Delicious honey and sherry glazed roasted vegetables are the starting point for several different dishes. Cook once eat three times!
Aside from eat an extra portion of vegetables with every meal, one of my food mantras is cook once and eat at least twice. Meal prep can be boring and anything that can make it easier, especially after a busy day at work, and help you to eat a better diet has to be a good thing?
Roasted vegetables are one of my favourite ways to eat a variety of vegetables. They are fuss free, delicious; roasting caramelises the sugars in the veggies so they are nicely sweet, easy to prepare and are highly adaptable. Use what you have in the salad crisper and vegetable rack then every batch will be different. I try and keep a tub in the fridge (or freezer) all the time.
My latest batch of roasted vegetables used sherry – a vibrant mix of colours and flavours with an Oloroso, honey and pimento glaze. Sherry really doesn’t deserve its fusty image, gained from too-old bottles of overly sweet cream sherry mouldering away on dusty sideboards. There are few aperitifs better than a cool glass of crisp fino and a few salted almonds, and of course it makes an excellent ingredient too.
This simple dish is straightforward to put together, make a glaze with sherry, honey, oil, pimento and salt and pepper, and use it to coat your vegetables before roasting. My trick is the add the more robust vegetables to the pan and give it all a good shake, then pop the ones that might will apart – such as the fennel and onion – on top and use a pastry brush to coat with glaze. Pop on a couple of sprigs of thyme, and roast for about 50 minutes until the vegetables are sticky and cooked through.
Beetroot will discolour the other vegetables so roast them separately at one end of the roasting tin, like I did below. Make sure you use a large roasting tin you want the vegetables – not be piled up and steam. Give them plenty of room!
Serve these sherry roasted vegetables hot straight from the oven with rice or grains and some green vegetables, or as a salad topping. Make a roast vegetable hummus by whizzing leftovers into a dip with a can of chickpeas, a drizzle of olive oil and dollop of tahini. Add some stock and whizz into a delicious soup for the third way of serving.
Tips and Tricks with Roast Vegetables
Roast vegetables are a staple for me, here are my top tips and hacks
- Mix it up – most vegetables will roast well
- Root vegetables you can roast include – carrots, potato, sweet potato, parsnip, celeriac, kohlrabi, beetroot, turnip (rutabaga), suede, carrots, beets, onions and garlic
- Other vegetables for roasting include – courgette (zucchini), squashes and pumpkin, bell pepper, aubergine (egg plant), cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus, Brussels sprouts
- Cut into similar sized pieces and roast vegetables of a similar “hardness” together. To cut down on cooking time parboil root vegetables
- Toss vegetable pieces in oil, season and roast in a hot oven, spread them out well in the roasting pan – they need space so they roast not steam. Once they start cooking and shrink down you can combine the trays
- Enjoy as a main with a grain and green vegetable, or add to a salad
- Make an unseasoned batch of butternut squash or pumpkin and freeze for use in smoothies
How to use up leftover roasted vegetables
- Pop in a plastic pot and take to work for lunch
- Blitz up with some chickpeas and make a hummus
- Chop up and fry and add to a risotto
- Make a chunky pasta sauce with them
- Add stock and whizz up to make a delicious soup
- Blitz then into sauces – tomato, pizza, white and cheese sauces all benefit from a portion of extra veg
Sherry Cocktails!
There are numerous different styles of sherry, and while each has its place, and can be enjoyed slightly chilled in the traditional style, it is nice to experiment and bring sherry up to date with some more modern sherry cocktails. One of our favourites is to drink it long, mixed with a good quality tonic water, ice, a slice of lemon and a sprig of thyme. So refreshing on a hot day to enjoy before dinner.
Matching Sherry and Food
There are so many different styles of sherry, from dry finos to sweet Pedro Ximénez that, as the tradition of eating tapas with sherry indicates, sherry pairs well with a wide range of food including vegetables
- Almonds and Fino
- Sardines and Manzanilla
- A crisp Fino with Padron peppers or delicately flavoured white asparagus
- Griddled mushrooms, artichokes or green asparagus with amontillado
- Luscious Pedro Ximénez poured over vanilla ice cream
Honey Roast Vegetables.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp sherry – oloroso or other nutty sherry
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp pimento
- 1 tbsp honey
- salt and pepper
- 2 medium carrots (peeled and cut into batons.)
- 2 medium parsnips (peeled and quartered)
- 2 medium potatoes (peeled and cut into wedges,)
- 1 large red onion (peeled and cut into wedges)
- ½ medium fennel (to taste. Cut into wedges. Keep leafy tops.)
- 2 medium beetroot (peeled and cut into wedges.)
- 3 cloves garlic – peeled and left whole
- 2 sprigs thyme
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200ºC / Gas Mark 6 / 400ºF
- Mix honey, olive oil, sherry, and pimento, and season with salt and pepper.
- Place carrots, parsnips, potatoes, and garlic on a piece of baking parchment in a roasting pan, and coat with the oil and sherry mixture. Then add the fennel and onion wedges, taking care that they don’t fall apart.
- Add the beetroot to one corner of the roasting pan, so as not to discolour all the other vegetables.
- Place thyme on top.
- Roast for 50 minutes.
Notes
- Serve these honey roast vegetables hot, straight from the oven. They can be an accompaniment to roast meat or the main feature, with rice or grains and some green vegetables. Alternatively, use as a warm salad topping.
- Make a roast vegetable hummus. Whizz leftovers into a dip with a can of chickpeas, a drizzle of olive oil and dollop of tahini.
- Add some stock and whizz into a delicious soup for the third way of serving.More Tips and Tricks with Roast Vegetables
- Mix it up – most vegetables will roast well. Root vegetables that roast well include carrots, potato, sweet potato, parsnip, celeriac, kohlrabi, beetroot, turnip, swede (rutabaga), beetroot, onions and garlic. Other vegetables for roasting include courgette (zucchini), squashes and pumpkin, bell peppers, aubergine (egg plant), cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus and Brussels sprouts.
- Cut your veg into similar-sized pieces and roast vegetables of a similar "hardness" together. If you need to cut down on cooking time, parboil root vegetables.
- Spread your veg out well in the roasting pan or pans – they need space so that they roast, not steam. If you need to use more than one pan, that's OK. Once they start cooking and shrink down you can combine the trays.
- Roast beetroot separately to keep it from colouring the whole batch.
- Make it vegan by using maple syrup instead of honey.
Another root vegetable recipe is my Swede Chips With Sticky Mustard Dressing
Recipe for roasted sherry glazed vegetables sponsored by Sherry Wine. All opinions our own.
Stephanie Merry
I love roasted vegetable, I normally just use honey but I’ll have to try them with Sherry next time x
Amy | The Cook Report
Love all the tips and ideas for how you can use these roasted vegetables in different ways, great post!
Helen
We love roasted veggies here!
Nicola @ Happy Healthy Motivated
Just LOOK at those colours! I think I’ve found an amazing side dish to add to my Christmas menu!
Helen
it would be a great addition to your Christmas table.
Julia
Oooh, I can’t wait to try this! Sherry and honey glazed roasted veggies sound sooo delicious!
Helen
So good together.
Diana
I absolutely love roasted vegetables, the sherry idea sounds great I will have to try it.
Helen
We are a roasted vegetable household here!
Ashley - Forking Up
I love a good roast veggie! Thank you for the tips on making them extra special.
Helen
You cannot beat a good batch of roasted veggies in the winter months.
five little doves
This would be perfect for Christmas (how are we even saying that word?!) the vegetables are one of my favourite parts of the meal! For the first and only time in that year! I’m saving this for future reference – thank you!
Helen
I won’t tell that you said Christmas first!
Sarah Bailey
Oh now this sounds like such a delicious idea, I can just imagine it adds a wonderful new flavour to the vegetables.
Helen
If you make roasted veggies as often as I do it makes a lovely twist
Nichola - Globalmouse
Cook once and eat twice, that is SUCH a good mantra! I might have to borrow that. The roast veggies look delicious!
Helen
cook once, eat many times is the way forward!
Rhian Westbury
I bet the sherry gives it quite a sweet flavour which is nice, but sadly I’ve just never been a fan of veggies x
Helen
Try them roasted, they become wonderfully sweet.
Mummy Times Two
I’d never thought about using Sherry with vegetables. I’m sure my mum would love this dish.
Helen
it makes a really delicious glaze
Baby Isabella and Dawn
We love honey glazed parsnips so the idea of using more root vegetables is very appealing for us especially coming into Autumn. They would make a great side dish or incorporating into our Sunday roast :)
Helen
I love root veggies in the autumn! These would go so well with a roast.
melissa major
i have never roasted vegetables before but these look lovely! will have to try it one day
Helen
Roasting is my favourite way to serve root veggies.
Tanya Brannan
I often make honey roasted veg bit have never thought to use sherry with it! These sound so good that I will be adding sherry to my shopping list on Monday!
Helen
Sherry is the new drink for autumn! Order several different bottles.
Jemma @ Celery and Cupcakes
I love roast vegetables especially through Autumn/Winter months. Your Honey Sherry glaze sounds wonderful :)
Helen
Roasted vegetables are such a favourite. And so adaptable
Lynne Harper
I adore roasted vegetables. What a beautiful combo perfect by itself or as a side dish yum
Helen
Thank Lynne, roasted veggies certainly are a seasonal favourite here!