Just discovered roasted vegetables

benol1

Potato: I steam until half done, then put in a tray, splash with extra virgin olive oil, salt, ground cumin and smoked paprika (Spanish ) and then bake. Also, baked pumpkin, sweet potato, onions, and beetroot. Also, baked cauliflower is amazing.
kind regards,

Ben

elephant_in_the_room

Okay: here the one blasphemous question: how long do you roast your vegetables? And how do you prevent them drying out?

I find roasting takes way too much time and energy...
My oven is run on electricity, the costs of which have gone through the roof here in Australia. Actually I'm always a bit ashamed if I have to use it. The oven I have is supposed to be slightly more energy effiecient than others, but still. Yes it has fan-forced and just top and bottom heat, and all possible combinations of those as programs to try.

I can steam carrots in, like, 12 minutes, boil them in 6-10, similar in the microwave. But I have to oven roast them for 20-30 minutes until they are a bit softened.

When doing anything in the oven, the oven itself (its walls and all materials inside) gets heated first, which is, btw, bound to lose some energy to the outside. Especially if it has a fan going all the time. The dish that you cook anything in also would take up a lot of energy, and it has to be heated all through by the surrounding hot air which is a terrible medium to transfer heat with. Air is notoriously a very bad conductor of heat. Then finally the heat gets to the food where it's supposed to go.

To alleviate things, I am trying to at least first place the dish (metal or ceramic) in some hot water to heat it up from the outside first so it doesn't need to be heated up all the way by the oven.

For comparison, heating food int he microwave heats first and foremost just the water (and the fats if any) in the food and so primarily the food itself.

Admittedly my microwave draws 1.1kW per hour, my oven 1.5-2.2, though. And the microwave is only ever going for a couple of seconds, or a handful of minutes at most, so, needing like, say, 150W for one batch of vegetables in a bit of water and oil. Or so. The oven can need 500-1000Watt for the same, depending.

So how is everyone of you lovers of roasted vegetables thinking about the energy efficiency side of things?

biggsterjackster

If you have a Wegmans Food Store near by (on the east coast), buy some Basting Oil. Tastes great on roasted veggies.

biggsterjackster

Okay: here the one blasphemous question: how long do you roast your vegetables? And how do you prevent them drying out?

I find roasting takes way too much time and energy...
My oven is run on electricity, the costs of which have gone through the roof here in Australia. Actually I'm always a bit ashamed if I have to use it. The oven I have is supposed to be slightly more energy effiecient than others, but still. Yes it has fan-forced and just top and bottom heat, and all possible combinations of those as programs to try.

I can steam carrots in, like, 12 minutes, boil them in 6-10, similar in the microwave. But I have to oven roast them for 20-30 minutes until they are a bit softened.

When doing anything in the oven, the oven itself (its walls and all materials inside) gets heated first, which is, btw, bound to lose some energy to the outside. Especially if it has a fan going all the time. The dish that you cook anything in also would take up a lot of energy, and it has to be heated all through by the surrounding hot air which is a terrible medium to transfer heat with. Air is notoriously a very bad conductor of heat. Then finally the heat gets to the food where it's supposed to go.

To alleviate things, I am trying to at least first place the dish (metal or ceramic) in some hot water to heat it up from the outside first so it doesn't need to be heated up all the way by the oven.

For comparison, heating food int he microwave heats first and foremost just the water (and the fats if any) in the food and so primarily the food itself.

Admittedly my microwave draws 1.1kW per hour, my oven 1.5-2.2, though. And the microwave is only ever going for a couple of seconds, or a handful of minutes at most, so, needing like, say, 150W for one batch of vegetables in a bit of water and oil. Or so. The oven can need 500-1000Watt for the same, depending.

So how is everyone of you lovers of roasted vegetables thinking about the energy efficiency side of things?

To be honest, I don't think at all about the energy, that I use, when I roast my veggies. Neither when I am sitting here on my computer to type.

sweetbeckymarie

I LOVE roasted vegetables. It shows with my electric bill each month. Try brussel sprouts with a marinade of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, stone ground mustard, and maple syrup. It's so many amazing flavors but they meld together perfectly. Green beans and asparagus are great roasted with balsamic vinegar too. And tomatoes. And pretty much every other vegetable you could think of.