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Sometimes it can be hard to reinvent the wheel. My family has our tried and true favorites at the holiday table… and our not so favorites. But there they are all the same. I don’t know, maybe it’s the comfort of tradition, maybe it’s that one person at the table who loves that dish. But I feel like our holiday meals have become predictable and it’s hard to introduce something new to the mix. Does anyone else ever feel this way? I mean, there are certain foods I look forward to at every holiday meal, but other dishes where I feel like we’re stuck in a rut. I think roasted root vegetables can easily fall into the “okay, but nothing special” category for a lot of families. Toss some potatoes and carrots in a little vegetable oil…salt…pepper. Viola! Easiest side dish ever. But alas, can’t we have the easiest side dish ever and still have it be something innovative and new? A little pizzazz? The answer is yes my friends! You can have your roasted root vegetables and enjoy them too!

I’ll admit, I kind of winged it on this one, but it turned out as one of my favorite side dish recipes to date, and I think that will hold true for you too! Thanks to my little friend fuyu persimmon. I don’t know if you remember me talking about it before, but I LOVE permissions. However, they are only available for a short period of time, which means I only get to experiment with them so much. I had never roasted a persimmon before, and I’m assuming you probably haven’t either. Let me tell you… they turned out better than I could have imagined! I picked one that was still a little firm and it roasted itself with exceptional skill. The persimmon was soft, but not mushy; it still held its shape and had a little carmelization on the edges. Yum-myyy.

To me persimmon has a bit of a -pumpkin spice in a fruit- feel, and fennel is reminiscent of licorice. For that reason I sprinkled the roasted root vegetables with cinnamon and Chinese five spice. If you are not familiar with Chinese five spice, let me happily introduce you. It is a blend of star anise, cloves, cinammon, Szechwan pepper and fennel and it’s one of your new favorite spice blends. You can see how it would pair nicely with sweet root vegetables, fennel and persimmons. It also tastes amazing on ribs, chicken, squash, with jam… anything you want to have a sweet and savory element. For its versatility and its unique aroma, do yourself a favor and add it to the spice cabinet. You won’t be sorry!

So anyway this recipe consists of carrots, parsnips, turnips, sweet potatoes, persimmons and fennel. A whole arsenal of artisanal vegetables and spices. Hee hee. I put a little turkey back off my plate to make a little more room for these roasted root vegetables and friends. That’s how good they turned out! Also, an elementary school student could make these with ease. EASE I say! That leaves you with no excuses not to try these, (not that you were trying to come up with one).

Don’t mind me, I’m just drooling over here.

Kelsey

Yields 8-10 servings as a side

Simple Roasted Root Vegetables with Fennel and Persimmon

15 minPrep Time

20 minCook Time

35 minTotal Time

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Ingredients

• 6 carrots
• 2 parsnips
• 2 turnips
• 4 medium sweet potatoes
• 2 persimmons
• 1 fennel bulb
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice
• salt and pepper to taste
• honey
• balsamic vinegar
• avocado oil
• 2 sprigs of rosemary

Instructions

1. Cut all the vegetables into bite sized pieces
2. Place the vegetables and the rosemary on an extra large baking sheet or two smaller ones.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
4. Drizzle avocado oil, honey and balsamic vinegar (I used fig balsamic) across the vegetables.*
5. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, cinnamon and Chinese five spice.
6. With your hands toss together all the ingredients until they are all evenly coated.
7. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are tender.
8. Lightly drizzle the roasted vegetables with balsamic vinegar again.
9. Serve immediately.

Notes

I did not use exact measurements for the liquids. Just putting my thumb over the opening of the balsamic vinegar and avocado oil, I quickly drizzled the vegetables in a zig zag motion. Same with the honey. You can look at the picture above to see how much seasoning I put on. I wanted to coat the vegetables, but not mask the different vegetables flavors. Everything was lightly coated, with no clumps of oil or seasoning.

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