These veggies make a great garnish for thick slices of Mediterranean Pot Roast, but they're delicious on their own as a sidedish, too. I also like to pair them with winter greens and Warm Shallot Vinaigrette to make a hearty winter salad (garnish with toasted nuts if you like). This combo is just a suggestion — feel free to roast only one or two kinds of veggies if you like.
This amount will be enough for six servings of pot roast or two hearty salads. I find that sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and Yukon Gold potatoes cook a little more quickly than turnips, rutabaga, beets, or celery root (celeriac), so I tend to cut the former a little bigger (1/2 to ¾ inch dice) and the latter smaller (3/8 to ½ inch dice) so that they cook all at the same time. Alternatively you could roast these groups on separate sheet pans and take one out earlier.
Serves 3 to 4 as a side, 6 as a garnish.
- 1 ½ cups small-diced turnip (unpeeled), rutabaga (peeled), beets (unpeeled), or celeriac (peeled)
- 1 ½ cups medium-diced (unpeeled) Yukon Gold potatoes
- 1 ½ cups medium-diced (unpeeled) sweet potato or (peeled) butternut squash
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or a combination of thyme and rosemary
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
1. Heat the oven to 425°F. Line a large heavy-duty rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, toss the diced vegetables with the olive oil, herbs, and salt to thoroughly coat. (If using beets, consider tossing them separately and arranging to one side of the sheet pan so that their color does not bleed on to the other vegetables.)
3. Spread the vegetables in one layer on the sheet pan. Roast for 15 minutes; use a metal spatula to flip most of the veggies over for more even browning. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes more, or until all the veggies are tender and nicely browned in places, a total of 35 to 40 minutes.
