"Quintessential" Roasted Vegetables

The name of this recipe comes from Michael Chiarello, the hunky guy who comes up with great tasting recipes, that are often harder than he leads you to believe.  I'm onto him now.  His recipes are very good, but they usually wind up taking a lot longer than I expected.  In this case, it's a wonderful way to serve a mixture of vegetables--potatoes, asparagus, carrots, onion, and mushrooms--that might be difficult to roast together, due to their differing cooking requirements.  He explains that the secret technique that restaurants use to serve perfectly roasted vegetables is to parboil and pre-roast them in a skillet, then finish them off by roasting in the oven.  Makes sense.  I wound up modifying the recipe because I could see that his technique of browning everything in a skillet, and then sticking the skillet into the oven wouldn't work. I would wind up with veggies spilling out of my inadequately sized skillet.   So, I did it my way and the dish was fabulous. I will now serve this any time I have company, or just for myself. It was one of the best versions of roasted vegetables I've ever eaten. The seasonings of fennel and fresh thyme were amazingly good and each vegetable was cooked just right, with that sweet caramelized flavor that roasting imparts.  Frankly, I didn't care about eating meat, once I tasted this dish.  I heated up a flour tortilla and wrapped it around the veggies.   

You begin by parboiling the potatoes, onions, carrots, and asparagus briefly. Then they are placed on a baking sheet and slipped into the fridge for 15 minutes to cool down.

The cooled veggies are then browned lightly in olive oil in a skillet and then roasted in the oven for 20 minutes.

The asparagus, mushrooms, garlic, fennel, and thyme are mixed in later for a final roasting.    When done the veggies are sweet and aromatic with each vegetable standing out on it's own.  It was more work than the usual way I roast vegetables.  But, in this case, it was worth it.

"Quintessential" Roasted Vegetables

(Adapted from At Home With Michael Chiarello)

4 quarts water
salt
1 pound of small Yukon Gold potatoes
6-8 medium carrots, peeled and trimmed
1 pound jumbo asparagus, with the tough ends cut off
1 pound of cipollini onions, cut in half through stem and peeled (or substitute other small onions)
About 1/2 cup olive oil
3/4 pound shitake or crimini mushrooms (or whatever looks best) stems removed and caps cut in quarters (or eights if the mushrooms are really big).
1/4 cup sliced garlic
freshly ground pepper
1 Tablespoon fresh chopped thyme
1 Tablespoon fennel seeds

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Bring water to boil in a large pot and add 2 Tablespoons salt. Add the potatoes, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 6 minutes. Then add the carrots and cook for 2 minutes more.  Then add the asparagus and cook 2 more minutes.  Drain all the veggies and quickly put on a large baking sheet and put in the fridge for 15 minutes.

While the water is boiling, heat a large skillet over medium high heat and add 1/4 cup olive oil.  When the oil is hot, but not smoking, add the mushrooms and cook them on one side until they start to turn golden (about 4 minutes) then turn them and add the garlic. Cook until the garlic starts to get a little golden, and any mushroom juices evaporate. Then remove from the pan and set aside. 

Take the vegetables from the fridge.  If your potatoes are small, quarter them.  Mine were a little big, so I cut them in half and quartered each half.  Cut the carrots and asparagus on the diagonal about 1-1/2 inches long.  Add another 1/4 cup oil and when it's hot add the potatoes. Cook on one side until it begins to brown, then  turn the potatoes to the other side and cook until that side is a little brown.  Scrape potatoes from the pan and add the carrots and onions and cook them until they are starting to turn golden (about 5 minutes).

Take a deep baking sheet or pan and put the potatoes, carrots and onions into it, spreading them. Season with salt and lots of fresh pepper.  Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, then add the asparagus and mushrooms, fennel and thyme. Toss well and put back in the oven and cook for another 5-10 minutes.  Serve while warm  Reheats well.

Comments

[Lydia]

Does sound like a lot of steps for roasted veggies; I usually just toss them in olive oil, sea salt and black pepper, and roast them at high heat. Will have to try it your way -- they surely do look delicious.

[gattina]

Sher, I'm thinking of recipes that can be prepared ahead, and finalized in the last minute (for Easter's dinner). Seems this one fits my bill! Ideally I could parboil/pre-saute the veg a night before... what do you think? Or I can experiment first. I love your dish - ingrients, colors and all! Really beauitful!

[ann]

well, that just turns the world all topsy turvy. You mean restaurants have been lying to us about our roasted vege not really being roasted vege? I'm shocked, SHOCKED! Just kidding... I love what thyme (and time!) does to roasted veggies. So delicious. Perhaps this is what I need to make when we're huddling in the apt on Saturday night trying to protect ourselves from the roaming st patty's day hoards.

[Anne]

This looks really mouth watering Sher.
Anne

[Cyndi]

At a great little restaurant in Boulder, Utah (Devil's Backbone Grill), I had a roasted vegetable and goat cheese quesadilla that just rocked. They used the plain cream cheese-like goat cheese, spread it on the tortilla, and then filled it with roasted veggies like you made. They might have used zucchini instead of potatoes. They browned it on the grill (or skillet) and then served it with salsa. Divine!!! Not vegan, but vegetarian.

[kalyn]

They look just wonderful. I love those little onions.

[Jennifer]

I could so do this. I usually roast my potatoes, I could throw all my veggies in there too. Yum. Looks delicious! Thanks for the idea! :)

[Ruth]

There's nothing quite as glorious as a platter of roasted veggies. Yours is a beautiful case in point.

[sandi @ the whistlestop cafe]

I love roasted vegetables! It is always hard to get them all done at the same time...this solves that problem.

[Ivonne]

My mouth is watering, Sher! I recently bought my first Chiarello book so I find your comments about his recipes very interesting!

[Kristen]

Doesn't that look delicious!

[e]

Very pretty combination of veggies. It does seem to involve more steps than necessary, but if you say it was worth it, I'll just have to try it.

[Lisa]

Those look absolutely beautiful! The colors are so vibrant -- wonderful photos. And each veg does look like it's roasted perfectly.

Yeah -- Chiarello. "Easy Entertaining" my foot! He spends three days prepping all the food for a picnic and then says, see how easy that was? He kills me. He is cute, though, I give him that. And his recipes are good, if you can take the time.

[Tanna]

This is what I want for dinner tonight! That is absolutely fabulous looking! I can't wait for my herbs to start really growing again. I've just got the little plants in the ground now.

[Glenna]

A lot of work but I bet they were fabulous! Crescent used to parboil them at Dairy Hollow House too, and put tamari on them before hand. It's a great technique. More time but a great technique.

[astrid]

This looks so delicious!
Sounds like a very light dish too and your photos are great!

[Helene]

This looks absolutely delicious and since I love springtime veggies I´ll try it, lest my husband doesn´t want to do it on his grill. that´s his world. :)

[Pookah]

This looks really great with great photos.

I have double convection ovens and can cook 6 pans at a time, so I just do different sheets for different veggies. This combination looks great!

[Sheela]

Wonderful array of recipes, and appetizing photos to boot! I have to try these roasted vegetables - i usually throw them in the grill basket after par-cooking and marinating them. (my oven doesn't seem to like me)

[Katie]

They look wonderful and I think they would be a great do-ahead dish for a dinner party.
Think of how impressed everyone would be.
How were the leftovers - if there were any?
As I only cook for two I like to think ahead..

[s'kat]

Only the gayest straight man on television could come up with so colourful a vegetable melange. ;) Kidding! They look perfect.

[Trez Vining]

Just tried this with a slight variation. Cooked the potatoes, carrots, and asparagus in my small pressure cooker for about 3 min., instead of par-boiling. Generally followed everything else 'cept I didn't have any Fennel seed - used a little Dill.
I really, really enjoyed this method of vegetable roasting. A bit labor intensive, but the PC took some of the edge off the effort and cleanup.
Try it. I think you'll like it.
Thanks for the goood recipe.
Did I say it is REALLY GOOD?!!
Trez

[annmariemarie]

This is a great lazy-weekend-dish I could do to make my apartment smell like home. There may be more steps in the process, but each step would be meditative and relaxing (atleast for me).

[Ray]

Sounds like it has alot of steps to it, but i will still try it. Hope the family would like it, and that i dont ruin them haha. These look very YUMMY, and mouth-watering.
Thanx for the recipe.-Ray

[sharon collins]

Blessings upon Sherry's family....and Sherry. I am happy her blog is still here. thanks -