I love this time of the year as it offers so many opportunities to enjoy root vegetables. I harvested my last batch of parsnips on Saturday and made a spicy parsnip soup. I also went to the farmers' market and bought gorgeous looking beets. They became the centrepiece for a roasted beets, arugula and goat cheese salad.
Irresistible root vegetables
Beets and parsnips are definitely two of my favourite root vegetables. I also enjoy celery root, chopped up and roasted or simply in a smooth purée. One staple of my youth, which I have been dearly missing is salsify. It doesn't seem to be a very easy to find vegetable. I've promised myself I'll try growing some next year.
Roasted root vegetables with rosemary:
I've noticed that root vegetables are not always very popular. It seems as though many people don't really know what to make with them. So from the blog foods for long life, comes this roasted root vegetables with rosemary recipe. It's easy, delicious and versatile. You can always substitute the root vegetables and use whatever you have available, instead.
Ingredients - makes 4 servings
1 to 2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil plus some to grease the pan
1 cup peeled and diced parsnip (1 large parsnip)
1 cup peeled and diced Yukon gold potato (1 medium potato)
1 cup peeled and diced carrot (1 or 2 carrots)
2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 large)
2 tsps chopped fresh rosemary
3/8 tsp black pepper, or to taste
½ tsp salt, or to taste
3/8 tsp granulated garlic, or to taste
Cooking time will depend on how small you dice your vegetables. A half inch dice is a nice size.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and lightly grease a large, shallow roasting pan with olive oil.
Place all the ingredients in the roasting pan and toss them until the vegetables are well coated with oil and seasoning is evenly distributed. If you use a non-stick roasting pan, you can use 1 tbsp of oil. Otherwise, you may want to use a bit more.
Once coated, spread the vegetables out in the roasting pan so they are one layer deep.
Place the pan into the preheated oven and cook 35 to 45 minutes, turning the vegetables with a spatula once or twice during the cooking time.
Remove from the oven and serve.
