Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Roasted Veggies

Last night I made one of my favorite easy side dishes, Roasted Potatoes with Garlic & Rosemary. I found this at the BigOven (I'm a big fan...or I guess a BigFan) recipe site two or three years ago and for me, the potatoes come out perfectly crisp on the outside but tender on the inside.

Ingredients

1/4 cup Olive oil
4 cloves Garlic pressed or minced
1 Tbl. Fresh rosemary chopped
2 lbs. potatoes, red skinned cut into large chunks
to taste Coarse sea salt
to taste Ground black pepper

Instructions
Prehead oven to 450 degrees F with the oven rack in the lower third. Bring 6 quarts of salted water to a boil in a large saucepan. On the stovetop, in a large baking sheet with sides, heat the oil, garlic, and rosemary. Do not allow the garlic to brown. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes in the water for 1 minute. Remove the potatoes with a slotted spoon and place them on the baking sheet. Stir to coat with oil. Roast the potatoes, on the baking sheet, on the lower oven rack. Roast for 20 minutes and then carefully toss with a spatula. Roast another 10 minutes or until cooked through, brown, and crisp. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.


I also had a bag of baby carrots and thought that this same method should work with them as well. I boiled them for 3-5 minutes and put them on a separate 1/4 sheet pan, tossing them with olive oil and about 1 teaspoon of dried tarragon. I roasted them the same as the potatoes, adding 1/4 cup of brown sugar during the last 10 minutes. The flavor was rich but not too strong.

While they were roasting, I threw two ribeyes on the Big Green Egg at a roaring 650f fire.
I using Kevin Rathburn's tried and true method, I ran them 2 minutes, flipped, 2 minutes, flipped and shut down both vents letting them roast for 2 more minutes (6 minute total cook time). I took them out and let them rest for 10 minutes. Normally this gets them perfect medium rare but these were what I'd consider medium or at least medium-ish.

Served it all up with some Texas Toast and everyone was Happy Happy!
I really have to work on my plating / food styling but damn, by the time I get to this point, I am so ready to eat it's not funny!