This is not a Bittman recipe. But it is something I made. It’s hearty, it’s autumnal, it’s colorful, and it’s easy. Oh, and it allows you to turn your oven on for around an hour and thereby heat up your house a bit!
3 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
3 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks
2 purple topped turnips, peeled and cut into chunks
2 rutabegas, peeled and cut into chunks (see a pattern here?)
1 sweet potato (or 1/2 of a mammoth yam), peeled and cut into chunks
1 tsp dried rosemary, or to taste
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
olive oil to coat
Preheat your oven to 400F. Peel and cut all vegetables into equal, bite-sized chunks. Toss them with seasonings and olive oil in a 9×13 inch glass baking dish. Use enough olive oil so that all chunks of root vegetable get an even coating and glisten slightly. Depending on size of vegetables, this might range from between 1/2 – 1 cup of oil.
Roast until all vegetables are tender and begin to brown on the outside, 45 minutes to an hour, depending on size.
As you can see, this is almost ridiculously easy. You can substitute for any of these vegetables you don’t like – easy additions or change-outs would be regular or fingerling potatoes, beets, even celery root. Choose what you love, mix them well, and enjoy!