A great recipe to make any day of the week or for the holiday meal. It is simple and quick. You can use all these vegetables or just a few. Use whatever you see in the market that looks good. I often make just sweet potatoes and rutabaga's. The directions give all the fine points so your vegetables come out perfectly. Don't worry even if they aren't perfect they will be delicious.
- 1 butternut squash peeled and cut into 1" cubes
- 1 rutabaga peeled and cut into 1" cubes
- 1 medium sweet potato or a few red potatoes cut into 1" cubes
- 1 large onion cut into 1 ½" wedges
- 1 zucchini cut into half moons 2" thick
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Celtic sea salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme (optional)
- 1/2 tsp dried rosemary (optional)
Also good to roast: carrots, parsnips, fennel
Preheat your oven to about 425. You can go hotter or cooler, depending on what ratio of browning-to-tenderness you want, but this is a good temperature to get started with.
Cut your vegetables
In a big bowl, toss them with plenty of salt and pepper and good extra-virgin olive oil. There should be olive oil to give every piece a nice sheen on it. The oil will conduct heat, giving you an even browning rather than little dry, scorch-y bits.
Spread the vegetables out on a baking sheet, making sure they're all in one layer. You don't necessarily need a lot of space in between pieces, but definitely don't crowd them on top of each other. Use multiple sheets if necessary.
Put in oven, in the middle or top rack. After a while, you should hear sizzling, and it should get pretty intense after about 10-12 minutes if your pans aren't fully loaded.
Quickly, take your pan out and close the oven door to preserve the heat. Lift a few pieces and check the undersides to see how they're browning. If it's a light color, stick them back in and let them go. But if they're nicely browned, flip them over on the pan before returning them to the oven; most of the browning will take place on the side that touches the pan. If the zucchini are getting too brown move them to the middle of the pan.
Listen again for the sizzle to build back up; you want to check on the vegetables while they're still sizzling - if the sound builds, then slows down, it probably means that the liquid is all sizzled out ... and you might be burning. But as long as you're checking on them about every 5 minutes after the flip, you'll be great.
Taste a piece. Is it tender and cooked through? Is the browning nice.
If the vegetables are softened but not brown enough, take them out, fire up the broiler and stick them in there to get good color. If they're as brown as you want them to be, but not yet tender, turn the heat down to 350 and sprinkle on some water, maybe a few tablespoons' worth, to cool the pan and to help create a little steam. And next time you can adjust your heat or surface area.
Enjoy!
Email me if you have any questions
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