We’re taking a short break from our regularly scheduled cookie baking…
to indulge in some…..vegetables! Roasted Vegetables Au Gratin is our splurge today and I’m going to bombard you with photos of delicious veggie goodness.
We’ve been making this dish forever. It’s definitely a favorite, but it has gone through some evolution over the years, not in how we make it, but rather in how we eat it. My husband and I used to make this for an app or a snack as an alternative to other more guilty pleasures. We used to call it, “Vegetable Nachos,” and we declared it finger food.
Later, when we had kids, we broke out the forks and started serving it as a side dish, a nice break from our normal steamed vegetables. Today, it has moved to center stage and we now serve it as a main dish. It’s wonderful piled on top of farro, bulgur, couscous or your grain of choice.
Roasted Vegetables Au Gratin is easy to make so we usually make large batches. Our vegetables of choice for this are fresh broccoli, carrots, mushrooms and asparagus. Cut up your veggies, place on a foil lined sheet, toss with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with some freshly grated extra sharp cheddar cheese and top with seasoned panko bread crumbs. It’s another one of those non-recipe recipes. In fact, I hesitate to give you any measurements, because they aren’t really necessary. We just buy lots of vegetables and roast as many as will fit on our trays.
We normally mix all the vegetables up together on a sheet, but sometimes I like to separate them, especially if the asparagus is on the thinner side and looks like it might cook more quickly. Or, I might do it if the carrots are thick and I don’t feel like cutting them up into smaller pieces to cook at the same time as the rest of the vegetables. If each vegetable has it’s own tray, then I can adjust the cooking time and take them out whenever they’re done.
My husband has no patience for that. If the carrots look like they’re going to take longer, he’ll steam them in the microwave for a few minutes to give them a head start before he mixes them in with the rest of the vegetables, then throws it all in the oven.
You can make this healthier by spraying your pan with olive oil spray before you add the vegetables, then using a light hand with the oil, cheese and breadcrumbs, or you can make this more decadent and be generous with all of the non-veggie ingredients. Either way, the high heat of roasting will caramelize your vegetables, melt the cheese and crisp up the breadcrumbs so that what emerges from the oven is a delicious toasty meal. Extra sharp cheese is a must as it adds lots of flavor. The other night my husband used some leftover jack cheese on one of the trays, and…well, it just wasn’t as good.
So, go ahead, take a break from all those holiday sweets…
and treat yourself to some veggies!
* I've provided average measurements for one half sheet pan. *Add more or less oil, cheese and breadcrumbs to your taste. Extra sharp cheese works best in this recipe as it adds a lot of flavor for the amount you use. *We usually serve this over Trader Joe's 10 minute farro and sometimes over whole wheat couscous. The Merchant Baker Copyright © 2014Roasted Vegetables Au Gratin
Ingredients
Instructions
Recipe Notes
Nancy in San Diego
Saturday 13th of December 2014
We loved this! Making some with panko and some with Extra Sharp Cheddar (Cracker Barrel...yum) - made a great meal and mixed up the flavors on our plates to add a little "depth of vegetable" flavors. My husband's comment on vegetarian meals is always... "this would be great with sausage"... and it would. Also wanted to comment that my convection oven make the caramelized flavor quicker and better than my plane old oven. Loving convection!! Loving your blog! It's a lot of fun!!
Ramona
Saturday 13th of December 2014
Nancy, thanks for all the wonderful feedback! I also do this in my convection oven, especially because we do three trays worth and I need the air to circulate...but a lot of people don't have convection, so I try to base directions temp/time on non-convection. I love convection too...for roasting and cookies...but I use my other oven for cakes, muffins...things I want to rise well. And I love your husband's comment...hmmmm....crumbled bacon on top would also be really, really good! (Bacon and cheddar, classic combo!)