The healthier option to eat our vegetables, as I’ve learnt from watching The Biggest Loser, is to boil, steam, grill or oven-roast them. Sautéeing and frying is a definite no-no, so I try my best to minimize it.
However, I was just a tad curious to find out if grilled or oven-roasted vegetables tasted better. So I decided to do an experiment.
Being educated as a Science stream student, I found myself making sure that both instances of the *experiment* for comparison were on par, as much as possible. Oh yes, hubby is always teasing me for NOT taking up Home Science in school but oh well…
For the purpose of my experiment, I used zucchinis, carrots (parboiled), bell peppers and white mushrooms, all sliced. For lack of seasoning, I merely sprinkled some grapeseed oil (olive oil is also recommended), some salt and pepper on both batches of vegetables and left it to season for a few minutes. I intended to use herbs like thyme, rosemary and parsley actually, but I forgot to buy them. 🙁
I oven-baked the seasoned vegetables in a baking dish lined with aluminum foil at about 180ºC for about 15 minutes. And I grilled the other batch of vegetables using my new stove-top grilling pan under medium heat, for about 5 minutes on each side. Love the multi-lined *design* formed when I flip the vegetables over.
Next…I served them hot, and prepared for the verdict and results of my experiment.
Both the oven-roasted and grilled vegetables looked and smelled heavenly! Even with minimal seasoning, the flavors were all maintained in the vegetables and they were crunchy tasty good! The grilled ones look brighter in color though, shinier I would say, but a little bit oilier than their oven-roasted counterpart. I had half-expected the oven-roasted serving to be dry and tough (especially just by looking at the mushrooms) but I was so wrong! If anything, it was succulent and juicy!
My vote is for the oven-roasted vegetable dish for taste and ease of preparation (i.e. no need to wash pan :P). Perhaps next time I’ll throw in more herbs for that extra flavor!
Have you tried grilling or oven-roasting your vegetables and what advice or experience do you have to share, if any?
Little Miracles
Our Journey of Love
Hi,
Thanksn for sharing.
Do you have your aluminium foil open up while you oven roasting it as shown in your picture? I have always thought i should cover up the food with aluminium foil while overn roasting it…(i have never done any oven-roasting before)
If indeed you left it open – what is the function of the aluminium foil in the process? Can i just oven roast it with just the glass container without any aluminium foil?
The Giddy Tigress says: Yes I had the aluminum foil open while I did the oven-roasting. I’ve tried oven-roasting MEAT without the aluminum foil and it gets pretty sticky at the base on the baking dish, and I find it very difficult to wash up afterward. The purpose of the foil is to prevent this problem 🙂
I would say you could oven roast it without the aluminum foil, and the results should be pretty similar. If you cover the dish with foil and oven-roast it however, it would take slightly longer to cook, but the results would be more moist. If you want a slightly crunchy exterior on your vegetables, I’d leave it open 🙂
Hope this helps! And please come back and tell me if the recipe works for you, if you do try it out 🙂