Every day, the popularity of dishes cooked in the oven increases. In addition, it is now fashionable to lead a healthy lifestyle. This is a rejection of bad habits, and regular exercise, and proper nutrition. Realizing that baked dishes are much healthier than food prepared in the usual way, young housewives are wondering how to bake vegetables in the oven.
I would like to note right away that dishes prepared in this way are not only useful - they have a unique taste and aroma. Such a treat is perfect for a festive table and will delight the household on a weekday. The main thing is to cook it correctly: do not dry it, and even more so do not serve half-baked to the table.
In addition to meat, fish and poultry, in the oven you can bake almost any vegetables and most fruits. Products processed in this way are ideal for those who want to lose weight and at the same time have a tasty meal.
Cooking vegetables in the oven requires certain skills and knowledge. Therefore, young and inexperienced housewives can, for starters, learn how to bake the densest of them - potatoes, eggplant, peppers or zucchini, which will not turn into porridge if they cook longer than usual.
Basic Rules
How to bake vegetables in the oven - in foil, in pots, in a pan, with cheese or in a sleeve - depends on the recipe and skills. But before you go directly to cooking, it’s worth remembering the basic rules:
1. For baking, select only intact, clean products of very high quality.
2. Root crops before cooking should be thoroughly washed and dried with a paper towel, but not cleaned. It is desirable to bake them on a grate, which is set in the middle position in the oven.
3. Wash peppers and tomatoes well. A baking sheet with these vegetables should be placed on top of the oven. Prepare them for 10-15 minutes, until the skin crack.
4. Bake kohlrabi in the same way as root vegetables.
5. Peel and cook the whole onion, but you can cut it into large rings or slices.
6. Eggplants are baked in circles or whole halves. But a fine cut option is also possible.
7. Remove the leaves from the cauliflower and divide the cabbage into forks, which must be washed and dried before going to the oven.
8. Vegetables must not be salted before baking, otherwise juice will stand out from them, and the dish itself will turn out to be sluggish and without a crust. This can be done before serving.
How to bake vegetables in the oven? In addition to the above basic rules, one more should be added. Many fruits can be cooked not whole, but in mashed form: mashed potatoes, puddings, potato rolls and various casseroles. Some of them can be stuffed before cooking or after baking.
Cooking in foil
To bake vegetables in the foil in the oven correctly, you need to know a few secrets:
1. Potatoes, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and zucchini are baked in foil.
2. Potatoes should be medium in size, pepper - fleshy, without damage, eggplant - mature, dense. Zucchini is recommended to take young, and tomatoes - only large and medium ripeness.
3. In eggplant, zucchini and pepper, the peduncle must be removed.
4. Each potato can be wrapped separately, and pepper - red and yellow - only together.
5. Eggplants, tomatoes and zucchini, as well as potatoes, are individually packed, but so that a bag is made of foil. Then it will be easy to open to check the vegetable for readiness.
6. Tomatoes are baked for 15 minutes at a temperature of 180 degrees. The remaining vegetables, except for potatoes, are 30 minutes.
7. To check for readiness peppers and tomatoes, you need to try piercing the skin with a wooden toothpick. If this is easy to do, and the peel itself is separated from the total mass, the vegetables are ready. Potatoes, zucchini and eggplant are checked with a fork. It should easily enter the finished product.
Most often, whole potatoes are baked in foil. Subsequently, it can be stuffed. Before cooking, you need to salt the potatoes, grate with spices and wrap in foil. It languishes in the oven for about an hour, then is cut in half and stuffed.
The easiest recipe: potatoes baked with mushrooms
Products that you will need:
- 2 large potatoes;
- red bell pepper;
- bulb;
- 6 fresh champignons;
- parsley and dill greens - 30 grams each;
- 4 cloves of garlic;
- soy sauce - 4 tablespoons.
Peel the vegetables. Cut the potatoes into cubes, pepper into strips, and chop the onion as finely as possible. Wash the mushrooms and cut into four parts. Finely chop the greens and garlic. Mix all the ingredients in a deep bowl, season with soy sauce. Cut the foil into squares. Arrange a mixture of vegetables on them and wrap them in a bundle. Bake for 30 minutes at 200 degrees. The readiness of the dish is determined by potatoes. Cooked vegetables in foil (in the oven) are salted and pepper only before serving. Spicy lovers can add crushed garlic.
Cooking in pots
We suggest you make baked vegetables in pots. In the oven they are prepared in the form of a portioned dish. And bake separately, for example, lean stew, and with meat - roast. Vegetables prepared in this way are very aromatic and juicy. Observing the following rules, you can easily cook up a delicious dinner that will appeal to every member of the family. So, remember:
1. Vegetables to be laid raw in a pot. So they will be steamed and get more flavorful.
2. Oil can not be used at all.
3. If you have to add water or broth during cooking, use only in a hot liquid, and in small quantities. Otherwise, hot dishes may crack.
4. Prepared for baking pots put only in a cold oven.
5. Since the top layer always dries up during cooking, it is better to lay on top vegetables that produce juice - onions and tomatoes.
6. Always close the pot tightly with a lid or foil, but best of all with dough. So the dish is original.
7. The usual temperature for vegetables that are baked in earthenware is 160 degrees.
8. Remove the finished pots from the oven only on a wooden stand, and in no case on a burner or a cold surface. They can crack.
9. Before serving, the dish should stand for a while. During this time, the vegetables in the pot reach, and its walls cool slightly.
Let's move on to practice
One of the best recipes is summer vegetable stew. It consists of:
- potatoes;
- carrot;
- cauliflower or any other;
- pumpkin;
- bow;
- cheese;
- greens;
- milk - 3-4 tablespoons;
- butter;
- salt pepper.
Cooking process
There are no strict proportions in this recipe. It all depends on taste preferences. The main ingredient is potatoes. It should be more than other products. Pumpkins, carrots and onions need to be put quite a bit. Peel, wash and dice the vegetables. Put everything in pots, add salt and pepper. Put a few pieces of cheese and butter on top, add milk and cover with lids or foil. Cook for 30-45 minutes at a temperature of 180-200 degrees. Sprinkle the stew with greens before serving.
Cooking in the sleeve
Baked vegetables in the oven - in the sleeve - are more flavorful than boiled or steamed. They can be served as a side dish or as an independent dish. Salads made from such vegetables are very tasty. But here there are rules:
1. When baking, the sleeve may swell, so it should be placed so that it does not come into contact with the walls of the oven.
2. Putting the sleeve on a baking sheet or other heat-resistant dishes with a flat bottom, and in no case on the wire rack.
3. To make the dish with a crust, 10-15 minutes before cooking, the film should be cut from above and push its edges apart. Caution, do not burn yourself with steam!
In the sleeve you can cook an excellent side dish - baked potatoes with mushrooms. Required Products:
- 1 kg of potatoes;
- 500 grams of champignons;
- two small zucchini squash (or one pumpkin);
- large onion.
For the sauce you will need:
- 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil;
- 2 teaspoons of paprika;
- 4 tablespoons of mayonnaise;
- 2 teaspoons dry parsley;
- salt and fresh herbs to taste.
Cooking process
Wash, peel and chop vegetables. In a bowl, prepare the sauce and add the remaining ingredients. Mix everything carefully and set aside for 25-30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180-200 degrees. Put pickled vegetables in a sleeve. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Then turn off the oven and let the dish stand for another 10 minutes. Put the prepared vegetables on a plate and sprinkle with fresh herbs.
A transparent sleeve allows you to monitor the cooking process and control the formation of crusts. This is its advantage over baking in pots or foil.
Cooking with Cheese
Cooked vegetables in the oven with cheese - a dish that is perfect for vegetarians. It is best to bake such a dish in pots or other heat-resistant dishes. Basic cooking rules:
1. All vegetables are cut in equal slices, but not large, and laid out in a container for cooking in layers.
2. Do not tamp the crushed products, but fold them loosely so that the sauce can normally penetrate into all layers.
3. On top of any dish sprinkled with grated cheese and covered with slices of butter.
4. The pot is put in a preheated oven for 30-45 minutes, the temperature regime is 180 degrees.
The most common recipe: baked tomatoes with cheese
For this dish you will need these products:
- ripe tomatoes;
- zucchini;
- potatoes;
- cheese;
- sauce.
Wash and chop all vegetables. Grease the baking dish with vegetable oil. All ingredients lay down in layers. The sauce is chosen to taste. Sprinkle grated cheese and butter on top of the dish. Bake for 40 minutes over medium heat. As soon as a crust forms, you can already turn it off. Decorate the finished dish with sprigs of greenery.
Cooking delicious vegetables in the oven is simple, if you follow all the above rules. It remains only to add that the baked products can be served on the table as a separate dish or as a side dish. If you chose the second option, then you should consider what they are best suited for. So, potatoes, beans, peas or Brussels sprouts are served with fish, and beets are served with stewed pork.
Conclusion
Knowing how to bake vegetables in the oven, you can significantly diversify the menu and at the same time save the figure. But it is even more pleasant to realize that such food is much more useful than dishes prepared in a traditional way. Enjoy your meal!