If you don't have a grill handy, or if it's freezing or raining outside, you can turn to your trusty oven to give you a similar effect. For some foods that will burn on an open flame before they cook, like parsnips or celery roots, oven roasting is better. Just like in grilling, the key to making the flavors dance is to flash-roast them at high heat, so set your oven to 450 or 500 degrees.

Prepare your vegetables just like you would for a grill: cut them to size and toss with olive oil and salt and pepper. Now space them out evenly on a heavy cookie sheet or metal roasting pan--a glass or earthenware baking dish won't crisp the vegetables, and may crack at that heat.

Set the rack up high in the oven, and be prepared for a little extra browning on the bottom of the veggies where they touch the pan. Cook them until just done, then transfer them from the baking dish to a room-temperature platter--they'll overcook if you leave them on the super-heated pan.

TIP FROM THE CHEF: What everybody in America calls a "cookie sheet" is known as a "sheet tray" in professional kitchens. There's a reason for the distinction: restaurants use sheet trays for anything that can go in the oven, from meats to quesadillas to veggies.

They're also used for baking cookies, but they'll lay down a sheet of parchment so that that those chocolate-chip delights don't taste like olive oil or pork roast. A full-sized sheet tray is an enormous 26 by 18 inches, but a "half-sheet" is a more recognizable 13 by 18 inches.

Sheet trays are twice as thick as standard cookie sheets, which means that they distribute heat more evenly and are less likely to burn the bottom of your food. Best of all, they only cost $4 to $8 each.