Banyan Café: Roasted Roots with Sage

Earlier this week I wrote about growing beets and some of the ways we use them in the kitchen. Today I'm giving you a recipe, if you can call it that, that uses beets and other roots from the garden. Now's the time for harvesting not only beets but also potatoes, carrots and garlic (if you planted an early variety in the fall).

Ingredients from the garden

Combined with some sage, which is the herb I had on hand, these root ingredients make a tasty roasted veggie side dish, or even a main dish with a green salad on the side.

Sage growing in the greenhouse

I tend not to use recipes when roasting vegetables. Just chop them up into large bite-sized pieces, toss with some olive oil and salt and pepper to taste, and throw them in the oven. This time I tried a 375 degree oven and roasted until things were fork tender, close to an hour in this case. Sometimes I use a hotter oven, but because the full heads of garlic needed a longer cooking time, I went slightly cooler than I otherwise might for roasted roots.

Tossing potatoes with oil, salt & pepper

You can toss the vegetables separately or all at the same time. Because I had so many pretty colors on the cutting board, this time I decided to make them look fancy in the baking dish. Plus, this way if there are kids who might eat the carrots and potatoes but not the beets and garlic, they can easily pick and choose before the veggies are tossed together for the rest of us.

Pretty food, ready for the oven

Spring root vegetables roasted with sage

Happy roasting!