Tonight we’re feasting on sweet roasted root vegetables, beet greens, and roasted chicken breast. Except for the chicken, goat cheese, and olive oil, the meal is coming from our garden, a harvest of root vegetables that got a head start over the winter and are now yielding Yum! Whether you’re feasting on fresh root vegetables from your garden, a spring-opening farmers market, Community Supported Agriculture, or a veg box, roasted root vegetables that are really fresh are a wonderful treat that may make the whole family like beets and turnips.
I roasted the vegetables in a cast iron fry pan, covered with a cast iron lid, at about 400 degrees F for about 45 minutes. I included leek slices, beet wedges, radishes slices, carrot chunks, and turnip wedges. I roasted the vegetables simply, with olive oil, salt, and a little dried oregano.
I slathered red pepper relish (red peppers, vinegar, sugar, salt) on our chicken breast (briefly brined) and then baked and sliced it after it rested. Even though the breast was boneless and skinless, the relish helped it retain moisture. The breast was really juicy.
I braised the beet greens in a little oil and then added a little of the chicken cooking liquid. Finally I sprinkled on the goat cheese.
The sweetness and savoriness of the red pepper relish and the vegetables balanced with the tanginess of the goat cheese made for a delicious meal.
Beware any woody vegetables. Roasting will not make them better. If you can’t easily cut through the veggies when they’re raw, they are woody. Discard them. Feed them to your farm animals or your compost pile. They’ll appreciate them. And, yes, I learned this the hard way.
What are you favorite preparation for root vegetables? What sort of seasoning do you like to use?
Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader. Short excerpts with full URL and attribution to Ozarkhomesteader are welcome. Please contact me to use photographs.
Of course I love goat cheese on everything but it looks great on beet greens and I just happen to have quite a few.
The goat cheese worked really well with the hint of sweet and sour from the extra relish juice I poured off the chicken.
ok, first, that was the sweetest comment. Thank you. I felt the same way when I discovered your site.
ON to this post. We adore, adore root vegetables, and our favorite way is to roast them in a single layer at 400-425 with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
However, recently a friend gave us a trcukload of turnips(a turnip truck, he he) and he told us that you haven’t had a good turnip until you have had them his way. Which was, to my dismay, cubing the peeled turnip and placing handfuls of the chunks in a pyrex dish and microwaving it for 10 minutes with nothing else on. He then puts salt, pepper, and fresh butter on top and that’s it. the man has grown turnips his whole life so I tried that recipe, and my husband swore those were the best turnips. Personally, I prefer them roasted.
For other readers who may have missed Polly’s blog, see this post and the comments: http://pollyspath.blogspot.com/2010/04/homesteading.html
That sounds like a great way to have turnips from the turnip truck (tee hee hee). I like them mashed too.
p.s. I made yogurt this weekend with the milk I got last week from China, and I have already started collecting in another big jar for my fresh ricotta with lemon zest. I should have enough in two days to make a batch. If you lived closer you would have some awesome goat cheese for your recipe that i would trade you for some of your broccoli. Sadly, my goats ate the remains of my broccoli garden(and, it’s too hot here now anyway.)
I’m sorry to hear about the broccoli. We will continue to have days 10 or more degrees above normal if you can believe the forecast, so I’m afraid all of our cool-weather plants are done for until fall, except perhaps the cabbage.
The fresh cheese sounds sooooo good. I wish we had animals, but for now they do not fit our off-homesteader schedule. I’ll just have to keep living vicariously through you!