Winter Vegetable Roast with Maple-Mustard Vinaigrette

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.