The Roasted Vegetable: How to Roast Everything from Artichokes to Zucchini for Big, Bold Flavors in Pasta, Pizza, Risotto, Side Dishes, Couscous, Salsas, Dips, Sandwiches, and Salads (Non) [Hardcover]

Andrea Chesman (Author)

Book Description

Series: Non | Publication Date: January 16, 2002

How to roast every kind of vegetable, from artichokes to zucchini.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"This is a cookbook for vegetable lovers--and vegetable haters," says Andrea Chesman in The Roasted Vegetable. Her argument is that roasting veggies brings out their "hidden sweet, nutty flavors," making them irresistible to carrot-hating kids and vegan adults alike. She supports this theory with 150 tantalizing recipes, starting with a sizeable serving of side dishes, then broadening to include salsas, soups, salads, sandwiches, pasta, pizza, tofu, granola, and more. Beyond obvious inclusions like roasted peppers, french fries, and chestnuts, there's Garlic Puree ("like a basic black dress, it goes with almost anything") and Roasted Kohlrabi, which "looks like a spaceship that has sprouted leaves." Another standout is the Roasted Tomato Sauce, for which tomatoes are roasted up to one and a half hours until they've broken down to form a thick sauce; the recipe also has variations for pasta, enchiladas, and Middle Eastern dishes. In addition, the book covers basic techniques and equipment and includes a handy roasting chart--all aimed to help readers' roasted vegetables come out perfectly "tender-crisp." --Andy Boynton

From Publishers Weekly

How best to highlight the flavors of vegetables in traditional dishes? Chesman, author of the James Beard Award-nominated The Vegetarian Grill, advocates roasting. She elaborates the secrets of the art in this cookbook-cum-reference volume. Some of the most useful material is not in the form of recipes, but in a thorough chart listing vegetables and their roasting times, as well as any special methods required (e.g., wrapping beets in foil). Side dishes are exceedingly simple: World's Best Green Beans are tossed with olive oil and salt, then roasted; Quick Roasted Corn receives much the same treatment. More complicated recipes combine various roasted components, such as an Indian Summer Pepper Relish with scallions and basil, and Cranberry-Nut Wild Rice Salad with a sherry vinegar and Dijon mustard vinaigrette. These dishes are not particularly labor-intensive, but they often split up what is traditionally a one-pot recipe, making preparation more involved. Lemon Risotto with Roasted Summer Vegetables, for example, requires roasting zucchini, summer squash, green beans and bell peppers while cooking the risotto on the stovetop. The book is mostly vegetarian, but not aggressively so recipes such as Saffron Pasta with Roasted Peppers give the option of using chicken broth.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Common Press (January 16, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558321683
• ISBN-13: 978-1558321687
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #666,978 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Andrea Chesman is a food writer and the author of many cookbooks, including The New Vegetarian Grill (Harvard Common Press, 2008) and Serving Up the Harvest (Storey Publishing, 2007). Her book, The Vegetarian Grill (Harvard Common Press, 1998) was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Book Award and received a 1999 National Barbecue Association Award of Excellence. She is also the author of The Roasted Vegetable (Harvard Common Press, 2002) and 366 Delicious Ways to Cook Rice, Beans and Grains (Plume-Penguin, 1998), Summer in a Jar (Williamson Publishing, 1985), and Pickles and Relishes (Garden Way Publishing, 1983), Mom's Best One-Dish Suppers (Storey Publishing, 2005), Mom's Best Crowd-Pleasers (Storey Publishing, 2006) and co-author of Mom's Best Desserts (Storey Books, 2002) and The Classic Zucchini Cookbook (Storey Books, 2002). She was editor of Yankee Magazine Church Supper and Potluck Cookbook (Villard, 1996) and editor of and contributor to the Family Circle Good Cook's Book (Simon & Schuster, 1993). She has also edited numerous gardening books, including The Big Book of Gardening Skills (Storey Communications, 1993). Her work has appeared in Cooking Light, Vegetarian Times, Organic Gardening, Fine Cooking, Food & Wine, The New York Times, Natural Health, and several other magazines and newspapers. She was a contributing editor for Vermont Life for 12 years and is currently contributing editor for Edible Green Mountains.
Andrea Chesman lives in an historic farmhouse in Ripton, Vermont, where the poet Robert Frost boarded. She lives with her husband and two sons. When she is not at work on a writing project, she edits and indexes cookbooks for numerous publishers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars absolutley wonderful, March 9, 2003

By 

"attackchef" (Townsend, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Roasted Vegetable (Non) (Paperback)

I knew I had found a great cookbook when, as I leafed through its pages, every recipe sounded like something I would like to make. The vegetable tart featured on the cover is simple to make and always a hit. Every recipe I have tried has been delicious. Some can be more time consuming, but if you plan accordingly, they are worth it. This has definitely become my "go to" cookbook when entertaining, as the dishes are varied, uncomplicated, taste wonderful, and it's unlikely my guests have cooked them recently- although I don't know for sure- I've been giving everyone I know who enjoys cooking this book!! The bejewelled squash cubes are another crowd pleaser, and the herb-roasted root vegetables went over big with an avowed vegetable hater. Whether you are looking for a new side dish or a complete meal, I highly recommend this cookbook.

57 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great way to get all those recommended servings in!, March 30, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Roasted Vegetable (Non) (Paperback)

I really love this book. I have long been a fan of oven-roasted vegetables and found this book to be filled with unique recipes utilizing roasted vegetables. I did find that most of the recipes are heavy handed with the oil or butter. I have tried about six recipes (I reduced the oil, butter or other fats) and found all of them to be delicious. I especially loved oven-roasted green beans and cabbage with dill seed.

My children love roasted vegetables. In fact, my six year-old can't get enough roasted root vegetables.

This is a great book for those who already roast vegetables and want more inspiration or those who want to try it and need a place to start.

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Rutabaga!, July 28, 2009

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Roasted Vegetable (Non) (Paperback)

Andrea Chesman, The Roasted Vegetable (Harvard Common, 2002)

A cookbook dedicated to the vegetable? Not a vegetarian cookbook, necessarily, but one that tells you how to get the most flavor out of the vegetables you use, and a number you don't but probably should? Sign me up. The Roasted Vegetable is that cookbook, and vegetarian as well (not vegan, as a number of these recipes call for chicken broth as opposed to vegetable; the flavor of chicken broth, according to Chesman, is more neutral than most commercial vegetable broths). Most cookbooks, even the vegetarian ones, seem to give the vegetable short shrift, relegating it to second-fiddle status behind the protein of choice, be that meat or soy, but it's the greens (and purples and reds and oranges and...) that take center stage here, and that is a wonderful thing.

There is a dark side, however. In most cookbooks, the concentration of any given ingredient is kind of spread out, so you can gloss over the subset of recipes that contains, say, coconut or pigs' feet or whatever makes you cringe. In my case, however, one of those things is eggplant, and once you get to the main dish section of this book, glossing over is an impossibility; Chesman, unlike most vegetarian cooks I've read, seems to consider the eggplant, rather than the portobello, the best way to make a vegetable into a meat substitute. (Soy fans take note: there is a small, but decent, section of tofu and tempeh recipes.) Of course, as Chesman points out once or twice, you can simply substitute meat, and I'm more than willing to admit it's just my personal ick factor that turned me off here, but man, there is so much eggplant in these pages. Ugh.

Don't let my eggplant phobia color your judgment (unless you're as repulsed by it as I am). There's so much other great stuff here it's worth your time. Where else are you going to get the definitive recipe for the most underused vegetable in America, the rutabaga? ***