Oven Roasted Root Vegetables

I don't know why we didn't discover roasting vegetables earlier. I think we were all so obsessed with tender-crisp flash steaming that we just never considered the possibilities offered by high-dry heat. for whatever reason, I'm glad I got past it and started using my oven for more than bread-baking.

It's hard to cook a small amount of this; once you start chopping, ingredients seem to expand exponentially. But it's okay, because extras make great leftovers, or you may use them in a soup or stew.

A note about the use of Frozen pearl onions: if you choose to use unfrozen onions, be my guest, but my time is too precious to spend time peeling pearl onions. In addition, frozen tend to not overcook in the time required to cook the harder root vegetables. As with all my recipes, make adjustments as preferred to suit your own taste, time, etc.

2 Large carrots
2 large parsnips
1 small rutabaga
2 large turnips
1 bag frozen pearl onions
2 Tablespoons EVOO or grapeseed oil
coarse sea salt to taste

Preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit
Peel and chop carrots, parsnips, rutabaga, and turnips into half inch dice.
Pour oil into large, shallow baking dish. Add all ingredients but salt and toss to coat with oil.

Place in hot oven and roast for 15 minutes.
At the end of 15 minutes, open oven and stir vegetables.
Roast another 15 minutes.
Ant the end of the second 15 minutes, inspect vegetables. they will most likely need at least another 15 minutes of roasting, but if they are becoming too brown, you may want to lower the oven temperature to 400.
Stir and return to oven.
Continue roasting until desired amount of carmelization is achieved. Remove from oven and sprinkle with coarse salt to taste.

Serve and enjoy.