Chop some vegetables, throw them in the oven, eat them. Is roasted vegetables the easiest, and most versatile, meal you can make?
I do have a few rough rules for when I am making roasted veg, but mostly it is just chop up what veggies you have and roast them!
You need two types of veggies in the mix. Structural, which you will chop into larger chunks - ones that you will want to roast and caramelise - and the aromatics, which you will cut smaller so that they can release their flavours.
Structural veggies will include potatoes, cauliflower, turnip / swede, squashes. Large chunks of portobello mushrooms, or whole button mushrooms also work very well.
Aromatics will be things like onion, garlic, celery, peppers - bell and capsicums. I will also use chard or pak choi instead of celery. Carrot or parsnip can work too, but in small amounts. Onion can also go in the structural category, and I often put them in large wedges. Parsnip can be structural too, if you really like it.
Other elements that can get into my roasted veg will include pasta, tofu, TVP chunks. Smoked tofu works really.well.
My method is to prep my roasting tray with some oil and then get on with chopping my ingredients and throw them in. Once all is in the tray, I will add a couple of good teaspoons of salt, a few good grinds of pepper, mayne some dried herbs, and drizzle on some more oil. Then I get in with my hands and mix everything together to coat with oil and seasoning.
I whack it into a 200C oven for 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes, I stir everything again and add in a bit of water. Back in the oven for 15-20 minutes more, checking that things are caramelising and not burning!
Roast veg can be served as a side, as a whole dish in itself, or even whizzed up with some stick to create a great soup!