Definition of roast (v)
roast [ rōst ]
- cook in oven: to cook meat or vegetables by dry heat, usually in an oven
- prepare by drying or browning: to heat something until it is dry or brown, or be heated in this way
1) Tell The Man to take his butt to Taco Bell 'cause it just isn't happening. (It doesn't happen often, no worries)
2) Make something in the crock pot - the problem with this one is that it requires thinking ahead, which is not always possible.
3) Roasting dinner.
Roasting is simply cooking in the oven, using dry heat. The dry heat concentrates flavors, caramelizes natural sugars, and overall makes just about any food taste yummy with little to no work on your part. Easy, right? Usually, yes. There are things you have to take into account when you decide to roast your dinner, like the cut of meat you're using, timing of different dishes so it all comes out at the same time, making sure everything in a single dish is all the same size... so, it's not all simple, but once you get the hang of it, it's a cinch.
Take last night's dinner as the perfect example. It was a particularly frustrating day at work, and I needed comfort food that would cook itself. Since I can't take my butt to Taco Bell, and I wasn't going to get home in time to slow cook anything, I focused on roasting. Store made Irish bangers (a pork sausage, sort of like a breakfast sausage but much more savory, seasoned with sage, fennel and mace) spoke to me, they had just been made. I went through what I had at home in my head, and remembered a half bag of gorgeous yukon gold potatoes. I grabbed the sausage and headed to the produce section. The rainbow carrots caught my eye and begged to come home with me. So did super sweet white shoepeg corn cobs.
Here comes the easy part. Spray the pan, plunk in the sausage, dice the potatoes and onion, drizzle with just a little olive oil, season with salt and pepper, stuff in a 350* oven. Check it every once in a while, pull the sausage to the top at about the 30 minute mark, and finish until everything is roasty and browned.
Rainbow carrots are so gorgeous, I hate to do very much to them. Roasting retains all that beautiful color.