I went vegetable crazy to the market this weekend. Fall veg is just gourd-geous. See what  I did there. Even the Harry-Potter-Mandrake-look-alike-celery-root is beautiful. I obviously bought too many. Classic move by me. The only option I had left after making about 8 different kinds of soups, was to just have a big vegetable roast.

Terrific vegetarian meal option. It’s hearty as hell. I roasted the seeds from the acorn squash with fennel and thinned out some sour cream to drizzle on top. I would recommend swapping out the sour cream drizzle for some big chunks of fresh goat cheese. The balsamic vinegar caramelizes as the vegetables roast and forms a sticky, sweet glaze.

This recipe is so versatile. Grab whatever fall vegetables looks good at the market or grocery store and run with it. It’s meant to be changed for your own taste. You can go all beet roast if your heart desires. Yum. This would be an easy side for a Thanksgiving meal… that is if you’re like me and already planning a month ahead. Love Thanksgiving.

 

Fall Vegetable Roast

Serves 4-6

[one_half padding=”0 20px 0 0″]1 acorn squash
5 small carrots or 2 large, halved lengthwise
3 radishes, halved lenthwise
1 large beet, cut into sixths
1 golden beet, cut into quarters or sixths
1 red onion, peeled, and cut into sixths through root
1 leek, halved lengthwise
 
1/2 cup olive oil
2 1/2 Tb balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tsp coarse salt
1/2 tsp fresh black pepper
 
Toasted Fennel Squash Seeds
seeds from 1 acorn squash
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 Tb olive oil
pinch of salt
 
Sour Cream Sauce
1/3 cup sour cream
2 1/2 Tb water
[/one_half][one_half_last padding=”0 0px 0 20px”]Pre-heat oven to 425˚F with the rack in the middle position.

Prepare the acorn squash by cutting it in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and pulp with a spoon and reserve. Slice the squash into 1/2″ thick slices. The general idea is to cut all the vegetables more or less the same thickness.

Oil a large sheet pan or roasting pan with 1/4 cup of the olive oil. Use your hands to spread the oil to make sure the whole bottom of the pan is covered.

Toss each vegetable separately with the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil. Leave the beets for last to prevent all your vegetables turning red-ish purple. Lay them out on the oiled pan making sure that there all evenly spread out in one layer. This will ensure that the vegetables will roast nicely and not steam.

Drizzle the balsamic vinegar over the top and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 25-30 minutes until the vegetables are soft inside and crisp around the edges.

For the Toasted Fennel Squash Seeds
Wash the pulp off of the seeds scooped out from the acorn squash. Dry them as well as possible.

Crush the fennel seeds in a mortar and pestle, or spice grinder. I like to leave this fairly coarse.

Toss the seeds, fennel, olive oil, and salt all together and spread onto a parchment lined sheet pan.

As soon as the vegetables come out of the oven, turn it down to 300˚F and toast the seeds for 10 minutes.

For the Sour Cream Sauce
Mix the water in sour cream in a small bowl. It should be runny.

Arrange the roasted vegetables onto a nice platter. Sprinkle with the toasted seeds and drizzle the sour cream sauce over top. Serve the remaining sour cream sauce on the side. Enjoy!
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