I love root vegetables. From beets to yucca and everything in between. There hasn't been much in the root vegetable or tuber family that I don't like, so they feature in many of my favorite recipes.
Mixing parsnips with potatoes for mashed potatoes has been a habit of very long standing. Oven fries and potato salads make my husband particularly happy. Sweet potatoes, whether used in a "salad" application (like Sweet Potato & Black Bean Salad), baked in a casserole or made into oven fries, make me particularly happy.
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| Oven Roasted Root Vegetables |
While we are just now coming into the full heat of summer and many people avoid heating their ovens, this recipe for Oven Roasted Root Vegetables (plus a couple of others thrown in 😉) should stay in your files for when Fall and cooler temps start moving in, because this is one fabulous recipe.
When Fall does hit, squash of all kinds abound, and I love squash as much as most root vegetables. I cannot begin to say I have tried all the countless varieties of squash out there, though I can say with certainty that butternut is normally in my fridge, but come Fall, I wander into other types, like the Australian blue varieties such as Jarrahdale or Jamboree, or Hubbard, though I am not always able to find them, or acorn. So, I normally add some kind of squash to my root vegetables, just because of their similar dense texture and cooking times.
Speaking of cooking times, this will depend entirely on the size you cut your vegetables in preparation for baking. You might cut them into 1 to 1 1/2-inch cubes, or you might go with a much smaller cut. I made an extra tiny cube size for the topping for an appetizer recipe I made for my son's birthday (Rosemary, Brie & Goat Cheese Tarts with Balsamic Roasted Root Vegetables), so being an appetizer portion, the veggies were cut to about 1/4-inch cubes. For some reason I have the time listed for those tiny cubes as nearly the same as for larger ones, though my recollection was that it took about 30 to 35 minutes. If you have much larger, say 1 1/4-inch sized, it can take an hour or even a little more.
I like using shallots when making the vegetable mixture, but any kind of onion, red, white or yellow, will work just fine. Go with personal preference, or what is on hand. And another vegetable I use, again just because I like them, is green or red bell pepper - and which to use is up to the individual, or what is currently on hand.
Mix root vegetables for this recipe as you choose, but keep in mind that red beets will stain everything a pretty red color. An alternative if you like beets is to look for either golden beets or Chioggia beets. Yucca root is particularly hard, so should be cut a bit smaller than the other veggies, if using.
Oven Roasted Root Vegetables
Serves about 6 |
| Oven Roasted Root Vegetables |
2 cups (10 ounces) kabocha squash, or butternut
2 cups (8.5 ounces) shallots
2 cups (8.3 ounces) red bell peppers
1¾ cups (8 ounces) sweet potato
1 cup (5.5 ounces) carrots
1 cup 4.5 ounces) parsnip
DRESSING:
½ cup Balsamic vinegar
¼ cup melted, unsalted butter
¼ cup olive oil
1 - 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, or use a couple or three large whole sprigs
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons Zah’tar, optional
2 – 3 cloves garlic, minced
VEGETABLES: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease or spray a 9 x 13-inch oven safe casserole and set aside. Peel and scoop out seeds from the squash and cut into ¾-inch cubes. Peel and cube the sweet potato, carrots and parsnip similarly. Cut ends from the shallots and slice into quarters, lengthwise. Clean seeds and membranes from the bell pepper and cut into squares. (Yes, the pepper is not a root vegetable, but it gives great flavor and color!)
DRESSING: Whisk together all the dressing ingredients and pour over the prepared vegetables in a bowl. Toss well to coat the vegetables evenly. Pour the vegetables with the dressing into the prepared casserole dish and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the vegetables are easily pierced with the tip of a knife.
My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.
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