Baked and Roasted Vegetables

Baking and roasting vegetables is a more discreet way of cooking than sautéing and blanching. The results are not immediate; the vegetables take longer to cook; you can’t see what’s happening; and for the first half hour there’s no aroma—although later there’s plenty. When the dish finally emerges, though, the change is astonishing. The flavors will have deepened and merged, cream or cheese will have been transformed to a golden crust, and the juices of the vegetables will have reduced to a syrup. Cooking vegetables in the oven involves complete transformation, whereas blanching and sautéing keep vegetables truer to their garden state. Both ways of cooking are wonderful, yet they are completely different.