Roots Recipes: Roasted Herbed Root Vegetables with Dried Cherries

Photo by Katie Sikora.

Autumn is harvest time and the veggies are bountiful! It is an awesome opportunity to go for a stroll in the garden and proudly fill your arms with the fruit of your hard labor.

This is my favorite time of year – when the wind switches directions, blowing a long awaited cool breeze out of the north, Lake Michigan appears emerald and rough with whitecaps shining in the sun, and nature’s briskness begs for the coziness of a sweater and scarf – and I relish in root vegetables, which warm you from the inside out.

Root vegetables include everything from the common carrot, to turnips, rutabagas, potatoes, sweet potatoes and beets of many colors – yum! These vegetables are versatile and make a great soup, puree or side dish. Here are a couple of my warm salad recipes that will make a great addition to any meal and can also be incorporated into your family holiday menu.

Roasted Herbed Root Vegetables with Dried Cherries

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Peel and cut into 1/2-inch to 1-inch pieces a mixture of the following veggies (try to be consistent with the chunk size of each veggie to guarantee they finish roasting at the same time).

Ingredients:

Beets – 2 medium
Carrots – 4 medium
Turnips – 2 medium
Sweet Potato – 1 large
Potato (variety) – about 3 lbs. (don’t peel)
Sweet Onion – 1 Walla Walla or Vidalia
2 or 3 cloves of garlic
(About 6 cups total of root vegetables.)

Dressing*:  Mix the following ingredients in a mason jar, put a cover on the jar and shake it up.

2/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey
Salt and pepper

* This is my fallback salad dressing – it is great on every salad and it’s simple to shake a batch up. It will stay fresh in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 weeks.

Directions:

Toss the root veggies in the dressing. Stir it up so it coats everything evenly. Pour the veggies into a baking dish. Toss in 2 sprigs of rosemary, chopped. Bake at 425 degrees for about 45 minutes, mix every 15 minutes or so. In the meantime, soak 1/2 cup of dried cherries in hot water and chop or tear 1/3 cup of flat leaf parsley.

Remove the veggies from the oven, pour into a serving bowl, mix in the cherries (strained) and parsley. Salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Warm Bacon & Blue New Potato Salad

Ingredients:

5lbs. new potatoes – quartered and boiled, skin on
2 stalks of celery – chopped and sautéed
4 scallions – chopped and sautéed
1 cup green beans – sautéed
1 onion – Walla Walla or Vidalia – sliced and caramelized
4 slices of bacon – cooked crispy and crumbled
1/2 cup of your favorite blue cheese – crumbled
3 tablespoons butter, salted
Salt and pepper

Dressing:  Whisk together the following ingredients.

1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Handful fresh basil chopped

Directions:

Place the potatoes in cool salted water, bring to a boil and cook for approximately 15 minutes or until fork tender.

To caramelize the onions, place the sliced onions in a fry pan and sauté on low heat in the butter (yes, all 3 tablespoons of it) until the onions wilt and are translucent. This process makes a sweet onion taste like candy.

In a teaspoon of olive oil, sauté scallions, celery and the green beans.

Fry the bacon in a pan until crispy, drain the fat.

Combine all the ingredients in a big bowl, add the blue cheese and stir in the dressing until everything is well coated. Salt and pepper to taste.

Photography by Katie Sikora.