I love roasted veggies! It’s amazing what a little time in a hot oven will do to humble root vegetables! Roasted veggies can be prepared a day ahead of time and reheated before serving, making them a perfect side dish for the holidays!

The recipe calls for cutting the carrots and parsnips into 3″x1/2″ pieces. I didn’t get out the ruler to measure my veggie chunks but I did try to keep them all about the same size so they’d cook evenly. The cooking time will depend on the size of the vegetable sticks/chunks. Once the roasted veggies are tender, if they need a little extra color, sometimes I turn the oven to broil for a minute or two to get those brown, caramelized spots. If you do this, stay at the oven to watch the veggies or you’ll end up with a burnt mess.

At the store, choose small to medium parsnips that are firm; larger ones can be tough and have a woody core that needs to be removed.

Roasted Carrots and Parsnips with Fresh Herbs
-recipe from The New Thanksgiving Table by Diane Morgan

Here’s one vegetable dish that doesn’t need any last minute attention from the busy Thanksgiving cook—and I’m thankful for that. These orange and ivory root vegetables, flecked with fresh herbs, complement turkey and are a colorful addition to the holiday table. Parsnips are woefully underused; once most people try them, they are surprised by how sweet and pleasantly complex they taste. Look for medium-sized, well-shaped parsnips that are firm. Avoid ones that are limp or spotted. Store them wrapped in paper towels inside a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. They are also terrific combined with potatoes for a pureed winter soup. Serves 8 to 10.

7 medium parsnips (about 2 1/2 pounds), peeled, trimmed, and cut into 3-inch-by-1/2-inch sticks
1 1/2 pounds tender carrots, peeled, trimmed, and cut into 3-inch-by-1/2-inch sticks
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

In a large roasting pan or 9-by-13-inch baking dish, toss the parsnips and carrots with the olive oil, dill, parsley, pepper, and salt. Roast, stirring once or twice, for about 45 minutes until the vegetables are tender when pierced with a knife and lightly caramelized in spots. Serve immediately, or cover and keep warm for up to 1 hour before serving.

Do Ahead: The roasted vegetables can be made up to 1 day in advance. Refrigerate, covered, and bring to room temperature 2 hours before reheating.

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Tags: carrots, Christmas, fresh dill, fresh parsley, holiday, olive oil, parsnips, roasted, roasting, root vegetable, Side Dish, Thanksgiving

Have you ever seen those funny-looking, elongated, slightly knobby fingerling potatoes at the grocery store? Next time you do, buy a few pounds of them. This super simple recipe is an excellent way to use this root vegetable. All you do is scatter the clean potatoes on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast until tender. For a little extra color, sprinkle the roasted potatoes with some chopped fresh parsley. And there you have it…a perfect side dish for chicken, beef or pork!

Note: This recipe originally called for crushed garlic but it turned into charred little bits in the high oven heat. Burnt garlic doesn’t do anything for me so I wiped it off the potatoes and scratched it off the recipe.

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
- adapted from a foodnetwork.com recipe

4 servings.

2 pounds small fingerling potatoes
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling, 1 to 2 tablespoons
Salt and pepper
chopped fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

Heat oven to 500 degrees F.

Spread potatoes out on a cookie sheet. Coat lightly with extra-virgin olive oil and season potatoes with salt and pepper. Roast until tender, about 20 minutes.

Tags: fingerling potatoes, roasted, Side Dish