Roasted Root Vegetables

These Fall and Winter roasted root vegetables over a creamy tahini garlic yogurt sauce have become one of our favourite side dishes this season! We love roasted vegetables. We chose a combination of root vegetables for this dish - ones we often forget about but love and deserve to be in the spot light. We chose a blend of carrots, beets, parsnip, sweet potato and turnips for this recipe with a mixture of colours, flavours, sweetness and earthiness. We serve them over a creamy tahini yogurt sauce that compliments them so well. We garnish with fresh herbs and feta cheese for a delicious Mediterranean way to serve root veggies.

Roasted Root Vegetabels & Tahini Sauce Recipe Ingredients

• OLIVE OIL: You will need 3 tablespoon of olive oil for this recipe. Just enough for this quantity of vegetables.
• HERBS & SPICES: I like to keep things simple with salt, pepper and fresh rosemary, fresh oregano and fresh thyme. We also like to add a little garlic powder and chili flakes or cayenne. If you prefer to use dried herbs you can swap out the1 tablespoon of fresh herbs with 1 teaspoon of dried herbs. If you prefer to use a different blend of herbs - feel free to. For garnishing we use chopped fresh parsley but you could also do a blend of dill, parsley and mint.
• VEGETABLES: We chose to use beets, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes and turnips for this recipe. They are such a great combination because they all have slightly different flavors and levels of sweetness which is great!
• TAHINI: Tahini is a smooth, creamy paste made from finely ground sesame seeds. It is rich, creamy, nutty, and a staple in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cooking, to make hummus, salad dressings, and sauces. If you do not have it you could use cashew butter or sunflower butter or you could use tzatziki sauce in place of the yogurt sauce - either homemade or store-bought.
• GREEK YOGURT: We use full fat Greek yogurt - which is strained and thicker and perfect for making a sauce like this. I wouldn’t just use a regular yogurt unless you strain it before using it otherwise the sauce will be quite watery or runny.
• LEMON ZEST & LEMON JUICE: They both add flavor to the sauce. If you prefer lime juice over lemon you could use it instead.
• FETA CHEESE: We like to serve and garnish the dish with crumbled feta cheese - that is optional and could easily be replaced with other cheeses like goat cheese or grated Parmesan cheese.
  
  

Roasted Root Vegetables Variations

• For extra flavor whisk the olive oil with 1 teaspoon of dijon mustard, and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, honey or balsamic vinegar which will also really caramelize your veggies - but keep a close eye on them cause the high roasting temp could cause them to burn more easily.
• After roasting, dress them with apple cider vinegar dressing, balsamic vinegar dressing or simply with a squeeze of lemon juice. Toss them with extra fresh herbs like rosemary or sage, parsley and/or sprinkle them with Parmesan cheese, or feta cheese.
• Before serving, toss roasted vegetables with toasted or candied pecans and cranberries - approx ½ cup each. Or choose other nuts like chopped or sliced almonds, pistachios, walnuts or crunchy seeds like pumpkin seeds. Instead of dry cranberries you could use dried cherries or craisins
• We often like to add some red onion or shallot wedges to the pan with the veggies while they roast to add some sweet roasted onion flavor to the dish but that is optional.
  
  

How To Make Roasted Vegetables

1. PREPARE VEGETABLES: Peel, slice and chop veggies
2. TOSS VEGETABLES: Toss the prepared veggies with olive oil and the rest of the spices and herbs
3. __ROAST VEGETABLES: Roast veggies for 25-50 min tossing halfway through
4. PREPARE SAUCE: Whisk together the sauce ingredient.
5. SERVE VEGETABLES: Layer sauce onto platter then arrange vegetable over top of the sauce (or serve sauce on the side if you wish) then garnish with chopped fresh herbs and or crumbled feta cheese
   
   

Tips On Roasting Vegetables

• Every roasted vegetable recipe offers suggested quantities of vegetable to roast, designed to fit evenly across a large, sheet pan /baking sheet or two sheet pans. If you’re baking less veggies than what the recipe calls for, your vegetables are going to bake more quickly so will require less time to roast. If you are baking more veggies than suggested, don’t overcrowd your roast veggies or they’ll essentially steam one another. Instead, go ahead and double the recipe and use two pans.
• The size you cut your vegetables matters so that everything cooks evenly. Beets, and carrots, take longer to roast - Sweet Potatoes, parsnip, and turnip take less time to cook. For this recipe we cut them all to approx 1-inch pieces to keep things simple and consistent but we group and roast them separately so they roast evenly and for as long as they need without overcooking.
• Make sure your oven is preheated - use an oven thermometer if needed.
• We prefer to peel all our root vegetables but that is optional. If you prefer to roast them as is that is fine.
  
  

More Recipes You Will Love:

• Greek Green Bean Casserole
• Harvest Bowls
• Feta Mashed Potatoes
• Greek Style Stuffing (Ground Beef Stuffing)
• Fall Sheet Pan Gnocchi With Sausage And Vegetables
• Roasted Sweet Potatoes With Bacon
• Harvest Salad