Winter Vegetable Roast with Maple-Mustard Vinaigrette

Winter Vegetable Roast with Maple-Mustard Vinaigrette
Winter Vegetable Roast with Maple-Mustard Vinaigrette
Why do I love roast winter vegetables? For starters, because they are fresh, local, and seasonal. Unlike summer produce, they keep for a long time without losing most of their flavor. They feel like winter food: hearty, substantial, rib-sticking. Francis Mallmann quick-roasts them at very high heat in a wood oven until they almost burn. A home oven doesn't put out that kind of thousand-degree heat, but when something as simple as slices of Delicata squash are coated with a little bit of olive oil, sprinkled with kosher or coarse sea salt, and then roasted, they come out of the oven chewy, nutty, sweet, and savory. Part caramelization, part umami, and part Maillard. This dish is a slight adaptation of a recipe in Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty, which I came across when I was asked to be a judge in Food52.com's "Tournament of Cookbooks." In case you don't know Yotam Ottolenghi's work—you'd never forget such a fun name—he is a London-based Israeli chef who writes a vegetarian column for the Guardian. He is not a vegetarian himself, which makes me trust his recipes even more. In other words, he is neither ideological nor moralistic about it: his only aim is food that tastes great. Caramelized and well-seasoned winter vegetables are fine by themselves, but the maple-mustard vinaigrette lifts the flavors enormously. We made this recipe for a New Year's Eve dinner, and afterward I received ooh-and-aah e-mails from people about "the best vegetables ever!" For sure, the company, the wine, and the other food had something to do with the reviews. But, taking all that into consideration, tell me, honestly, how often are people moved to praise a parsnip? A few years ago I would have said you need your own roast tomatoes for this recipe, but now I find that Desert Glory or similar deeply flavored cherry tomatoes, though they don't hold a candle to real summer tomatoes, are fine when caramelized.
  • Preparing Time: -
  • Total Time: -
  • Served Person: Serves 8
Garlic Onion Side Roast Christmas Vegetarian Rosemary Carrot Parsnip Winter Vegan Thyme Potluck Pescatarian Dairy Free Wheat/Gluten-Free Peanut Free Tree Nut Free Soy Free Kosher
  • 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • 4 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 8 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 8 medium parsnips, peeled or scrubbed
  • 8 medium carrots, peeled or scrubbed
  • 4 medium red onions, peeled and quartered
  • 2 heads garlic, halved
  • 1/2 cup plus 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 40 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 4 tablespoons capers, roughly chopped
  • Carbohydrate 46 g(15%)
  • Fat 21 g(33%)
  • Fiber 12 g(46%)
  • Protein 5 g(9%)
  • Saturated Fat 3 g(15%)
  • Sodium 879 mg(37%)
  • Calories 376

Preparation 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2. Peel parsnips and carrots; depending on size, cut lengthwise in half or quarters, about 4 inches long. 3. In a large bowl, toss parsnips, carrots, onions, and garlic with 1/2 cup olive oil, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper. 4. Spread vegetables on one large sheet pan or two smaller pans, and place in oven. Roast for about an hour, turning vegetables once or twice, to get a nice crust on both sides. 5. Meanwhile, heat large skillet, and film with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add tomatoes, cut side down, and caramelize (no more than 10 minutes). Sauté in two batches. Remove to bowl, and set aside. 6. While the vegetables are cooking, whisk together remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, lemon juice, capers, maple syrup, and mustard. 7. Place warm roasted root vegetables on serving platter, and pour dressing over the vegetables. Top with caramelized tomatoes. Excerpted from Culinary Intelligence by Peter Kaminsky, © 2012 Peter Kaminsky. Excerpted by permission of Vintage, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. PETER KAMINSKY wrote "Underground Gourmet" for New York magazine for four years, and his "Outdoors" column appeared in the New York Times for twenty years. He is a longtime contributor to Food & Wine and the former managing editor or National Lampoon. His books include Pig Perfect: Encounters with Remarkable Swine, The Moon Pulled Up an Acre of Bass, The Elements of Taste (with Gray Kunz), Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way (with Francis Mallmann), Letters to a Young Chef (with Daniel Boulud), Celebrate! (with Sheila Lukins), and John Madden's Ultimate Tailgating. He is the creator and executive producer of the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song on PBS.

Preparation 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2. Peel parsnips and carrots; depending on size, cut lengthwise in half or quarters, about 4 inches long. 3. In a large bowl, toss parsnips, carrots, onions, and garlic with 1/2 cup olive oil, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper. 4. Spread vegetables on one large sheet pan or two smaller pans, and place in oven. Roast for about an hour, turning vegetables once or twice, to get a nice crust on both sides. 5. Meanwhile, heat large skillet, and film with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add tomatoes, cut side down, and caramelize (no more than 10 minutes). Sauté in two batches. Remove to bowl, and set aside. 6. While the vegetables are cooking, whisk together remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, lemon juice, capers, maple syrup, and mustard. 7. Place warm roasted root vegetables on serving platter, and pour dressing over the vegetables. Top with caramelized tomatoes. Excerpted from Culinary Intelligence by Peter Kaminsky, © 2012 Peter Kaminsky. Excerpted by permission of Vintage, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. PETER KAMINSKY wrote "Underground Gourmet" for New York magazine for four years, and his "Outdoors" column appeared in the New York Times for twenty years. He is a longtime contributor to Food & Wine and the former managing editor or National Lampoon. His books include Pig Perfect: Encounters with Remarkable Swine, The Moon Pulled Up an Acre of Bass, The Elements of Taste (with Gray Kunz), Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way (with Francis Mallmann), Letters to a Young Chef (with Daniel Boulud), Celebrate! (with Sheila Lukins), and John Madden's Ultimate Tailgating. He is the creator and executive producer of the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song on PBS.