Several years ago I discovered that roasting vegetables was relatively easy and quite flavorful. While I roast roots as part of a vegetarian main dish, they can easily be a side accompaniment with a meat selection. Roasting root and stalk vegetables really concentrates the flavors and the fiber provides for a filling meal. Best of all for this old man, the hardest part is just cutting up all the roots.
Roasting roots in olive oil is easy
Evenly cut roots ready for the herbs and oil.
You can roast virtually all of your favorite veggies. But for the best consistency you want to keep with roots and stalks that have the same density so they’ll cook at similar rate. Squash is nice, but you have to over cook it in order for the roots to get done. I top my sliced up roots with mushrooms because the cook down nice without turning into a wet noodle.
Favorite roots and stalks for roasting
Start by getting your oven ready at 450 degrees. I use the surround roast option on my oven for a more even cooking of the vegetables on top and bottom. My usual array of roots includes the following.
- 2 Beets
- 4 Carrots
- 1 large round Onions
- 2 Parsnips
- 2 Turnips or Rutabagas
- 2 to 4 stalks Celery
- 12 Garlic cloves
- 12 Mushrooms
Cut into consistent chunks
Cut into 3/8′ to 1/2″ chunks consistent for even cooking. Big chunks of beets will take longer to cook then little slivers of carrots. I will use a vegetable peeler to take off the outside of the carrots and beets as they tend to have little bits of soil and sand in their crevices. Otherwise, I just wash up the roots and let the heat kill any bugs. Toss all the roots and stalks in a big bowl except for the mushrooms. I like to douse the roots liberally with a variety of herbs and spices.
1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of
Herbed and oiled roots, topped with mushrooms ready for the oven.
- Sage
- Oregano
- Thyme
- Mustard
- Celery Seed
and smaller amounts of salt and pepper.
Drizzle with olive oil
After tossing the roots until they are evenly coated with the herbs, add 1/4 to 1/3 cup of olive oil and continue to toss until evenly saturated in oil. Add more if you want, it can’t hurt. Dump the roots into a roasting pan that you haven’t used since thanksgiving. Top with the mushrooms. I don’t put the mushrooms in when tossing the roots because they are like a sponge and soak up all the olive oil. Plus, mushrooms taste good enough on their own.
Surround roast setting
Cook at 450 degrees for about 45 minutes turning the roots every 10 to fifteen minutes for even cooking. When the hardest root, usually the turnip or beet yields easily to being jabbed with a fork take out of oven and dish into bowls. There should be no free floating root juice on the bottom of the pan. All of the liquid should be evaporated, that helps concentrate the flavor.
Top with cheese or ketchup
Bowl full of roasted veggies topped with Parmesan cheese.
Some folks like to put ketchup on top. I like to add Parmesan cheese and parsley flakes. I like to experiment with different roots. I found parsnips to be extremely flavorful. Let me know what else you’ve added to spice up the roasted root dish. On a side note, if you’ve never eaten roasted beets, don’t be alarmed if your downstream events are tinged red from the concentrated beet juice.
