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Sunday, November 16, 2014

Crispy Roasted Root Vegetables and Red Potatoes

The root vegetable time of year is upon us.  I never used to like root veggies, but I have learned that roasting these vegetables in the proper manner will provide a nice side dish to any smoked, roasted, or grilled meat.

A few weeks ago when I was making my beer and butter injected pork roast, I decided that some roasted veggies were in order.  The recipe is quick, easy, and you will find yourself fighting the rest of the family for the slightly burnt, crispy remains.  Here is the process.

Ingredients:

1 lb of small red potatoes, washed and cubed
1 lb of turnips, washed and cubed
1 lb of carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
3 ribs of celery, washed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 medium sweet onion, quartered, then separated
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp of white vinegar
2 tbsp of kosher salt
1 tsp thyme
Salt and pepper to taste


Take the potatoes and turnips and place into a pan large enough to hold the veggies and add enough water to cover.  To this mix, add the white vinegar and kosher salt.  Bring to a boil and cook the potatoes and turnips at a hard boil for five minutes.


After the five minutes of boiling, drain the potatoes and turnips in a colander making sure to shake off all of your excess moisture.  Place the potatoes and turnips into a large mixing bowl with the rest of the vegetables.  Add your olive oil, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste.  Mix well.  Sorry about the remaining pictures.  It seems that I had a filter running on my camera and did not know it at the time.


Spread the vegetable mix onto a cookie sheet in one layer.


I placed sheet of vegetables into my smoker at 375 F.  You could easily use your oven set at this temperature as well.


After 20 minutes of cooking time, I flipped the vegetables with a spatula to ensure even roasting for the final product.  Then I cooked for 25 more minutes for a total of 45 minutes of cook time.


I love these veggies.  The onions, garlic, and carrots develop a nice, crispy caramelization that mixes well with that roasted potato and turnip crunch.  Feel free to add in other vegetables as you see fit.  I am going to try this again with some parsnips in the future.  You can also add other spice combinations as you see fit pair with the meat you are serving as well.

One thing that I always forget is how much veggies can shrink during the roasting process.  This recipes is enough for three people.  I would recommend doubling the recipe for a family of four or more.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

2 comments:

  1. Roasting vegetables is a great way to bring out the natural sugars. I like to add beets to that mixture. I also would omit the par-boil entirely. It may add several minutes to your cook-time but you will not lose any nutrients or flavor to your boiling liquid. It is kind of strange to admit to liking vegetables.

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  2. Chilebrown, the par-boil with the salt and the vinegar guarantees crispy taters every time. When I do not par-boil, everything else turns to mush while I wait on the potatoes to get done cooking. Just my opinion. Maybe if I cut the potatoes smaller it would work better. I am going to have to try adding beets the next time.

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