Baking vegetables - Drying out

Unknown

I am new to Big Green Egg cooking. I do steaks and fish well. I do roast meat various, well. I do have a problem with accompanying vegetables like spuds, carrots, pumpkin etc. When I cook Lamb under normal electric oven temperatures the vegies are too well cooked at the bottom. Some may interpret as burnt. When I cook veg on a low heat, they tend to be a bit dry.

Can anyone offer suggestions as to what I may be doing wrong?

In the first example I placed the veg in 1/2 an inch of lard. In the second example I sprayed olive oil over the veg. Both results again were unsatisfactory.

Cheers, Edwin

Mainegg

Hi Edwin, are you cooking direct or indirect? with foil or plain? also sometimes I will do the vegis in a metal basket with holes in it. they sell them at most big box store. and I will put them above the meat if I want to keep high heat off them or under if I want to baste them. can you give us a bit more info :)as you cook more on the egg you will get more control of the temp and placement of different foods in it Julie

irishrog

Edwin, when I do roast vegetables I chop the pieces quiet large. I normally use carrot, parsnip, squash, sweet potatoe, celeriac, onions (red & white), shallots, turnip, or any combination of the above which I have handy.
I toss the vegetables in some olive oil before cooking, and I cooked them indirect in a large roasting tin with no more than 2 lairs of vegetables. I throw in a few cloves of garlic, whole but pealed, and some fresh thyme, or dried at a push. I put in the harder vegetables first (carrots, turnips, parsnips, onions and shallots) and the softer veg after about 15 minutes (sweet potato, celeriac and squash) and cook for a further 40/45 minutes. About 5 minutes before they vegetables are cooked through I ad a few knobs of butter, and coarse salt and pepper. I dont ad the salt at the start because it draws the juices out of the vegetables.
Also I turn the vegetables 2 or 3 times during the cook to allow them to carmelise evenly all around.
I love roast vegetables cooked like this.
If I am roasting potatoes my favourite method is to par cook them in boiling water for 2 or 3 minutes. I then drain them off and shake them in the pot to roughen the edges. This gives a crispier final finish. Anyway, when the edges are roughened I sprinkle the spuds with some plain flour (again to help the crispy finish), and throw them into a roasting pan pre heated, and with some hot oil (goose fat is best but is bad for the cholesterol, olive oil is fine). Roll the potatoes in the oil to coat and then cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on their size. When they are cooked i sprinkle with some coarse salt and freshly crushed pepper corns to finish, and serve immediately. ( This method is adapted from a recipe from an English chef called Gary Rhodes who is a genious with vegetables).
Enjoy,
greetings from Ireland, Roger