Welcome to roasted vegetables. My way. And the dish that is on highest rotation in my kitchen
There is so much mis-information floating around about choosing to follow an ancestral-type diet, no matter what label you choose to apply. Possibly the most common thing I hear is, “But, it’s so meat heavy”…
Certainly, it is true that sourcing a variety of quality pasture raised, happy protein that is free of antibiotics or added hormones is important. But, it’s not even close to being everything.
What we’re really interested in is nutrient density.
That is, eating a variety of foods rich in micro-nutrients.
We can most easily achieve this by actively consuming a wide selection of the right proteins, carbohydrates and healthy fats.
“First off, let’s clear this up — fries are not a side dish and you can’t count those as a vegetable. Sorry.”
― Tez Brooks
And, this is one reason that I choose to follow a diet based on the principles of the Autoimmune Protocol. This way, I can be confident I’m getting the most benefit from the foods that I eat, without having to spend bucket-loads of my time analysing all my food choices…
(Image by JF)
One of the most frequent dishes on regular rotation at our place is my roasted vegetables mix.
It is the easiest, least labour intensive way I know to get a variety of seasonal vegetables into your diet.
And, one that is super tasty, too.
“I used to be into ‘forbidden fruit’, but I’ve moved on to ‘verboten vegetables’.”
― Josh Stern
Cook once to eat twice (or thrice)
I bang on about cooking extra to make your life easier all the time. I happen to enjoy cooking. But, if I didn’t, this dish would definitely be top of my list for an ‘essential’ to add to the cooking repertoire.
Here are a few reasons why this roasted vegetables number is so popular:
- This dish is so easy, I hesitate to even call it a recipe
- Roast up a big tray of veggies on a Sunday and you’ve got veggies to last you through the week
- You’re cooking what’s in season, it’s a budget friendly option
- You’re roasting a selection of vegetables, so you’re getting a wide variety of macro-nutrients
- It’s pretty much ‘set and forget’ – no fussing about with fiddly ingredients
- It’s all prepared in one dish – easy for washing up!
Once you’ve got all your roasted vegetables made, there are any number of ways you can incorporate them into your meals…
Here, we’re particularly fond of a ‘leftover hash’ made up of whatever slow cooked protein hasn’t been devoured – like Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezey Slow Cooked Pork Neck or Jamie Oliver Inspired Sublime Four Hour Lamb – mixed with roasted veggies and bone broth gravy and some fermented vegetable.
But, the roasted vegetables will be equally great in your lunch-time salad (and a great source of resistant starch, too!).
Or perhaps, if you tolerate eggs, you might like to whip up a frittata (there’s a recipe for one here).
All you need to make your version of roasted vegetables is:
A selection of fresh, seasonal vegetables (preferably organic) + your herbs of choice and some salt + your healthy fat of choice
The important thing to remember – no matter what combination of vegetables you select – is to roast the root vegetables for 60 minutes and everything else for 30 minutes.
Here’s the sort of roasted vegetables recipe featuring today’s ingredients…
- 1 x purple kumara/sweet potato
- 1 x orange kumara/sweet potato
- 2 x red onions
- 1 x large leek
- 1 x head of broccoli
- 20 x Brussls sprouts
- 2 x zucchini
- 2 x fresh rosemary stalks
- 2 - 3 x Tablespoons healthy fat of choice (I used duck fat)
- Heat your oven to 180°C/350°F
- Peel and chop your root vegetables. Pop them into a large roasting tray.
- Pull the leaves off the rosemary stalks. Discard the stalks. Finely chop the rosemary. Scatter over the root vegetables. Salt generously.
- Melt your fat. Drizzle over the chopped vegetables and mix.
- Place in the oven for 30 minutes.
- While the root vegetables are cooking, wash the remaining vegetables. Chop the broccoli into small florets. Remove the base and outer leaves of the Brussles sprouts and chop in half. Remove the outer layer of the leek before wasning carefully to remove any dirt and slicing into coins. Wah and chop the zucchini.
- After 30 minutes, add the remaining vegetables to the roasting tray. Mix well. Roast for a further 30 minutes.
Other herb options: parsley, mint, oregano, coriander, sage
This recipe is 100% AIP friendly
Easy!
This recipe features in the Phoenix Helix Recipe Roundtable.
