Customer Reviews

The Roasted Vegetable (Non)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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? ***

I love this cookbook. I really enjoy roasting vegetables because the flavors become so intensified. I haven't found the recipes to be too complex - they generally have 5-6 steps, and the first one is usually to preheat the oven, the last one is to serve hot or whatever. So I've found it pretty straight forward. The ingredients are a great mix - not your basic salt & pepper but adding things like honey or spices like cumin or cilantro. Really really tasty stuff here. Highly recommeded and I'd definitely buy it again!

I thought I knew what you needed to know about roasting vegetables: a 425 degree oven, vegetables drizzled with oil, an hour for sturdy root vegetables, less time for everything else. Then I found this book at the local library and discovered that I knew diddley. I went out and bought it.

Chesman offers recipes for appetizers, entrees and other dishes. She makes magic with the vegetables anyone can easily find in the supermarket or roadside stand. She uses fresh herbs frequently, but is not fussy about any specifics, so you can work with what you have. The first thing I discovered, as someone who is gas-grilless in this age of the grilled vegetable, is that many of Chesman's roasted vegetables, particularly the spring and summer ones, do a great stand-in for the grilled variety. She provides a general chart for roasting times and temperatures of various vegetables and I've been able to extropolate off it and make up my own dishes. My balsamic and cardoman roasted mushrooms have transformed pizza.

The recipes all revolve around vegetables and none call for meat of any kind. That's okay. You don't miss it.

"The Roasted Vegetable" is a wondeful example of a cookbook which stays "on task" and fulfills the promise of its title.

I'd had good results with recipes for roasted root vegetables, roasted asparagus, and roasted nuts from other cookbooks, so you could say that I was "ripe" for this volume, but still...5 minutes after picking this book off the racks and sampling the recipes, I was at the register and on my way home to try some of them. And "The Roasted Vegetable" has completely rewarded and repaid my faith in it with a wonderful variety of well designed dishes that even an undistinguished cook like myself can make and enjoy. I am also reasonably confident, given the nature of most of the dishes, that many of the recipes could also be reproduced on a smaller scale in a good toaster/convection oven, which adds to the convenience and possible applications for smaller families, couples, and solo diners.

You will understand the possibilities of roasted vegetables just by glancing through this book for a few minutes. Even if you have little-to-no interest in vegetarianism, even if you wolf down a Delmonico 4 times a week, you will find plenty of recipes to spark your interest here. The dishes are fairly simple to execute (there are a few more involved exceptions) and reward the cook with flavorful, satisfying dishes. Not only that, but since you are indeed "eating your vegetables" just like your mother wanted, you get the satisfaction of knowing you are doing something good for yourself.

And it does all this without the tedious self-righteousness and endless "cut the fat" mantra of the typical "low fat healthy cooking" book. This book is about the flavor and about the enjoyment of your veggies and nuts, and health benefits are just a side effect of good food, done right. That's my kind of cookbook.

This is definitely worth your time if you come across it, and worth seeking out if you are looking for ways to make a more balanced diet without feeling deprived or put upon.

My husband and I were bored, bored, bored with vegetables until we picked this up. Easy to make recipes with a minimum of cleanup and absolutely delicious. We use our gas grill to roast the veggies for extra kick and ease of preparation. All the recipes use common ingredients- many of them you can just whip up with what you've got in the house left over from your weekly shopping! Serve any recipe in the book with a nice grilled steak or piece of fresh fish for an exquisite meal.

Some of the recipes are very complicated and require lots
of esoteric ingredients. That's fine, if you're cooking for fun, but hard to deal with on a daily basis. There are some terrific, quick recipes that are really delicious. I'd never roasted asparagus before; I'll never boil it again. Delicious!

If you are looking for new and inventive ways to work those 5 recommended veggies a day in to your diet, this is the book for you. While I had roasted asparagus before, I had never thought of roasting green beans, never one of my favorite veggies. I was eating them straight off the cookie tray as they came out of the oven! I agree with the previous reviewer who found the oil/butter a little heavy handed, so reduce to make veggies more healthful. She includes some wonderful roasted veggie sandwiches and pastas that make the book well worth purchasing.

This is an okay book insofar as roasting methods, etc., for vegetables. However, why were there no recipes for the non-exotic vegetables, i.e., broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts?