The other day I mentioned that I made a pan of roasted vegetables with artichoke and feta chicken sausage for our house guests. One reader commented that she wanted that recipe. To be honest, I never thought to write that recipe here as I always thought it was ‘too easy.’ But inquiring minds want to know, so I am happy to oblige!Vegetables, good quality olive oil, salt and pepper. That is all you need for a delicious pan of roasted vegetables. I know you’re saying “But that is too easy!” To be honest, I find that when you use quality ingredients, a simple preparation is often far better tasting than some multi-step, intricate recipe. Simplicity is what allows the fresh flavor to shine through.
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. You can go hotter or slightly cooler, depending upon the amount of caramelization you desire. In my opinion, 425 is a good place to start if you have not tried to roast vegetables before. Wash the vegetables and cut them into 1-1.5 inch, bite-sized pieces.I usually like to look at my smallest vegetable and cut the rest to match. If all of the vegetable pieces are of a similar size, they will roast more evenly. If the veggie is particularly hard, (A root vegetable: carrot, parsnip, or potato) take that into consideration and cut it smaller than the other, more watery, or soft vegetables.
Place the vegetables in a sheet pan or in a Pyrex baking dish. You’ll want something large and flat with a bit of a lip to keep the veggies from falling off the pan into the oven. The key with roasting vegetables is to let each vegetable touch the surface of the pan. The vegetables may be crowded into the pan – just not layered on top of one another. If you have more veggies than the pan allows, I encourage you to use multiple baking sheets/pans.Use enough olive oil to give each piece a nice sheen. I always drizzle directly from the bottle into the pan making a snake ‘S’ shape over the vegetables. (My hunch is that it ends up being about 2 Tablespoons of oil.) After one pass on the pan, I stir the vegetables around to make sure that each piece has a good coating. If not, add a little bit more. Next, add salt. I fill my cupped left palm and sprinkle it on with my right making sure that it’s evenly distributed over the vegetables. (For me, it’s about 1.5 teaspoons) The salt helps the vegetables to release water which will aid in the roasting process. It should be enough salt that if you were to eat one of the pieces raw out of the pan that you’d taste the salt pretty sharply.Add freshly ground pepper to taste. Stir the vegetables up again in the pan to insure that all the vegetables are evenly seasoned and coated in oil. Sometimes I add chopped garlic at this point. I add about 2 tablespoons of chopped garlic.Place the pan on the top shelf in your oven. In about 10-12 minutes you’ll hear a sizzling sound. It might take a little longer if your veggies are too crowded in the pan or if the pieces are not cut small enough. No worries, just hang out a little longer and it will happen!When you hear or see them sizzling, remove the pan from the oven. Close the oven to preserve the oven temperature. Check the bottom of the vegetables. Are they brown? If so, flip them over and pop them back into your oven for a while longer. If they are not brown and are still light in color: wait to flip them until they are nice and brown, but not burned.When they go back into the oven, listen for the sizzling to start back up again. Keep your eyes on the pan through the glass in your oven while this is happening. You don’t want to risk burning your vegetables! Open the oven and taste a piece. Are they ready? If they’re as brown as you want them to be, but not tender enough you can turn down the heat (around 325 degrees) and move them to the middle rack. Put a few tablespoons of water into the bottom of the pan to aid in cooking the vegetables the rest of the way.
I use 2 large or 3 small peppers, 1 large onion, a package of mushrooms, (as well as any leftover vegetables I have in the fridge) and one package of Applegate Farms Organic Sausage. They make many different varieties of sausage and each one gives the dish a different flair. I like Applegate Farms because they’re organic, they don’t add nitrates, and because the sausages are fully cooked out of the package. As long as I cut them to a similar size to the vegetables, everything will roast evenly. I use about 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper, Chopped Garlic (as specified in the roasting directions above) and serve hot over organic whole wheat pasta, with the olive oil drippings from the pan and shaved parmesan. Easy-breezy, no?Please note: this is not in any way intended to be an advertisement for a specific brand of pasta or sausage – I just happen to like these products and use them when I am making this recipe. Also, all of the images in todays post link to other recipes for roasted vegetables. Please be sure to click through for more recipe inspiration!

Posted by Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo / totally delicious dishes and Uncategorized