Recommend a vegetable to me!

[swan_tower]

I’m not much of a cook, but I’m trying to change that. Which means that as time goes on, there may be more of these “help me figure out how to alter this recipe” questions.

The recipe in this instance is involves some advice about how best to arrange a pan of chicken pieces and vegetables to ensure optimal cooking in the oven. Dark meat + carrots and potatoes on the outer edge of the pan, white meat and brussels sprouts on the inside, because otherwise the white meat will dry out and the sprouts will get a little charred.

All well and good, except I loathe brussels sprouts. (They have a weird aftertaste for me that I find very unpleasant. This is possibly related to being a supertaster, though I don’t know for sure; all I know is, most other people don’t seem to notice any aftertaste.) So what can you recommend to me that would profitably occupy the center position in the pan? It needs to be less robust than carrots and potatoes, while harmonizing well with them.

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[green_knight]

I frequently find Brussel sprouts bitter, which I think is as far as the supertaster bit goes, and have switched entirely to baby sprouts because I find them tastier, but that doesn't stop them from being, well, Brussel Sprouts. Have you tried butternut squash? I love it both roasted and in casseroles; in this case I would chop it quite finely.

[heliopausa]

Cauliflower? Onion? (if it's roasting) Parsnip? :)

[pameladean]

Broccoli or cauliflower should work all right. I feel that carrots and potatoes harmonize with pretty much anything, however.

P.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Cauliflower is unfortunately also on the list of Vegetables I Will Not Eat, but broccoli's a possibility! . . . and maybe someday, I'll learn to chop it more efficiently, so I'll be more willing to use it. :-P

[sheff-dogs.livejournal.com]

Don't throw away the stem, pull the skin off (it tends to be stringy) and you end up with a really tasty chunk of veg that you can use alongside the florets.

[rosefox]

This was going to be my suggestion too. They're all cruciferous vegetables, so they all respond well to being roasted. (I really don't like cauliflower except when it's roasted. Mmm, char.)

Pre-chopped broccoli is often available from larger grocery stores, for your convenience!

[rosefox]

I keep a household recipe book at subtlehouse.dreamwidth.org; the recipes there are written to be used by someone who's just starting to cook, and rated easy/medium/hard. They do assume that one is cooking in my kitchen, but if you see a recipe you want to make that calls for equipment you don't have or an ingredient you don't like, leave a comment and I'll tell you how to substitute. :) I love cooking and helping other people to cook!

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

Mushrooms aren't vegetables, but would be pretty tasty roasted under chicken. Asparagus, maybe? Garlic probably won't do the trick by itself, but should certainly be in the pan somewhere.

Why on earth would one roast brussel sprouts but try to avoid charring them? If you like roasted brussel sprouts, that's the tastiest part! (I like roasted brussel sprouts a lot, but FWIW my wife has the same thing you do and is also a supertaster.)

[sovay]

(They have a weird aftertaste for me that I find very unpleasant. This is possibly related to being a supertaster, though I don’t know for sure; all I know is, most other people don’t seem to notice any aftertaste.)

If you roast or pan-fry the sprouts to caramelization point, the taste goes away for me; otherwise they taste inedibly toxic to me, as do many dark green vegetables.

Can you use mushrooms as insulation? I find they go very well with carrots, potatoes, and chicken.

[uneasy-spirit.livejournal.com]

I would probably use onions or leeks. Vidalia onions are sweeter than regular yellow onions; quartered, they'd be about the size of largish brussel sprouts. There are also these little flat onions, the name of which I forget; I call them UFO onions because they're roughly saucer-shaped. Both the Vidalia onions and flat onions bake well and their flavors aren't overwhelming. I've never actually baked leeks, but I would think that chopping them into 1"-2" long pieces would work.

Thicker mushrooms, like the large portobello ones, would probably also work well if you like mushrooms. They put out a fair bit of liquid when they cook, so you might want to cut back a bit with any broth.

[djinndustries.livejournal.com]

Seconded on leeks. Chop off the green, keep the white, roast away.

[eve-prime.livejournal.com]

I'm chiming in on the leeks as well. I add them to my roast chicken all the time, along with carrots, small potatoes, and mushrooms. I usually season it with thyme and a bit of butter. It's a dish I learned in French class in high school (Poulet en cocotte bonne femme), although we didn't use leeks then.

[tiger-salad.livejournal.com]

Sweet potatoes, or winter squash would do well with that kind of chicken dish. Peeled and cubed and in the pan with chicken broth is how I've made it before, they harmonized really well.

[anna-wing.livejournal.com]

Here through la_marquise_de.

Parsnips, mushrooms, beetroot, Jerusalem artichokes, chayote squash.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

Fennel (cut the bulbs up into halves or quarters, depending on size) is delicious roasted, provided you don't object to the basic taste of fennel and it goes with the other spicing in the dish.

In the almost-too-obvious department, chunks of green, Napa, or Savoy cabbage. (Unless those also have the same taste problem as Brussels sprouts.)

I have a cookbook called _Roasted Vegetables_, which has a handy chart giving suggested roasting times/temperatures for nearly every vegetable under the sun. If I remember, I'll consult it and see what approximately matches up with Brussels sprouts.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry Chaz didn't see this, because I bet he'd have great suggestions. I hope it all turned out OK. And yes, cruciferous vegetables love being roasted.

[spiffikins]

Bigger chunks of zucchini maybe?