollo con Tomate.

 

MSG.

 

 

[Bernie]

I find things like honey & maple syrup work fairly well with root vegetables but the temperature has to be kept down a bit so it doesn't burn (and go bitter). It may well not crisp up like "normal" roasting.

And surprisingly it does work for sweet potatoes and pumpkin, but you need other vegetables/protein to counterbalance the sweetness.

You can cheat and boil/steam the vegetables then roast with honey or maple syrup to caramelize the outside coating (less is more 🙂) but they still wont be crisp as such.

Actually some roasted root vegetables may not need to be crisp if they are roasted in flavored oil or drippings like the roast pork pan juices -(homer voice - hmmm warm pork fat)

[Duvel]

As most have iterated already, there won‘t be any „universal“ seasoning that fits well to all your choices, except maybe 

 

17 hours ago, lemniscate said:

MSG

That being said - if I read your list with asparagus, red beets, fennel root & mushrooms, I wonder if you have thought your question through and really throw together these options randomly.

 

If not and you have already some winning combinations (again: asparagus, red beets, fennel root & mushrooms for example is not), maybe you could specify* and ideas will flow in. Just look the combos above to match the flavor profiles of just one of your choices. More specific questions will yield more helpful answers for you** 🤗

 

—-
* just as in your „super earthy veggies“ hint, which btw is a clarification (while of course „not from Saturn“ is not)

** though above ideas are already pretty good …

 

[kayb]

On 10/9/2022 at 1:48 PM, AlaMoi said:

seeking pan roasting guru for vegetables.....
we've had super roasted vegetables in multiple places - some surprising places, like convention buffet offerings...
I've done many attempts, used many vegetables.  some worked some not worked.
we eat pretty much any good stuff, I've listed the candidates below.  
#1 - obviously(!) not everything listed is used every time...
#2 - some of the stuff has different cooking times... some is par-cooked and added, some goes in at the 'medium to last' minute

 

"The Problem"
seasoning.
salt&freshgroundpepper is a given, but really good dishes had other seasonings that smack the dish into orbit.
_that's_ where I'm trying to go.

personally I'm adverse to sage (bad history, captive history with sage on everything....) and
both DW and myself are "soapy" tasting cilantro types.
I have a large herb/spice cabinet filled to overflowing.....

so, seeking seasoning guru with advice on how to dress up the salt/pepper/olive oil roasting pan of veggies....

things used - not "all" - but these we eat:
potato - chunked - white/gold/red
sweet potato - chunked
carrots
cauliflower
asparagus - tips & short stalks
zucchini - sliced or speared
butternut squash
acorn squash
Delicata squash
broccoli
onion 'shells' - yellow / sweet / Vidalia - not red
small shallot
pearl onion
sweet green/red/yellow pepper
red beets
fennel root - sliced
mushrooms
turnips - chunked
parsnips - chunked

 

Potato, onion, pearl onion, turnips, mushrooms — surprisingly, Lipton onion soup mix!

 

In general, I like to use thyme and rosemary on most things. 
 

Sweet veggies like sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, etc., are good with chili powder. 
 

Asparagus, zucchini and broccoli are great with lemon juice and pine nuts, sprinkled after roasting with grated Parmigiana or Romano.

 

Cauliflower is really good with either curry powder or ras el hanout. So are carrots.

[AlaMoi]

thanks for all the ideas. 

as variously mentioned, the question is not about a roasting a single vegetable, but a combination of 4-6/7 items, as is common practice.

the guru's noticed the OP:

"#1 - obviously(!) not everything listed is used every time..."

 

sorry if I misled people into thinking this was a 19 vegetable roasting . . .

[blue_dolphin]

56 minutes ago, AlaMoi said:

thanks for all the ideas. 

as variously mentioned, the question is not about a roasting a single vegetable, but a combination of 4-6/7 items, as is common practice.

the guru's noticed the OP:

"#1 - obviously(!) not everything listed is used every time..."

 

sorry if I misled people into thinking this was a 19 vegetable roasting . . .

So, a combination of at least 4 but less than 19 vegetables? 🙃

 

I love roasted vegetables but I’m not a guru so it is not common practice for me to combine that many for roasting together. I’m just not as gifted as some in determining the optimal cut size for each veg to allow them all to reach doneness simultaneously. I may put a few different veg (always less than 4😉) on a tray but I keep them separated so it’s easy to remove one and return the rest to the oven to continue roasting. 

Edited October 12, 2022 by blue_dolphin (log)

[&roid]

1 hour ago, AlaMoi said:

thanks for all the ideas. 

as variously mentioned, the question is not about a roasting a single vegetable, but a combination of 4-6/7 items, as is common practice.

the guru's noticed the OP:

"#1 - obviously(!) not everything listed is used every time..."

 

sorry if I misled people into thinking this was a 19 vegetable roasting . . .

 

Have to say, I'm utterly baffled!  I *think* you're asking for a recipe that has seasoning ideas for a selection of half a dozen of those veggies to be roasted at the same time as each other? Is that right??

[AlaMoi]

not exactly.

not a recipe.

 

looking for ideas to season the typical pan roast of mixed vegetables.

exact combination not specified.

 

"...at the same time..." almost - but I already know one has to par-cook/boil specific veggies so that the roasting makes them "all done" at the same time.

[AlaMoi]

2 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

So, a combination of at least 4 but less than 19 vegetables? 🙃

 

I love roasted vegetables but I’m not a guru so it is not common practice for me to combine that many for roasting together. I’m just not as gifted as some in determining the optimal cut size for each veg to allow them all to reach doneness simultaneously. I may put a few different veg (always less than 4😉) on a tray but I keep them separated so it’s easy to remove one and return the rest to the oven to continue roasting. 

 

sorry.  the concept is simple.

some number of vegetables - par-cooked or not - roasted in a pan.

read the list.  how many types of onions squash potatoes would any sane person decide to roast in the same "dish?"

hence the idea to seek out a guru - they've been there, done that, have some idea of what I'm talking about.

[blue_dolphin]

19 minutes ago, AlaMoi said:

 

sorry.  the concept is simple.

…

hence the idea to seek out a guru - they've been there, done that, have some idea of what I'm talking about.

No need to apologize!  I clearly stated I was not a guru or up to the task, just joining the convo as a roasted veg fan. 
 

 

22 minutes ago, AlaMoi said:

hence the idea to seek out a guru - they've been there, done that, have some idea of what I'm talking about.

Please do respond clearly to the comments from gurus so the rest of us can be enlightened as well!

[AlaMoi]

best contributions, imho

@FauxPas had a good reference - I've copied those recipes
@lemniscate presented some interesting things to try
@Bernie mentioned some on the sweeter side - I'm a (real) maple syrup fan, so that'll be tried

 

 

[TicTac]

KISS is the key.  Assuming your veggies are of good quality, let them shine.

 

Par cook in a flavourful broth.  Save said broth for future cooks.  This step can be left out, especially for harder dense veg like carrots and parsnips which reduce nicely.  Potatoes however should be par-boiled and tossed around a bit.   A far better crust will form.

 

A mix of Rosemary, Thyme, Bay Leaf, peppercorns, garlic and onion is your best starting point.  You can make an herb/garlic oil ahead of time or just mix thoroughly.

 

Many approaches to this straight forward 'roast'!

[AlaMoi]

..many approaches....  now there's a truth!

 

I completely agree - recipes with billions of herbs/spices generally don't turn out well.  so many flavors nothing comes thru - bit like a mud pie.