Del-icious!: Roasted veg chow mein with soy wine dressing

..and so it continues..the roasting of vegetables. Considering I once commented on a fellow blogger's penchant to roast every veg within sight, it was fairly hypocritical of me as I'm now the roasting bore. To be fair, with it being Winter and root vegetables being the mainstay, the roasting is easily justified, producing a caramelised exterior with crisp edges, which lends a nuttiness to whatever has been thrown in the oven. That's the other virtue of this technique; the ease at which dinner and (more importantly), the daily consumption of vitamins and minerals can be whipped up. This time, the veg found their way into a noodle dish, the crisp, meaty textured cauliflower, beets, mushrooms and carrots combining well with the equally meaty noodles and tangy, sweet and spicy dressing. Maybe this will be the last meal featuring my obsession, but I can't promise it. At the end of the post I will feature links to all the other roasted veg dishes I've made and then perhaps that will be an end of my repetitiveness... for now.

Recipe : Roasted veg with noodles

about 4 cups of veg such as carrots, onions, beets, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms and bell peppers, peeled and / or seeded if necessary and all cut into equal sized chunks

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp butter

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

2 cloves garlic, left whole

1 tbsp basil, parsley or mint, chopped finely

egg noodles for 2

Dressing

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cornstarch, (cornflour)

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp chili sauce, sweet or hot depending on preference

Heat the oven to 400oF and throw all the veg, including the garlic into a large baking dish. Drizzle with the oil, dot over the butter, season with the salt and pepper and sprinkle over the oregano. Stir well and roast for about 45 minutes to an hour until all the veg are soft with crisp edges. (You may have to cook the beets a little longer). Remove from the oven and set aside. Slice the garlic into thin slivers and return to the other veg.

Boil the noodles in a large pan of boiling salted water until soft, drain and refresh in cold water then drain thoroughly again. Toss the noodles with all the veg and any roasting juices and keep warm.

To make the dressing, mix everything except the cornstarch together, whisking gently with a fork. Add the cornstarch to 1/2 tbsp water in a small bowl and stir until dissolved.

Pour the dressing and cornstarch mixture over the noodles and veg and rewarm slowly until the sauce has thickened. Serve with the herbs sprinkled over.

Other roasted veg dishes: