Maple Glazed Vegetables

Given enough time between the end of The Day Job and supper time, I would roast root vegetables and squash just about every day. I had been half-heartedly looking for something new and a bit different to do with my roasted veggies when I came across a recipe in Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson that included an intriguing glaze: a combination of maple syrup, garlic, olive oil, and spicy red pepper.

And, yow!, was this fabulous! Never mind that winter squash cubes are already sweet on their own, they’re wildly enhanced by this wonderfully flavorful glaze. I also happened to have some purple potatoes from the CSA, so I made my glazed vegetable roast with roughly equal parts squash and potatoes. You could use a variety of winter vegetables, but I do think that balancing some of the sweeter ones with something mild like potatoes would keep this less cloying. Something sharper like rutabaga might be good, too.

I was concerned about so much sugar in the glaze burning before the vegetables were cooked, so I started the vegetables with just salt, pepper, and olive oil at a higher temperature. I reduced the temperature after pouring on about ¾ of the glaze to cook the vegetables the rest of the way and give them a somewhat sticky, caramelized glaze. When all was done, I tossed the glazed vegetables with the rest of the glaze mixture to give them even more flavor.

Yes, the results here are sweet, but the somewhat exotic combination of maple and garlic is really quite lovely. The extra pop from some chile pepper makes it even more exciting (although you could leave it out if you don’t want the spice). The sort of caramel-y coating on the vegetables is taken to the savory side in just the right, if slightly unexpected, way.

This style of roasting a vegetable or two is really a winner, and I’m quite excited about it. I plan to vary the vegetables, and perhaps even add some complexity with other favorite flavors - I’m thinking soy sauce, rice vinegar, maybe something smoky. I’m almost happy that winter will be around for quite a while yet, so I have plenty of time to make and enjoy more servings of this delightful dish.

Maple Glazed Winter Squash and Potatoes

Based on a recipe in Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson

You can use any winter squash here, such as butternut, buttercup, Hubbard, or Red Kuri. You also could use any kind of potato, or use different winter vegetables altogether, such as sweet potatoes and rutabaga.

4 cups peeled, cubed winter squash (about 1 pound of squash)

4 cups cubed potatoes (no need to peel if skins are well-scrubbed)

5 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 teaspoon coarse salt, divided

A few grinds of black pepper

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1/3 cup maple syrup

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Place the squash and potato cubes in a large bowl. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and ½ teaspoon salt. Toss together to coat the vegetables well.

2. Transfer the vegetables to a roasting pan or baking sheet. Roast at 400 F for 15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, coarsely chop the garlic cloves. Sprinkle the remaining salt on top of the garlic on the cutting board. Continue chopping and scraping the salt and garlic together with the side of the knife to make a paste. (This method is described in this post.)

4. Transfer the garlic paste to a small bowl, scraping all of it up from the cutting board. Add the maple syrup, crushed red pepper flakes, and the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil. Whisk together to combine well.

5. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 F. Pour about ¾ of the garlic-maple mixture over the squash and potatoes and stir well to coat. Continue to roast at 350 F, turning once or twice, for about 30-45 minutes, or until the vegetables are very tender, and the coating is sticky and beginning to caramelize. If at any point the glaze seems to be burning, discontinue cooking.

6. Pour the remaining glaze mixture over the hot vegetables and stir to coat. Serve hot.

Makes about 6 side-dish servings.

Other recipes like this one: Broccoli with Sweet and Spicy Almond Sauce, Roasted Vegetables, Roasted Winter Vegetables and Sausage (great with chickpeas in place of the sausage), Roasted Autumn Vegetable Salad with Molasses Mustard Vinaigrette

Roasted Autumn Vegetable Salad

Ok, one of my motives for trying and posting this recipe is to prove that I’m making something besides recipes with apples! Mostly, though, it’s a celebration of root vegetables and squash as is appropriate this time of year. And my favorite thing to do with these autumn vegetables is roast them. They get tender and caramelized and sweet and oh, so delicious.

Another favorite thing I like to do when root vegetables and winter squash are around is to peruse Recipes from the Root Cellar by Andrea Chesman. That’s where I found this new application for my favorite vegetables. It’s basic roasted vegetables tossed with a robust vinaigrette with molasses and mustard and served while still warm over cool salad greens.

I’ve been happily roasting vegetables for a long time, but I was pretty excited about drenching them in this flavorful dressing. Putting that whole thing on salad greens turns it into a light one-dish meal. I used a mixture of green leaf lettuce and Swiss chard, but you could use winter greens like chicories or tender cabbages like Napa or Savoy.

When it comes to the roasted vegetables, you can use whatever you have or can get. I used a parsnip, a carrot, a rutabaga and half of a red kuri squash. You can use whatever winter squash you like, and add other vegetables like celeriac, turnips, sunchokes, or even beets if you can stand them (I can’t! but if you do buy them with their greens still attached, you could add those greens to your salad.) The smaller you cut the vegetables, of course, the less time they take to cook.

This is quite a versatile recipe, or really set of recipes. Just make roasted vegetables, and you could be happy. Toss those vegetables with this dressing and serve as a side dish. Use the dressing alone on a green salad or grain salad. You could also add cheeses, nuts and seeds or - and you know you want it - bacon to this salad. Whatever! It’s all good!

Roasted Autumn Vegetable Salad with Molasses Mustard Vinaigrette

Adapted from Recipes from the Root Cellar by Andrea Chesman

Use whatever fall and winter vegetables you like here. I like winter squash, rutabaga, carrots and parsnips. Also, sturdier salad greens ranging from leaf lettuces to endive and radicchio to tender cabbages will all work well.

for the dressing:

¼ cup molasses

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon whole grain mustard

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

¼ teaspoon coarse salt

a few grinds of black pepper

for the salad:

About 6 cups peeled autumn vegetables, such as parsnips, carrots, rutabagas, turnips, winter squash, etc., cut into about 1-inch pieces

1 small onion coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ teaspoon coarse salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

About 6 cups salad greens or sliced tender cabbage

1. Preheat oven to 450 F. In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients until smooth. Set aside until ready to serve.

2. In a shallow roasting pan (or on a large sheet pan) spread out all of the vegetables and the onion into a single layer. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Toss well to coat.

3. Roast the vegetables at 450 F for about 45 minutes or just until tender. Remove from the oven and transfer the cooked vegetables to a large bowl.

4. Whisk the dressing if the ingredients have separated. Place the salad greens in a large bowl. Pour about ¼ cup of the dressing on the greens and toss to coat well. Pour ¼ cup dressing on the cooked vegetables and toss to coat.

5. Divide the dressed greens among 4 plates. Divide the vegetables over the greens. Serve with the remaining dressing on the side.

Makes 4 main-dish salads.

Other recipes like this one: Roasted Vegetables, Wheat Berry Salad with Roasted Vegetables and Maple Walnut Vinaigrette, Arugula Salad with Squash and Lentils

One year ago: Poppy Seed and Plum Muffins with Almond

Sausage and Vegetables

I love the whole process of roasting vegetables.  It cleans out the refrigerator or other vegetable storage container. It warms the kitchen on these numbingly cold days.  It results in a nutritious side dish with lots of vitamins and fiber.  It’s incredibly easy.  Oh yeah, don’t let me forget the most important part: it makes delicious, delicious food.

Lately, instead of trying to come up with an appropriate protein to serve alongside my vegetables, I’ve upgraded the roasted vegetable side dish to a one-pan main dish by adding sausage.  Just put some sausage in the pan with the vegetables and roast them all together.  Everyone gets along just fine.  It’s just that easy.

I prefer spicy, uncooked and uncured sausage links, such as the spicy chicken Italian sausage from Trader Joe’s that I used most recently.  I like the way a bit of the spicy flavor of the sausage mingles with the vegetables, but this is much more subtle when a lean sausage is used rather than one that can render plenty of flavorful fat to contribute to the vegetables during the roasting process.  Either way, the sausage gets browned and a little crusty, just how I like it.  And if it overcooks? Well, I tend to enjoy a well-browned and gnarly hunk of sausage just fine, thank you.  What you’re really concerned about is undercooking, anyway.  Just make sure that your sausage is appropriately cooked through before serving it. If you use a fully-cooked sausage, just add it later in the roasting process to prevent overcooking.

Since I’ve been eating this stuff on weekend afternoons while watching the end of the football season, I have also found it necessary to serve this with a dipping sauce.  Football and dip just go too well together to pass up this garnishing opportunity.  Lots of dips will work, but I’ve been making an aioli (garlic mayonnaise) with parsley that almost upstages the beautiful vegetables and sausage.  It’s quite simple to make (you need something to do while waiting for the oven’s work to be done anyway), involving just mayonnaise, garlic-salt paste, and a bit of parsley.  I use homemade whole egg mayonnaise, using this recipe from Delicious Days, but if you don’t care to make your own, you could use a good store-bought mayonnaise.  If the taste isn’t where you want it, try adding some lemon juice.

Pretty much all of the winter storage vegetables will work to make this dish.  Most recently, I made it with butternut squash, turnips, parsnips, carrots and potatoes.  If you, or someone you love, doesn’t “do” these sweet, bitter and hardy vegetables, the dish is great with just potatoes and sausage.  And you can use whatever dip you like, too.  Heck, try it with ketchup for all I care.  Just don’t miss out on this easy, warming and flavorful one-pan meal.

Roasted Winter Vegetables and Sausage

If you use a fully-cooked sausage, add it later in the cooking process, say after the first 20 minutes, to keep it from becoming hopelessly overcooked.

6 cups fall/winter storage vegetables (such as potatoes, carrots, rutabaga, parsnips, winter squash), peeled if appropriate, and cut into 1-2 inch cubes

¼ cup olive oil
1 ½ teaspoons coarse (kosher) salt, or to taste
a few grinds of freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
3 links (10-12 ounces) sausage (I prefer spicy sausage) with casing

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. In a large bowl, combine the vegetables with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Stir together to coat the vegetables well with the oil.

2. Place the vegetables in a large roasting pan or a sheet pan. Cut the sausage into about 2-inch pieces. Add the sausage to the vegetables in the pan.

3. Bake at 400 F for 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally with a spatula to prevent sticking. Check to make sure the vegetables and sausage (especially the sausage) are cooked completely. Serve plain or with dipping sauce, such as Garlic Parsley Aioli (recipe follows).

Makes 4 servings

Garlic-Parsley Aioli

1 garlic clove
¼ teaspoon (or more) coarse salt plus more to taste
1 cup mayonnaise
pepper to taste
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
lemon juice to taste (optional)

1. Make a smooth paste with the garlic and salt. Stir the garlic-salt paste into the mayonnaise. Stir in the parsley. Add lemon juice to taste if desired and adjust seasonings. Chill until ready to serve.

Makes 1 cup

Other recipes like these: Roasted Vegetables; Roasted Cauliflower, Chickpeas and Olives; Cilantro Cream Dipping Sauce; Lime Herb Dipping Sauce

One year ago: Pumpkin Oatmeal Quick Bread with Dates and Pecans

Resolutions: Wheat Berry/Roasted Veg Salad

I am not the type of person to keep New Year’s resolutions. Notice I did not say that I’m not the type to make resolutions. I tend to set such gigantic and unreachable goals that it’s just as well that I tend to forget what they even were by about late February. Such a selective memory saves me a lot of regret and embarrassment.


It seems that most folks resolve each year to either live more healthfully (lose weight, lower their cholesterol, stop smoking, go to the gym every day) or save or make more money. I think you can do both of these things together by making certain food and cooking choices. Most of us can probably cook for ourselves and our families more often, saving some cash by lowering the restaurant bill and buying less expensive whole foods (bulk beans and grains are particularly inexpensive). We can also save money by taking advantage of seasonal bounty and respecting our leftovers. You worked hard to purchase and prepare those foods, so don’t throw the leftovers away!

This all, of course, takes time, which is something most of us don’t exactly possess in abundance. (Better time management is probably one of those popular but pesky resolutions as well.) A little planning can help, such as cooking up some whole grains a few days ahead and setting aside some leftover seasonal vegetables. You can then toss them together with an easy vinaigrette that you know by heart and for which you always have the ingredients. Now you have a lovely salad. If you use cooked wheat berries, leftover Roasted Vegetables and Maple-Walnut Vinaigrette, you have the salad I made this week.

If you are not familiar with wheat berries, they are not berries at all, but unprocessed grains of wheat. When cooked, they are quite chewy and nutty and don’t tend to get mushy, at least in my experience, like rice or barley can. They can take up to two hours to cook, but I tried soaking them overnight, as I would dried beans, and was able to cook them in a large pot with plenty of water in about 45 minutes. You can probably find them where other whole grains are sold, such as a bulk foods or health food store, or in one of those fancy organic departments that all a supermarkets now seem to have.

Like any resolutions, simultaneously saving money and improving your diet may best be taken slowly. You might not like wheat berries or Maple Walnut Vinaigrette, so try another grain or another vinaigrette. The point is to make your life as reasonable as possible, and perhaps good-tasting, too. Try not to stress about it. You don’t want to bite off more than you can chew. That can be (literally) both unhealthy and expensive.





Wheat Berry Salad with Roasted Vegetables and Maple Walnut Vinaigrette

3 cups cooked wheat berries
2 cups leftover Roasted Vegetables, cut into ¼- ½ inch pieces
½ cup chopped walnuts, toasted
1 recipe Maple Walnut Vinaigrette

1. In a large bowl toss together the wheat berries, Roasted Vegetables and walnuts. Pour the Maple Walnut Vinaigrette over the mixture and toss to coat.

Makes 6-8 servings and lasts a few days in the refrigerator, as long as the Roasted Vegetables are no more than a day or two old themselves.

Roasted Veggies

Starting with the October issues of food magazines (which begin to show up in early September), certain kinds of recipes are almost guaranteed to be repeated each year and in every periodical. You can’t swing a dead squash vine without hitting a recipe for roasted turkey, butternut squash soup, or roasted vegetables.

If you take the time to compare several recipes for, say roasted vegetables, (this is the kind of thing I do for fun) you can see that they are variations on a theme. You could quite simply start with one basic recipe and add to it according to your taste or the availability of ingredients. I start with the roots, tubers and winter squashes that begin to pile up around here this time of year. I particularly like carrots, potatoes, parsnips, rutabagas, butternut squash (it is easier to peel than other squashes), radishes (trust me on this one; they’re fantastic!), and even beets. Yes, I said it. Beets. I’m coming to like them in my roasted vegetable medleys, but don’t tell anyone. It’ll ruin my reputation as a life-long beetroot-hater.

Most of these vegetables have quite a bit of sweetness to them that rises to the surface and caramelizes in a hot oven. They have their own brilliant flavors that need little or no enhancement. I simply sprinkle them with plenty of salt and pepper, drizzle them liberally with olive oil and subject them to a hot oven until they have been sufficiently bent to my will. I like when they are quite tender all the way through, but especially crispy and brown on the outside with that tangy, slightly bitter flavor of almost burnt sugar about them.

Roasting vegetables is really easy (the most difficult part is cutting and peeling hard veggies like squash), and largely hands-off. I don’t even really use a recipe, so, what I’ve written below is really just a guideline and a method. You could also roast broccoli and cauliflower or add onions and garlic cloves to your medley. If you do roast broccoli or cauliflower, expect it to take less time than harder root vegetables and squash. You could also add herbs or spices to your roasted vegetables, but they tend to burn quickly and lose their flavor or develop unpleasant flavors. I would recommend adding such seasonings after or near the end of roasting.

If you make roasted vegetables for company, especially for folks who haven’t had them much before, expect them to become the star of the show. I’ve served these for dinner to family members, and I’m not sure most of them would remember what else we had to eat. They couldn’t, however, stop talking about the roasted vegetables.

Roasted Vegetables Recipe
The measurements and time listed here are approximate. If you roast red beetroot with other vegetables, give them their own pan or their own corner of the communal pan, otherwise they will turn everything pink.

4-6 cups vegetables (such as potatoes, carrots, rutabaga, parsnips, beets, winter squash), peeled and cut into uniform cubes, 1-2 inches
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 heavy pinches coarse (kosher) salt, or to taste
a few grinds of freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. In a large bowl, combine the vegetables with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Stir together to coat the vegetables well with the oil.

2. Place the vegetables in a large roasting pan or a sheet pan. Bake at 400 F for 40 minutes to 1 hour, or more depending on the size of the cut vegetables. Stir occasionally with a spatula to prevent sticking. Vegetables are finished when tender and caramelized to your liking.

Makes 4-6 servings