Everyone wants to know how to cook like a chef, but there are some professional techniques that work better than others in a home kitchen. Techniques that involve precise and convoluted movements, expensive and hard-to- find equipment, intense stove-top heat and setting things on fire don’t always work well at home.
A home kitchen without a powerful hood is generally not ideal for anything involving a lot of sautéing. I remember when I first tried to impressive my mom with sautéing techniques: She loved the results but was a little distressed that I was smoking out her kitchen.
But there is one restaurant technique that works well in a modestly equipped home kitchen: what I like to call sheet pan roasting.
Sheet pan roasting is a simple technique that is especially well-suited to cooking vegetables. You drizzle the vegetables with a little bit of oil, spread them out on a sturdy baking sheet and bake them on medium-high heat until they are lightly caramelized.
Sheet pan roasting doesn’t require the constant monitoring that stove-top cooking does and won’t smoke out your kitchen (unless you forget something in the oven!).
This recipe for mixed roasted vegetables, in which each vegetable is roasted on a separate baking sheet, can be adapted for any mixture of vegetables — mushrooms, sliced onions or whole cippolini or pearl onions, or root vegetables work well.
Note: Saba is a sweet essence of grape must that balances the bitter flavor of radicchio and can be found at Whole Foods.
Roasted Vegetables with Salsa Verde
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Ingredients
1 tablespoon toasted ground fennel seed
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 large red bell pepper, stemmed and seeded , cut in 1 inch strips lengthwise
1 small acorn squash, skin still attached, seeded and cut into ½ inch pieces lengthwise
1 bunch broccoli rabe, bottom inch removed
1 small head radicchio, cut lengthwise into 1 inch wedges, stem still attached
Salt and freshly ground pepper
SALSA VERDE
Ingredients
1 bunch Italian parsley, cleaned, eaves only
1 clove garlic , minced
1 teaspoon capers
3 anchovies
½ teaspoon dried oregano
Pinch chile flakes
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
½ cup shaved Parmesan,fresh goat cheese or feta for garnish
Optional: Saba for drizzling
Directions
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch the parsley for about 1 minute. Immediately refresh under cold running water. Drain. Place all the ingredients except for the red wine vinegar in a food processor. Process until the mixture has a pesto consistency. Refrigerate covered until ready to use. Add the vinegar at the last minute.
TO ROAST THE VEGETABLES:
Preheat oven to 375.
Place the red peppers on a small baking sheet and drizzle with a quarter of the olive oil and ⅓
of the fennel. Season with salt and pepper and mix well. Roast for about 20 minutes until the peppers are caramelized and tender. Set aside.
Place the acorn squash on another sheet tray. Seasoned with a quarter of the olive oil, the brown sugar, ⅓ of the fennel seed, and the salt and pepper. Mix well. Roast for 30-40 minutes, or until tender and caramelized. Set aside.
Blanch the broccoli rabe in boiling salted water for 10 seconds. Refresh under cold running water and drain.
Place on a baking sheet and season with ¼ of the olive oil and salt and pepper. Mix well. Roast for about 10 minutes, or until lightly colored but still crunchy. Set aside.
Place the radicchio pieces on a baking sheet and season with the remaining olive oil and fennel seed and salt and pepper.
Bake about 20 minutes , or until tender and lightly caramelized. Set aside.
To assemble the dish, rewarm the vegetables in the oven. ( This should take no more than 10 minutes.) Arrange the vegetables artfully on a large platter or on individual plates. Drizzle with the Salsa Verde and sprinkle with the cheese. If you are using the Saba, drizzle it on the vegetables. Serve immediately.
