After spending a few days out of town some of you might come home with a coffee-table book from Burned Water, Arizona or Mosquito Ville, Vermont. Of cause this is the right thing to do…After a few days in Dallas I am coming back with a cauliflower and a bag full of sweet potatoes. Am I weird or strange? No judging please, I would say: just hungry and for once prepared for arriving home with a hole in my belly. I got everything figured out: preparing the veggies and roasting them while unloading the car, would have been under an hour and I would be ready for some cozy time on the sofa. Nice try… this all didn’t happen. After some hours in a never ending traffic jam, chasing detours, squeezed in between two big trucks and arriving late at home, I was starving and my dream of veggies transformed into a pizza. But pizza is a vegetable too, some say!

So I saved my cauliflower and sweet potato for another day last week and enjoyed it not less than expected. Roasting vegetables is one of my post farmers market visit ritual. After stocking up with vegetables I roast them and use them up during the coming week: as a side dish with some chicken or I throw them into pasta sauce or as they are with a nice topping or puréed as a soup (you got the idea…).

My mum used to brown some, actually a lot of butter and roast some bread crumbs to top the cauliflower, I skipped the bread crumbs for this time and added a spice mix. This is my favorite way to prepare roasted veggies right now, drizzled with curried browned butter.

roasted veggies with browned butter

for the roasted vegetables:

3 medium or 2 big sweet potatoes, peeled, cubed

1 small cauliflower, separated into small florets

1 midsize onion, peeled, cut into big chunks

60 ml / 1/4 cup olive oil or vegetable oil

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

salt

Preheat your oven to 230 C / 450 F and grab your large baking sheet and set aside. Parchment paper is not necessary but makes the cleaning a lot easier (your choice).

Put everything into a bowl with a lid, shake well. Check if the vegetable are evenly coated, add more oil if necessary and shake again.

Spread evenly in single layer over the baking sheet. Use a second baking sheet if too crowded.

Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, turn the vegetable after 15 minutes.

for the brown butter:

here is more about brown butter

110 g / 1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 tablespoon of your favorite spice mixture (like curry powder)

Put the butter into a sauce pan and let melt over medium heat. Keep monitoring the butter. If milk solids sink to the bottom of the pan they tend to burn and the butter tastes bitter. Continue stirring!

When the color of the butter turns into a golden brown, add the spice mixture and continue cooking for a few seconds, so the spice can develop it’s flavor.

Drizzle over the roasted vegetables and enjoy!