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11:34 am
Improver
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Sun 21-Aug-11
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I often make roast veggies. It's so easy and good for you, but I am heartily fed up with my version. I'm in a real rut. I usually mix them with olive oil, garlic and oregano if they're summer type vege like courgettes, aubergines and peppers, and winter vege I don't usually put anything except olive oil and s and p. Boring, boring, boring.
Does anyone have any ideas for 'enhancing' them?
Sansho
11:49 am
Supreme Being
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Sun 30-Jan-11
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Flavoured oil? I often sprinkle them with smoked paprika (especially root veggies, or a mix with tomatoes in). And adding sliced chorizo - providing you're not vegetarian, of course - gives a wonderful flavour.
learning to love veg…..except celery :-O
1:58 pm
Improver
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Sun 21-Aug-11
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Smoked paprika! What a good idea! and what's more, I have some!!! Thanks!
I'm not a vegetarian, but I can't get hold of chorizo here. Sounds really nice, though.
Sansho
2:31 pm
Supreme Being
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Sun 30-Jan-11
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You're welcome, Sansho. Shame about the chorizo, we love the smoky sweetly spicy flavour of it. Do you have any kinds of smoked sausage in Japan?
learning to love veg…..except celery :-O
3:07 pm
Improver
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Sun 21-Aug-11
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Unlike China, where I have eaten wonderful (and sometimes not so wonderful
) smoked sausages, Japan doesn't have a tradition of meat sausage eating. (They have a kind of (weird to me) fish sausage) Until the mid 1800s , when Japan came out of a 300 year self-imposed isolation, Japanese people didn't eat meat. After that time Japan opened up to the west, and different kinds of food became popular. Now German style sausages are everywhere, but except for one or two supermarkets and specialist shops, other kinds of sausage are very unusual!
I think I've seen a version of chorizo once or twice somewhere! I learned how to make English sausages myself (my sons always complain that they are too dry). Maybe I should try chorizo!
Sansho
3:37 pm
Moderators
Tue 22-Sep-09
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Smoked paprika tastes almost like Chorizo, I love it in stews and mashed potato.
I'll try that again!
6:05 pm
Sat 12-Aug-06
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I like to add a dash of soya sauce to the olive oil and a little of this. Makes for a more interesting flavour definitely.
Never knowingly underfed
6:26 pm
Supreme Being
Thu 24-Sep-09
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I sometimes add a little balsamic vinegar.
Old teachers never die, they just lose their class
8:41 pm
2nd Grader
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Sun 4-Sep-11
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I am very much for my traditional roast dinners, but plain old roast veg does my head in so I do Roast carrots with maple syrup and rosemary, saffron roast potatoes, parsnips roast in honey and butter, and my meats with chicken its butter garlic and tarragon pushed under the skin, pork joints Ill pot roast it either in apple juice,cider and honey or cola, yes cola sounds weird but try it you'll love it, I promise. beef joints with a mustard and fresh hoseradish crust rabbit gets some red and pigeon and squirrel in a nice pie but a plain tray of roast veg try a sprinkle of garam masala, or a good squirt of BBQ sauce goes nice and sticky mmmmmm lol
11:47 am
Expert
Wed 23-Sep-09
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Ooh - saffron spuds sounds good Jono. A friend of mine marinades his lamb with coke and marmalade. 
We crumble a veggie oxo cube over but I don't know if you can get those in Japan. Basalmic's good too. 
12:03 pm
Knowledegable
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Mon 21-Mar-11
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Cumin goes really well with roast squashes.
Failing is not a fault, refusing to try is
12:16 pm
Supreme Being
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Mon 21-Sep-09
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Years ago I had a Dutch friend who cooked me a leg of lamb, roasted with a glaze of very strong coffee.....it was so good; the coffee enhances the flavour of the lamb, but doesn't actually taste of coffee. I now cook shoulders of lamb this way sometimes. I make lots of slits in the lamb & push sprigs of rosemary & slivers of garlic into them. I brew up extremely strong coffee & paint that over the joint. I put it in a very hot oven to seal it, then turn the oven down to a lower temperature, basting every 15 minutes until cooked. I have also added ground cumin to the coffee sometimes along with cinnamon for a more middle eastern slant, serving it with cous-cous & aubergines.
"The beautiful is as useful as the useful...perhaps more so."
from Les Miserables
12:24 pm
Knowledegable
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Mon 21-Mar-11
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Hattie said:
I have also added ground cumin to the coffee sometimes along with cinnamon for a more middle eastern slant, serving it with cous-cous & aubergines.
So when am I invited for dinner? 
Failing is not a fault, refusing to try is
1:29 pm
Councillor
Wed 30-Dec-09
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I don't do roast veg as much as I used to but I agree with Sooliz about smoked paprika, and a bit of chilli usually gets thrown in too.
I have mentioned the powdered Jerk Seasoning before but we use it almost all the time as a kind of universal spicy seasoning, and since Emma doesn't like pepper, I often use it where a recipe calls for 'salt and pepper'. It works especially well with sweet potatoes where the sweetness and spiciness go well together.
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