The most frequently made dish in our home is without a doubt oven roasted vegetables. It is a perfect weekday dish since the prep time is very short and the play-with-Elsa-time is very long. And you can always adjust it to what you have in your fridge. We don’t claim to have invented this dish – oven roasted vegetables is a standard in many vegetarian homes – we do however see ourselves as some kind of experts on it. Several years of roasting have given us some experience and confidence. Most of the times we throw sweet potatoes, cabbage, parsnip and maybe a broccoli in the pan, but this time we made a lighter version; carrots and fennel topped with olive oil, sage, garlic, salt & pepper. We came across a bunch of fresh Swedish carrots, which were very thin and delicate. When you use good stuff like that you don’t even have to peel or chop them. Isn’t spring fantastic?!
We added some goat cheese to the vegetables, but they are also great with any kind of bean mash, nut dip, this or this!
Before we move on to the recipe we’d like to introduce you to our newest family member, freshly imported from Thailand. The Big Knife. They used big knives like this in all Thai street kitchens, and they use them for Everything. They chopped, crushed, peeled, opened coconuts and cans and transferred vegetables to the pan on it. It didn’t take long time getting used to the big knife, and now it is almost the only one we use when we cook.
Roasted Carrots & Fennel
We are not writing any exact measurements on this recipe, just throw as much in there as you think you can eat. Correction, use more than you can eat because they taste great the day after as well. Feel free to add whatever vegetables you have on hand.
a bunch of carrots
1 fennel bulb
fresh sage
a couple of garlic cloves
anise seeds
olive oil
salt & pepper
goat cheese
Preheat the oven to 380°F/200 C°. Rinse the vegetables. Divide the carrots or leave them whole if they are not too thick. Chop the fennel bulb in medium thick slices. Put the vegetables in an oven pan and cover with fresh sage, mashed garlic cloves, anise seeds, olive oil and salt & pepper. Use your hands to make sure that the vegetables are covered in oil and spices. Roast the vegetables for almost an hour. The time depends on how big your vegetables are and how full your pan is. Spread a handful of goat cheese over the vegetables 5 minutes before you remove them from the oven. Serve with some extra goat cheese on the top.
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