Roast/ grilled veg. How can I make them tight

[flipchart]

Every time I cook a selection of veg such as courgettes, aubergines, tomatoes and mushrooms they come out as a load of tasteless mush!

I have tried cooking them quickly, slowly ,high oven temp, low oven.

Has anyone got any ideas please?

[flipchart]

Meant right, not tight!

[NumTumDeDum]

Did you salt the aubergines first to get the excess liquid out?

[Montybojangles]

What are you seasoning them with?

[NumTumDeDum]

With courgette and aubergine, you slice them and lay them in a colander in layers, giving them a light sprinkling of salt then put the colander on the draining board and something heavy like a pan on top and the excess water comes out. You need to leave them for about an hour. You can then fry or whatever and they'll be less watery and mushy.

[flipchart]

Yes I salt the aubergines.

Currently I slice the courgettes, prep the aubergines, slice the mushrooms and red onions then put on a tray ofhot olive oil, add a sprinkle of salt and pepper and cook.
They never taste nice. I was hoping to have roast veg and giant cous cous tonight.

[snoworneahva]

Add fresh herbs - thyme is v good as is sage or rosemary. Make sure you, don't over crowd the tray because then they will boil rather than roast, give them a good shake after 20 mins and then every five to ten minutes. I though anything into mine - today I chucked in some raw chorizo and the oil really pimped up the flavour. I was going to give you advice on combinations of veg but then I thought - I usually just raid the fridge, using up stuff that might need using.

[curlyLJ]

I add balsamic vinegar too. Apparently they need some acid (have even used lemon juice) according to Jamie O.

So I chop peppers (red, orange and/or yellow - not green!), courgettes, red onions and sometimes butternut squash etc, put it all in the roasting tin then drizzle oil, then drizzle balsamic (less balsamic than oil), grind some S & P and then add about a teaspoon of dried italian seasoning (herbs). Give it all a toss around and roast at gas mark 5 for about half an hour, giving them a toss half way through. I've never roasted mushrooms though I have to say.

If I want to make things a bit more interesting, I break up some halloumi for the last 10 minutes or so - yummy!

[flatpackhamster]

I think your problem is you have too much watery stuff in there. The mushrooms are a case in point. They're filled with water. Then you've got courgette AND aubergine, both very watery vegetables.

So what's happening is the food reaches a certain temperature, the cells burst and water floods out and fills your roasting tin and you end up with a little lake which gently poaches everything instead of crisping it.

Leave the mushrooms out and put in some bell peppers or sumfink. Or alternatively, half way throught the cooking process take the roasting tin out of the oven and pour the excess water off.

[Rikalaily]

I just throw it all in the oven uncovered, always turns out fine. I always use, sweet potato, butternut squash, bell peppers, onion, courgette, aubergine and mushrooms, all cut up into inch sized chunks, sprinkle a little oil and toss with herbs and gently turn it all a few times while cooking at about 190. I sometimes start the sweet potato and butternut squash off first if I've cut it up extra chunky and then throw the softer stuff in after 15 mins.

[Pantah630]

Dried oregano, rock/sea salt and plenty of fresh ground pepper. High heat, plenty of seasoning. You shouldn't need to salt aubergines any more, they are not like they used to be. I would add squash, cherry or vine tomatoes, peppers and garlic too.

[Pantah630]

Oh and remove the mushrooms and do them on the stove with salt, pepper, wine and olive oil :)

[drwitch]

do tomatoes seperately, (not sure mushrooms would work). courgettes need to go in at the end of the cooking time (only take about 10 mins). Add some root veg (fennel, squash, carrots etc) to give more variation in texture

[snoworneahva]

I do mushrooms - they work just fine.

[ShoeWhore]

Try roasting aubergines and tomatoes together like this - it's utterly delicious.

Other thoughts I had were along the lines of what others have already said - maybe it's the mushrooms or overcrowded roasting tin? Courgettes are very very good sautéed in a big frying pan and only take a couple of minutes if you cut them reasonably small.

[CakeForBreakfast]

Those vegetables take different times to cook. They need to either be added to the tray in intervals or cut into different sizes.

Courgettes, slice into 1cm thickness slices (lenthways is good)
Aubergines halved and sliced into 1-1.5cm thickness
Peppers, quartered
Mushrooms, halved if large chestnut size

make sure they all have a wee bit of oil, seasoning is nice, the acid - lemon juice is best squeezed on after cooking.

180 - 190C 25 - 35mins will see them still juicy but cooked with some caramelisation. Roasting at too high a temperature gives consistently bad results. Don't be afraid to remove any which are done earlier than the rest. Also good is to chargrill them first then finish in the oven, I don't know why they are juicier like that, they just are!

Mushrooms shrivel rather than roast unless given enough oil/butter, I tend to cook in a pan.

[Littleturkish]

Less oil!

[UptoapointLordCopper]

Big chunks.

[lolalotta]

I roast my veg for about 25 minutes/ the tomatoes get chuked in for the last 15 minutes and the mushrooms for the last 10 minutes!

[KnockMeDown]

When I do this, I add all the veg in at once, mushrooms and all, onto hot oil. Then once in hot oven, I turn the dual grill on, do while veg is cooking and releasing lovely juices which make your cous cous yummy, the grill gives that chargrilled finish. But I don't know if all ovens do this.