A Soul-Satisfying Side Dish
Learning how to roast properly is crucial for success in the kitchen. For me, it’s the most soul-satisfying form of cookery. You can’t beat roasted chicken with roasted root vegetables and a simple pan gravy, it’s the meal I crave more than any other. I like a variety of texture, flavor and color in my roasted vegetables, so I use a mix of root vegetables along with shallots and pearl onions.
Perfectly Roasted Root Vegetables
Ingredients
- 2 cups parsnips, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
- 2 cups rutabagas, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
- 2 cups potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
- 2 cups carrots, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
- 2 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
- 16 shallots, peeled and halved
- 24 pearl onions, peeled
- 12 garlic cloves, peeled
- Sea salt
- Pepper
- 2 to 3 sprigs rosemary sprigs
- 1 sprig of fresh tarragon
- 4 fresh sage leaves
- 1 sprig of fresh thyme
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, toss all the root vegetables, shallots, onions and garlic with salt and pepper. Add all of the fresh herbs.
Heat the butter and olive oil together in a small pan. Once the butter is melted, pour it into the mixing bowl with vegetables. Toss to combine and coat the vegetables.
Spread on a cookie sheet and roast on a rack in the upper third of the oven. After 35-45 minutes, turn the contents of the pan using a metal spatula and continue cooking until all ingredients are roasted well to a light nut brown color.
Season and serve.
Photograph by Madeleine Hill.
• Roast Chicken with Ratatouille
• Root Vegetable Salad with Orange Vinaigrette
• Root Vegetable Puree
