Roasted Root Vegetables

One of the side dishes at Christmas lunch was this pretty assortment of roasted roots.

Who needs table decorations when the food looks this good?

Usually I add potatoes to a casserole of roasted roots, but since we were eating those in the potato torte, I was able to focus on a variety of other vegetables.

I used a bunch of baby chiogga beets, a bunch of baby turnips, a bunch of baby rutabagas, a couple of daikon radish and some carrots.

I started by deciding which casserole dish I was going to bake them in, and then adding the veg as it was scrubbed and chopped. When the dish was full, I tipped the vegetables into a bowl and tossed them with olive oil, salt and pepper, 2 bay leaves, and a couple of sprigs of rosemary.

I cut each of the vegetables in different shapes so cautious eaters could tell what they were going to put in their mouths. The turnips and beets were so small I just cut them in half. The daikon was in log-like shapes, as were the carrots. And the baby rutabagas were so tiny I left them whole (although I did peel them because they were a little hairy).

I poured a little oil in the bottom of the casserole, added the roots and herbs, covered it, and let it sit on the counter until an hour before dinner. I baked it for 45 minutes or so at 350°F. I could have put the casserole in a hotter oven, but the potato torte was in there at 350°F. I find roots are very flexible in their cooking. They came out soft and luscious with wonderful flavor, and looked very pretty on the plate.