Last night for supper, I got some fish fillets out of the freezer and was thinking about what sides to make along with them. I love sweet potatoes. They are full of nutrients and they taste great! My favorite way to prepare them is roasted in the oven. So, normally, if I am heating up the oven for sweet potatoes, I roast veggies in the oven along with them. I decided to be adventurous and try roasting a few new vegetables.
Broccoli and cauliflower are my go-to veggies for roasting. I do not have any of these vegetables fresh in the house right now. So, I investigated what we had in the refrigerator. I had some sliced bell peppers, baby carrots, and radishes. Yes, that’s right, I said radishes. My husband likes peppers and I like carrots, so those two were a pretty easy decision. I thought they would turn out well cooked in the oven. I was not sure about the radishes, but they need used and my husband likes them, so I figured I would live on the edge!
I began by preheating the oven to 400 degrees and lined a baking sheet with aluminum foil. This makes for very simple and quick clean-up!
Since the sweet potatoes take the longest to roast and the most amount of preparation, I started peeling them first. I then cut them up into small cubes.
I placed them on the right side of the baking sheet. I drizzled them with some olive oil (just enough so that all the cubes were coated, but not too much that they were swimming in oil).
Next, I sprinkled some salt and pepper onto the sweet potatoes. I did not measure, I just sprinkled until it looked like there was enough. Then, I added some cinnamon. Not much, just enough to compliment the sweetness of the potatoes.
After the potato cubes were seasoned, I tossed them with a spatula and made sure they were on a single layer on the baking sheet.I put them in the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes.
I quickly grabbed some baby carrots from the refrigerator and sliced them in half length-wise.
Then, I put them in a bowl and drizzled them with a little bit of olive oil. I sprinkled on some salt and pepper, and then I went hunting through our spice cabinet. I grabbed the chili powder and sprinkled a little bit onto the carrots. I did not measure, but there were some red speckles on each carrot when I was finished. I tossed them around in the bowl so that all of the carrots were coated with oil.
I pulled the baking sheet out of the oven and poured the carrots onto the left side, making sure they were all in one layer and not on top of each other. There were about 27 minutes remaining on the timer when I got them in the oven.
I moved on to the peppers. I already had them sliced, so I just put them in the same bowl that I mixed the carrots in. Again, a little olive oil, salt, and pepper are my go-to for veggies. This time, I grabbed the Old Bay seasoning and sprinkled some of that on the peppers. Since we were eating fish, I thought it would tie in nicely. I was a little more heavy handed with the Old Bay (my husband likes his food well seasoned).
When the timer got down to 20 minutes remaining, I took the baking pan out and put the peppers on the sheet beside the sweet potatoes. While I had the vegetables out of the oven, I moved the sweet potatoes and carrots around with a spatula so they wouldn’t stick or burn. Then, I put the pan back in the oven.
I then took two radishes out of the fridge. I did not want to roast too many in case it did not work out. I was skeptical, but I gave it a try. I cut each radish into eight pieces.
I put them in the bowl with just a tiny bit of olive oil and salt, but a good amount of pepper. I tossed it around to coat the pieces.
With 15 minutes remaining on the timer, I took the baking sheet out of the oven and put the radishes in the remaining space. Back in the oven it went!
I only got the baking sheet out one final time with about 7 minutes remaining to stir around all of the vegetables so they did not burn.
Finally, the moment of truth! My husband came home from work and I started putting everything on our plates. I warned him that I was being adventurous!
I placed his fish, sweet potatoes, peppers, and radishes on his plate, while on mine, I placed the fish, sweet potatoes, carrots, and olives. (No, I did not do anything to the olives except scoop them out of a jar!) My husband sat down and started eating. I was trying to get him to describe what the peppers and radishes tasted like. He said they were both very tasty! (Whew! Score one for adventure!) He said the radishes still had a little bite to them, but they had a bit of a different flavor as well. They were softened, but not mushy or burnt. He said the Old Bay added great flavor to the peppers. When I tried the carrots, I was a little apprehensive about the chili powder. Honestly, it could have used a little bit more! I could barely taste it! The carrots themselves tasted amazing roasted! They were soft and sweet, with just a tiny bit of tasty char on them.
Now, some of you may be thinking that taking the pan out of the oven that many times and having so many shifts for putting veggies in to roast sounds like a pain. A way to eliminate that is to choose veggies that all take the same amount of time to roast. Unfortunately, my choices did not. And I am a fan of limiting the amount of dirty dishes as much as possible, so putting everything on one sheet pan is the way to go for me!
I would love to hear about your vegetable roasting experiences! Feel free to try some of my suggestions, or make up your own! What is your favorite veggie to roast? Have you ever tried roasting any “odd” vegetables or putting some crazy spices on them? Go ahead and tell us about it!
