It’s Fall In Your Oven

I feel as though I’ve outed myself here before, but I’ll say it again: 

Hello, my name is Penny and I used to be a vegetarian. 

(Hi Penny)

It was the early 2000s, I didn’t know any better ok? Yeesh. I was kinda sorta dating a guy at the time whose mom was a whiz with the vegetarian foods since he had been a vegetarian far longer than I and she was used to whipping up alternative foods for him. One thing has remained: Trish’s Autumn Roast Vegetables* (New And Improved, With Meat! -ed.)

Get to a farmer’s market and pick up the fresh stuff if you can, and don’t skimp on the garlic! Here you go, enjoy.

This isn’t an exact science, but here are the basics:

Figure enough for a 9×9 or 9×13 Pyrex, cast iron or ceramic baker (try to avoid metal unless it’s insulated). Double everything for the larger pan.
Grease pan, preheat oven to 400 deg.

Use whatever firm winter veg you like, but I use these:

Potatoes (figure two medium-sized ones for a 9×9 pan)
Sweet Potatoes (same)
Turnips (two or three, shaved with a peeler)
Whole garlic cloves, as many as you like. I use a whole head. Love ’em.
Brussels sprouts (ends trimmed, halved, loose outer leaves removed)
Sausage (I’m partial to Polish or smoked, Ekrich Farms from the grocery store does fine)

Cut veggies into 1″x 1″-ish cubes but for the garlic which you leave skin on and whole. In a large bowl, pour in enough olive oil to coat, then mix with salt, coarsely-ground pepper and about 1T of dry oregano (you want earthy herbs, no parsley or basil. Sage would be good too but all dry, no fresh). Pour into greased pan.

Add vegetable stock into the bottom of the pan but don’t pour over the veggies. Stock should come up about 1/3 of the pan height. I use bouillon cubes but you can use whatever you like, it’s mainly for moisture and some flavor. Chicken stock might be good, actually.

Cover with foil, set timer for 45 minutes. After 45, remove the foil and continue cooking for another 15. It might spatter but you want some of the steam to escape and the edges of things to crisp up a bit.
 

During the last 15 minutes, brown the sausage to serve with the veg. If you like, you can cook up some egg noodles to serve too, but that’s a whole lotta starch.  I could also recommend a crusty bread to spread the garlic cloves on, but honestly I like the cloves right out of the skins.

Reheats perfectly in the microwave.

Hellloooo fall!

*It’s entirely possible I’ve already posted this same recipe but I’m too lazy to go back through and find it so there you have it. It’s still good.