Roasted delights from the garden
“Roast it, and they will eat it,” writes Susie Middleton, author of the cookbook “Fast, Fresh and Green.” I have found this to be true: Roasting intensifies the flavor of vegetables, including their sweetness. The oven-browned bits are particularly yummy.
Gardeners will find their harvests include many prime candidates for roasting. Some of the best choices are crops you may be harvesting right now. Or, you could be planting now for harvesting and roasting into fall and winter.
From your current harvest, you could be roasting tomatoes, snap beans, eggplants, summer or winter squash, and root crops such as potatoes, carrots, onions, turnips, parsnips or rutabagas. For fall and winter roasting, you can also plant the following crops now: any of the above listed root crops, as well as cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and Florence fennel. Garlic planted in October and fava beans in November will produce spring crops for roasting.
Roasting requires a hot oven, a wide pan, and some olive oil. The basic idea is to arrange the vegetables in a 9-by-13-inch aluminum pan or a rimmed baking sheet (not a nonstick pan) and place in an oven set at 400 to 475 degrees until the vegetable is somewhat browned. Before roasting, cut thick vegetables, such as potatoes or cauliflower, into pieces of the same thickness, then roll them in olive oil (2 tablespoons is usually enough), and arrange the pieces in a single layer, usually with a flat side down.
Sometimes one sprinkles the vegetables with salt, maybe some additional seasonings, before they go into the oven. You can also add seasonings to oil and then warm the oil before you use it to coat the vegetables. Some cooks line the pans with parchment, but I found that only the potatoes were sticking, and I solved the problem by using spray oil before I put the potatoes in the pan.
Recipes help you choose temperature and timing to obtain optimal browning without burning, and offer chopping advice, which is especially important if you are roasting more than one vegetable at a time.
Here are some of the best crops to grow for roasting recipes:
Tomatoes
Tall tomato varieties that bear over a long period (known as “indeterminate”) and those with small fruits are the most likely to succeed in foggy neighborhoods. If you live in a warmer microclimate, of course, anything goes — tall, short, cherry, Roma, larger kinds. Plant tomato transplants in spring — March to May. Roasting tip: You can roast halved Roma tomatoes, cut-side up. Cherry tomatoes also roast well, uncut if small, halved if larger. Tomatoes are good with a little brown sugar added. You can go savory with onion, fresh herbs and a bit of balsamic vinegar; or sweet, with a little ginger.
Snap beans
Pole beans, grown on a 6-foot trellis or bean-pole teepee, produce more beans for a longer time than bush beans, but all kinds give much to eat. Any kind may be roasted, but I find Romano (the kind with flat pods) especially delicious. Sow seed of pole beans, including scarlet runner, in April-June, bush beans in April-July. Harvest when the pods are well formed but the beans are not developed. Roasting tip: Try snap beans at 450 degrees for 20 minutes (no need to turn). Even scarlet runner beans, which produce pods in even the coolest summer areas, are good roasted if you do it when they are very young, say ½ inch across.
Summer squash
Plant seeds in place in March through July. Plant several seeds in an 8-inch circle and thin to the strongest two plants. Harvest squash within two or three days after the flower drops off, while they are still small and tender. Roasting tip: Any kind can be sliced or cubed, roasted alone or with other vegetables.
Carrots, parsnips or beets
Sow seed of these root crops in place. You may be harvesting them now from plantings you made as early as February, or you can plant them now, in August — if you’re inland, sow through September or even a bit later — for a fall to winter harvest. Roasting tip: Each may be sliced and roasted alone. Carrots and parsnips are nice in mixed root vegetables. Beets can be roasted whole or sliced. Beets will color other vegetables if you stir them together, but they can be roasted alone or used in a mix if it is not stirred much.
Winter squash
Late summer’s winter squash harvest is from seed sown in April-June. The squash may be stored several months in a cool, dry place. Roasting tip: You will find recipes that include peeled chunks of winter squash in a mixed “root crop” roast, or smaller squashes sliced and roasted unpeeled, such as kabocha, often with sweet ingredients such as honey or maple syrup.
Cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli
In cool or foggy locations, plant cauliflower or broccoli transplants in February through August. Inland: Set out plants in February or March and again in August through October (starting when summer heat lets up). For the late-summer planting, try Romanesco cauliflower, the chartreuse kind, which will make a colorful roast. Set out Brussels sprout plants after June 21 — early varieties (those that mature in 100 days or fewer) as late as September.
Roasting tip: Cut and roast with a flat side down: Brussels sprouts halved, broccoli or cauliflower in pieces about 2 inches long and 5/8 inch thick. Roast cauliflower at 450 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes; the others need 5 to 10 minutes less. Try rolling cauliflower in warm oil that has been spiced with turmeric and crushed mustard seed or with a Cajun spice mix.
Fava beans
Forget shelling the beans! Just roast the immature pods before the beans form or when they are tiny. Roasting tip: Season the oiled pods with a sprinkle of salt, then roast at 450 degrees for 25 minutes. They will surprise you with their delicious flavor.
Plant seed in place in November or in February. Set garden stakes connected by rows of twine every foot or so in a planting to prevent the plants from blowing over in the wind. If powdery rust pustules or big black spots appear on leaves, remove the plants to avoid spreading disease (alas!).
Potatoes
Most often suggested for roasting are “boilers,” such as red potatoes or Yukon Gold, the kinds with the slightly waxy texture, although russets work reasonably well. Plant whole, small “seed potatoes” as early as February and as late as August. Plant only potatoes certified disease-free by a nursery to avoid spreading disease to your garden. Roasting tip: Depending on the recipe, cut potatoes into thick slices, strips or a half-inch dice. Try half-inch slices at 425 degrees for 13 minutes on each side.
Garlic
You can roast entire heads, or use coarsely chopped or minced cloves in other roasting recipes. Plant garlic cloves, pointed end up, in October for late spring harvest, using sets from a nursery to avoid spreading garlic diseases. After the lower leaves start to yellow, do not water. Roasting tip: Remove its loose papery covering and cut the top of the head off, opening most of the cloves. Place each head on a square of aluminum foil and drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Enclose the heads in foil. Roast about 45 minutes at 425 degrees, and squeeze softened garlic onto bread.