Roasted vegetables

December 28, 2012 at 12:38 am (Fall recipes, My brain, Quick weeknight recipe, Root vegetables, Tofu, unrated, Winter recipes)

I wanted to update my post on mixed roasted vegetables, but when I went to look for it I discovered there wasn’t one!  I’ve been roasting vegetables for years, and I have never posted about it?  Wow.  Normally I roast vegetables on a rimmed baking sheet, but today I wanted to try to heal my cast iron dutch oven, and so I decided to roast the vegetables in it instead.  I’ve always thought that a baking sheet (with its low sides) is better when it comes to roasting, because it lets the moisture escape and yields crispier edges.  But my dutch oven roasted veggies turned out great.  Better than normal, I would say.  But I changed a few other things as well, so I can’t really make a direct comparison.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbs. butter
• ~6 jerusalem artichokes, peeled and sliced about 1/6? of an inch) [mine weighed 258g]
• 1 large carrot (not peeled), sliced about 1/2-inch thick [mine weighed 110g]
• 1 large rutabaga, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes [mine weighed 234g]
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 8.5 oz medium-firm tofu, in 1-inch cubes
• 1 medium zucchini, thickly sliced [mine weighed 262g]
• a few sprigs of thyme (optional)

Normally I use olive oil, but I decided to use butter today, since I read that jerusalem artichokes love butter.  I preheated the oven to 200 C, about 400 F.  I heated the butter in my large dutch oven until it was warm, and then I added the jerusalem artichokes and carrot.  A minute or so later I added the rutabaga, thyme sprigs, salt, and pepper.  I let all the veggies saute a bit then added the tofu, gently stirred to get the tofu coated with oil, and put the pot uncovered in the oven.  I roasted the veggies for about 45 minutes, stirring a few times, until the jerusalem artichokes were soft.  Then I added the zucchini slices, stirred to mix, and roasted for about another 10 minutes.

The jerusalem artichokes were nicely caramelized and delicious.  The rutabaga was also meltingly soft and very sweet.  I’ve never added tofu to roasted vegetables before, but it actually worked out nicely.  It got all brown around the edges but stayed moist.  It didn’t really add much flavor, but it tasted fine and added some protein to the dish.  I’m not sure I could taste the thyme.  The carrots and zucchini were both fine, but nothing special.

Altogether I ended up using about 1 1/3 pounds of root vegetables and 0.58 pounds of zucchini. I had plenty of room left in the pot though, and the veggies were definitely roasting not steaming, so I think next time I will try more veggies, maybe 1 1/2 – 2 pounds of root vegetables, and maybe add shallots or cauliflower instead of zucchini.

The dish made about four servings, with each serving having 250 calories (52% carbs, 15% protein, and 33% fat).

I served the vegetables with a sour sauce made from the leftover whey from making paneer, ginger, garlic, some buttermilk, curry powder, lemon juice, and more thyme.  I reduced it for a while then thickened it with some arrowroot.  It sounds a bit weird but the sauce was actually quite mild, and added a nice tang to the vegetables.