Roasted Roots with White Bean Puree√

Carmen and Joa came to dinner and they brought their puppies. The humans played with cards afterwards while the puppies played with bones. Everyone was happy, especially Carmen who won nearly every game!

I cooked one of my favorite winter vegetable dishes for dinner. I'd gone crazy buying root veggies at the farmer's market and then found organic parsnips and white sweet potatoes at Ward's (the best supermarket in town) so I had to make this yummy dish.

Prep a bunch of root veggies. The trick is to cut everything roughly the same kind of size - not too small, not too big. If they are too small they'll cook to a mush - if they are too big they won't brown. Last night I prepped the following:
White sweet potatoes (scrubbed and cubed)
Carrots (peeled and cut into fairly equal size chunks)
Parsnips (quartered lengthwise)
Butternut squash (cubed)
Beetroots (they were little guys so I just quartered them)

Throw the prepped veggies into a big bowl and drizzle over with olive oil.
Toss until all the veggies are nicely coated with oil.
Sprinkle on some salt and a bunch of your favorite chopped herbs (fresh or dried rosemary, thyme and sage are all good)
Tip into a baking pan, pyrex or ceramic baking dish - big enough that the veggies aren't too deep.
Lightly cover the dish with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
Throw in lots of peeled garlic cloves (I use 15-20 or more) and toss lightly - don't schmoosh the veggies.
Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for a further 15-30 minutes or until some of the veggies on top are browning nicely.

I served this with a White Bean Puree
Soak some fava beans (AKA lima or broad beans) in water overnight.
Strain, rinse and boil vigorously for 3-5 minutes (skimming the scum).
Strain, rinse and add enough cold water to cover and then some.
Simmer for 30 minutes or until soft then blend till smooth.
Add salt to taste plus more olive oil than seems reasonable and serve warm.
This was unexpectedly divine - especially with the roasted roots.

Variations:
Other roots that could be added are celeriac, rutabaga (swede), turnips and/or onions.
You can add cherry tomatoes along with the garlic cloves and drizzle a little balsamic vinegar over it before tossing it.

November 13th, 2009
Last night we rooted around for some friends to share our dinner because I made such a humongous pan of roasted roots ... this was my best yet and including the following raw veg:

• White sweet potatoes - cubed
• Purple sweet potatoes (okinawa) - cubed
• Small onions - quartered
• Garlic - whole cloves
• Carrots - thick rounds
• Beets - eighths
• Brussel sprouts - whole
• Seminole pumpkin - cubed
• Artichoke heart - quartered
• Cranberries - as is
• Chestnuts - roasted and peeled

I mixed them in a big bowl with some olive oil and some dried herbs - I threw in some fennel seeds for fun and they were! The potatoes and squash were home grown ... our first this year ... incredibly exciting. I baked them at 400 degrees for 3/4 of an hour covered (I placed a piece of aluminum foil over the pan, then stirred them to mix the oil well but super gently so as not to smash the cranberries to smithereens. I removed the cover and roasted them uncovered for 1/2 an hour ... turning up the oven to 425 for that last 1/4 hour to brown them.

The cranberries gave the dish a surprise zing and the chestnuts a deliciously earthy and festive flavor. Yum!!!!