Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Carrots and Parsley


Found in our produce box: Purple (!) sweet potatoes
Found at the coop: The freshest, crunchiest carrots imaginable


Ingredients
2 orange or purple sweet potatoes, peeled
3-4 purple, white, or orange carrots, peeled
A handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Salt and freshly-ground white pepper*
Olive oil


Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Cut the sweet potatoes crosswise into 3/4-inch thick slices, then halve or quarter each slice into bite-sized pieces. Cut the carrots crosswise into 1-inch pieces. Toss with olive oil and a pinch of salt, and throw in a small roasting pan (I used a loaf pan, so that they were several layers deep and crowded together).

Roast in the oven for 40-50 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes. About halfway through, turn the heat down to 400 and add a little more olive oil if the pan has gotten dry.

When the sweet potatoes are very soft and the carrots are just tender and a little browned, remove from the oven and toss with a little more salt, a liberal dousing of freshly ground white pepper, and some parsley. Serve hot, with a little parsley sprinkled over the top.

Serves 2-3.

*If you don't have a grinder full of white peppercorns, get one. I'm swiftly become a white pepper fanatic, but freshly ground versus not is just as different in this case as it is for black pepper, which actually never occurred to me until my husband brought home a bottle of white peppercorns. It's particularly good with squash, pumpkin, and sweet potatoes, because it gives sweet things a hint of pepper that blends with the sweetness instead of overpowering it.

3 comments:

  1. Yum- I'm a fan of roasting pretty much any and all veggies. Which reminds me, I don't have a recipe for it, but we usually roast our beets and toss them with greens, a vinaigrette (usually mustard-based or balsamic), walnuts or pecans, and some goat cheese. If you cut the beets into small cubes, they go well without being overpowering... Now that you are a beet convert :)

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  2. Ditto on the roasted veggies. Which I suppose means I have no excuse not to try this roasted beet idea, which sounds lovely except for the "beet" part (for the record, I am not a beet convert, thank you -- I am a reluctant raw beet admirer. They are different, primarily in the beet-related anxiety that accompanies the second. But maybe this will help with that)...

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  3. Alison,
    I am attracted by your blog title because Michael Pollen is one of my personal heroes. I started my food startup, RealMealz, partially due to his influence. RealMealz is connecting beginner and intermediate cooks with simple recipes they can throw together in 30 minutes or less. I started it because I wanted to help others eat better, and eat more vegetables. And I’m wondering if you would be interested in having your content, the 30 minute or less recipes, showcased on our site, with links back to yours. We’re still in private beta so you will be one of the early partners. We have two blogger partners so far, Macheesmo, and OperaGirlCooks. Are you interested?

    If so can you please email me at connie [at]realmealz [dot]com

    Thanks!
    Connie

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