You know your marriage might be in trouble when you come home and your partner announces, “Dinner’s in the oven!”
You ask, “Great — what is it?”
“Salad.”
Cold, summery salads have their place, but after a blustery, wet walk they rarely feel comforting. At this time of year, light raw vegetables lose their appeal; instead you want warmth, roast aromas and food that feels like a proper meal. Roasting vegetables in a hot oven delivers exactly that: caramelised edges, sweet concentrated flavours and textural contrast that make a winter lunch feel satisfying without being heavy.
For a hot-but-not-stodgy lunch, roast vegetables are the perfect answer. Small, evenly cut pieces respond brilliantly to high heat: they caramelise around the edges quickly and develop those desirable charred notes without long, slow cooking. Chop the roots into bite-sized cubes, toss them with oil and aromatics, and let the oven do the work. Keep an eye on them, turn them once or twice, and remove when the edges are browned to your liking.
Chef-writers often encourage a healthy disregard for precision in favour of flavour — restaurants frequently embrace a little charring to build complexity. The truly ruined, inedible results only come from leaving things unattended for ages. If you’re periodically checking and giving the vegetables a turn, you’re unlikely to reach that point. A quick taste test from a hot tray will tell you everything you need to know.
To get those crispy, slightly burnt edges you only need two habits: check them now and then and turn them so they cook evenly. Because the tops darken first, it’s easy to monitor progress at a glance. Turning prevents sticking and promotes even browning. With this recipe there’s very little that can go wrong — you can always pull a piece from the tray to taste and decide if it needs another five minutes.
Charred roasted roots & spinach hot winter salad
By Gavin Wren
Serves 2
Uses a roasting tin
Ingredients
300g carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
250g sweet potato, skin left on, cut into 1cm cubes
300g swede, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
1 red onion, peeled and cut into wedges
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
100g baby spinach leaves
A small handful dill fronds
2 tablespoons chopped mint
25g sunflower seeds
15g pumpkin seeds
15g pine nuts
0.5 lemon, juice only
1 tablespoon chilli oil
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Directions
Preheat your oven to its highest setting — typically around gas mark 9, 250ºC (475ºF). Place the carrots, sweet potato, swede, red onion, garlic and 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a roasting tin. Toss everything well so the garlic is evenly distributed and all the vegetable pieces are coated in oil.
Slide the tin into the hot oven and roast for 15 minutes. Remove the tray and use a spatula to loosen and turn the vegetables. Return to the oven for another 15 minutes, then check and turn again — they will have softened and may start to stick. From that point roast in 5-minute bursts, checking regularly until the edges are darkened and caramelised to your liking. In my oven the total time was about 40 minutes, but ovens vary, so judge by colour and texture.
While the vegetables finish, combine the spinach, dill, mint, seeds and pine nuts in a large salad bowl. When the roasted vegetables are ready, add them to the bowl with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, the chilli oil and the lemon juice. Toss thoroughly to combine and serve immediately while everything is still warm.
