Roasted Root Vegetables with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette

This colorful dish highlights the best flavors of the season – bitter greens, sweet carrots, peppery parsnips, earthy beets – all tied together with a simple vinaigrette

My schedule has been crazy lately and I’ve been living more or less on take out. It’s amazing how a diet like that leaves me craving vegetables! When I had recent a Saturday all to myself, I knew I wanted to make a “real” meal full of veggies.

Variations on this roasted root vegetable and blue cheese vinaigrette dish have been flying through my head ever since I saw something similar in this month’s issue of Food+Wine. I loved how colorful it was and also how it used both the roots and the greens of the beets. But more than that, I loved how it’s made from ingredients that can be found at the farmer’s market throughout winter – well after the growing season is over.

In my typical fashion, I made a few changes to the original recipe – both because that’s just what I do and to accommodate the ingredients that I could find (the beet selection was lacking and I was craving something stinkier than goat cheese).

The only word I can think of to describe the flavor of the resulting dish is healthy, but I mean that in the best way. The greens taste bitter and cleansing, and roasting the carrots leaves them with an intense sweetness that i love. Parsnips are an often overlooked vegetable, but I loved the peppery flavor that they provide.

This is definitely a dish I’ll be going back to all winter. It’s delicious on its own as a light meal, but also worked well on the side of the roast beef that I served it with. With a few tweaks here and there, I think it could  be interesting over pasta or with brown rice, and maybe even with a sturdy fish like snapper. Ooh, and over soft polenta! The possibilities are endless.

Roasted Root Vegetables with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette

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Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes minutes

Author: Lauren Keating

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Ingredients

• 4 medium Red Beets roots peeled and cut into 1-inch wedges, greens chopped
• 4 Carrots peeled and cut into matchsticks
• 4 Parsnips peeled and cut into matchsticks
• 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 3 Garlic Cloves quartered
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 Shallot minced
• 2 ounces Blue Cheese crumbled

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 425F.
• Toss the beets with 1 teaspoon olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange in one third of an oven proof skillet. Repeat with the carrots and parsnips. Scatter the garlic over the vegetables.
• Set the skillet over high heat until you hear it begin to sizzle, about 5 minutes. Cover and transfer to the oven. Roast for 35 minutes, or until tender.
• In a second skillet, heat 1 teaspoon oil over medium heat. Add the shallot and cook until softened, about 1 minute. Add the beet greens and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes.
• While the vegetables roast, whisk together the vinegar, remaining oil, and half of the shallot. Stir in the cheese.
• Toss together the vegetables and the greens. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the dish and season with salt and pepper. Serve warm.

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