Oven Roasted Vegetables

290.  Autumn is here and root vegetables and pumpkins are plentiful.  This recipe is hardy and warm and pairs with beef or pork very well.  Ideal for your Thanksgiving table.

Your prep work starts with a baking sheet, like a jelly roll pan, parchment paper, olive oil and salt and pepper.  Line the pan with the paper and rub with olive oil.  Set aside

2 large Leeks, chopped coarsely and placed in a water bath

3 large sweet potatoes or yams, pealed and coarsely cubed

3 large turnips, pealed and coarsely cubed

3 large cloves of garlic, slice thin

30 brussel sprouts, rinsed, picked over and stem ends cut off.  Slice each in half

Rosemary, 2 branches fresh leaves pulled off stem,  or 1 teaspoon dry 

Optional Veggies:  Beets, potato, pumpkin, squash of any variety, rutabaga in chunks

Place all veggies on the parchment paper and mix.  Sprinkle Rosemary, salt and pepper and drizzle with more olive oil.

Place in a 375 degree oven and set timer for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and toss the vegetables making sure veggies on the edges are moved so they do not burn.  Spread around again, drizzle more olive oil if necessary.  Return to oven for 15 minutes.  Repeat this process till all the vegetables are tender.  Taste for seasoning.

Remove from oven and place directly on serving platter.

Serve hot with your roasted meat choice and white horseradish on the side.

These veggies would beautify a platter surrounding a roasted beef or pork loin,

even your Thanksgiving turkey or roasted chicken.  And the flavors are succulent!

All our progress is an unfolding, like the vegetable bud.  You first have an instinct, then an opinion, then a knowledge, as the plant has root, bud, and fruit.  Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason.  It is vain to hurry it.  By trusting it to the end, it shall ripen into truth, and you shall know why you believe."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson