When I turn on my oven I like to cook a lot of stuff at once. It makes better use of energy and it also allows you to have more options for eating later. I find that there is a sweetness brought out of vegetables that have been cooked in the oven. Below are three different vegetables that I like to cook in the oven.
Slow Baked Beets
In my neighborhood I can usually find nice fresh beets for not to much money. I like to buy the beets that still have there greens attached because they are fresher than the beets that are sold loose. You can really tell the difference between fresh and not so fresh beets. I also like to buy beets with the greens attached because I like to save and wash the greens and later use the greens like I would spinach, either raw or cooked.
I cut the beets from the greens, trim the tops and scrub them with a veggie scrubbing brush, or just wash them in a big bowl of water with my hands really well. I then set them on a piece of parchment paper, that I will wrap and staple into a cooking packet. You could probably use tinfoil, but I'm a little paranoid about aluminum so I always use parchment.
Once I have my beets folded in the packet they are ready for the oven. I don't add seasoning or anything until I am done cooking them. I usually like to cook them for 1-3 hours on 300-350, or until they start to smell sweet, and done. I find the longer they are cooked the sweeter they become. Once they are cooked I set them on the counter, wait a while and then unwrap the packet. If you want to take the skins off the beets, it will be really easy to peel off once they have been cooked long enough.I like to slice the cooked beets into about 1/4 inch thick circles and add a little sugar, salt, vinegar and olive oil to them, or just eat them plain. I keep sliced beets in the refrigerator and add them to salads or serve a few slices alongside whatever else I make for dinner.
Asparagus
I love the beginning of spring because I always find fresh asparagus in the grocery stores. Once I have washed the asparagus in a bowl full of water I like to hold it near the end and break away the tuff portion of the lower stalk. You sacrifice some of the vegetable but I find that the asparagus always comes out tender when I prepare it in this way. I usually cook asparagus by placing it in well salted, boiling water for about 7 minutes, depending on the diameter of the stalks. But the other day I saw a New York Times article where they baked asparagus in parchment. Since I already have developed a fond love of beets cooked in parchment I decided to try baking asparagus. I made a parchment packet of asparagus and baked it in a 300-350 degree oven for about an hour. I love to top asparagus with olive oil, a generous pinch of coarse sea salt, fresh milled pepper, some Cayenne pepper and the juice from half a lemon. The New York Times article said to bake the asparagus packet with mushrooms and sliced shallots as well as salt and pepper, which I am sure would taste yummy as well.
Roasted Peppers
Peppers are a vegetable that I really try to buy organic if I can, because I hear that they are grown with a lot of pesticide. If I can't get organic peppers I always roast them and peel of the skin. Hoping that removing the skin will take away a lot of the pesticide. I like roasting all different kinds of peppers as each kind of pepper develops a unique flavor once it has been roasted. My favorite roasted peppers are the New Mexican green chili peppers that are harvested in the fall. On the baking sheet pictured I roasted green peppers, red peppers and Jalapeno peppers. I also like to roast poblano peppers as they have a really nice flavor as well.
To roast the peppers preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place your washed peppers on a cookie sheet and when the oven is warm place them inside and cook them for 1 hour. Every 20 minutes or so turn the peppers using tongs so that they get nice and evenly roasted. When the peppers are done they will have roasted black areas on all sides and the skin will be wrinkly. You will also notice a really nice sweet smell in your kitchen! Let the peppers cool on the counter and peel the skin off, cut them open and scrape away the seeds with a knife, sometimes I run the pepper under running water to make all of the seeds go away. I cut the peepers up, and place them in a glass jelly jar, covered with a little olive oil in the refrigerator, then I have them ready to add to whatever I find myself cooking. Soon I'll post a recipe for Roasted Poblano Pepper and Mushroom Linguine.I cooked the peppers, asparagus packet and beets pictured above all at the same time, in a 350-375 degree oven, I let the peppers and asparagus cook for an hour and then lowered the temperature to 300 and let the beets cook for another hour.
