Chef and cooking teacher for 28 years, chef Mel shares some tricks on how you could avoid dreaded mushy veggies and swap soggy, sweaty roast veggies for gorgeous golden roast veggies.
Chef Mel who has just released Eat Yourself Sexy, a healthy cookbook aimed to get you in shape whilst eating delicious and beautiful meals has a question about your roasting skills? “Have you ever made a tray of roast vegetables in your oven and after 45 minutes, you open the oven door and all you have got is a face full of steam and regrets?”
Some roasting hacks:
Every vegetable has its own cooking time. Think about a carrot or sweet potato vs a zucchini. Zucchini has a quick cooking time. If you want to be lazy and throw it on the same tray, cut it into smaller pieces. Cut the zucchini big into half or large pieces. Cut the carrots or sweet potatoes into circles or squares in smaller pieces.
Don’t over season veg at the beginning. When I am seasoning with salt, I use flake salt and cracked black pepper. If you want to use table salt, put salt into a strainer and you will get salt snow, and even covered seasoned veggies.
Cook at 220 C for 12-15 minutes until they brown and caramelize. If you turn your oven past the 180 C mark, you will not get a speeding fine.
Speed up further. If you pop your veg into the bottom or middle rack, for 10-12 minutes, whack the grill on and force heat onto the veg to caramelize them and cook faster.
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