A week or two ago inspiration landed on my front step. It came in the form of a simply gorgeous hamper of winter fruit and veggies from the lovely people at Sydney Markets, and it arrived just in time.
You see kitchen motivation at that point had been severely lacking — I’ll blame it on winter although winter isn’t fully to blame — but after a day or two of staring at that box of colour a trickle turned into a flood and before I knew it I had ideas spinning around like little tornados in my head.
It’s no secret I have a penchant for rainbows, and brightly coloured root veggies fit the bill just fine.
Before I knew it tender baby heirloom carrots, sweet nuggets of ruby and golden beets, just-bitter swedes, deep purple and crimson potatoes fit for a princess, nearly black cavalo nero and herbal rosemary and thyme were roasting away in the oven, warming up both the kitchen and my soul.
And so I’ll leave you with a stream of consciousness set of thoughts while I move a bit closer to the heater and make another cup of tea…
Roasted vegetables from your local green grocer barely require a recipe but some things are too pretty not to share, winter doesn’t have to be dreary — there’s plenty of colour out there if you look for it, sometimes simple is best, and everything really is better with an egg on it.
Roasted Rainbow Winter Vegetables
Put some colour on your plate this winter with bright and cheery root veggies. Roasting with fresh herbs adds an extra punch of flavour, and adding kale at the last minute makes for a crunchy treat in each bite.
INGREDIENTS
- baby carrots — orange, white, purple
- baby beets — red and golden
- potatoes — pink and purple
- swedes
- cavalo nero (dinosaur or black) kale
- olive oil
- thyme and rosemary
- sea salt or roasted garlic salt
To serve
- avocado mashed with a spoonful of pesto
- fried eggs
METHOD
Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F). Line a roasting pan with a square of baking paper. Drizzle paper with a generous amount of olive oil. Tear kale into large pieces, wash, spin dry and set aside.
Scrub all the root veggies, no need to peel them. Cut beets and carrots in half, and swedes into six or eight, root to tip. Cut potatoes into pieces about the size of the halved beets. Throw veggies into pan, drizzle with a bit more oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle with thyme, rosemary and a good pinch of salt.
Roast 30 minutes, stirring once, until potatoes are tender. Massage kale with a small drizzle of oil and place over veggies in the pan, return to oven for a further 8 – 10 minutes, turn kale once to help it crisp-up.
Serve with fried eggs and pesto avocado mash, because you can.
vegetarian // vegan // gluten-free // dairy-free // almost recipe // probably paleo
Lovely job JJ, so colourful and inspiring.
I saw everyone was posting these on instagram and was excited to see what you all came up with.
I feel like I always need Winter veg inspiration.
Great post!
I love roasted veggies and they taste even better when they are shades of the rainbow :).
Definitely too pretty not to share JJ. I have rainbow carrots growing in my garden and I can’t wait to harvest them in a month or so. Never thought to mash pesto through avo. My friend gave me a jar of kale pesto yesterday so I will be trying that very soon.
gorgeous! And the leftovers will make a stunning soup 🙂
What a stunning hamper of veggies JJ! I can definitely see where your inspiration came from! Winter veg is one of my favourite things about the cooler months. Nothing better than a tray of gorgeously sweet, caramelised veg straight out of the oven! I love the idea of adding the pesto and avocado dip to the mix, particularly with that golden sunny egg! I want. I am severely suffering from veg withdrawals over here (for some reason it all about iceberg lettuce, pale tomatoes and canned corn in Europe so far. I want to cry) xx