FAMILY MEDICINE® COLUMN
By John C. Wolf, D.O.
Associate Professor of Family Medicine®
Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine

CHEF WOLF'S Rx FOR HOLIDAY VEGETABLES: ROAST 'EM

In preparation for the holiday season, I've dispensed with my usual discussion of human illness this week. For the last several years at this festive time, I've given the recipe for a food I like to prepare for my friends and family, and I'll do the same again this year. The following recipe isn't strictly holiday fare, but it will be on my family's holiday table.

The time for the luscious fresh summer produce has passed. The tomatoes and sweet corn now in the grocery store don't have the same delightful flavors as those from my summer garden or the local farmer's market. My solution is to do something special with those supermarket vegetables. Sure you can mash potatoes, candy sweet potatoes and sauté onions, but slow-roasting them does wonderful things for their flavors. This is how I do it.

The basic process of slow-roasting vegetables is simple. Choose the vegetables you enjoy, clean them, slice into about one-inch sized cubes, toss with a mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and other seasoning of your choice, and roast in a 450 degree oven, flipping them over occasionally, until they are done.

Firm vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, carrots, winter squash, turnips, mushrooms, beets and rutabaga need about one hour of cooking time. Softer vegetables like eggplant, garlic, okra, bell peppers, zucchini and tomatoes only take 30 minutes of cooking time. Corn, peas, and even asparagus take the least, usually 15 to 20 minutes.

My family and I like the following mixture best.

8 oz mushrooms

2 medium red potatoes

1 medium sweet potato

2 medium onion

3 medium carrots

3 stalks celery or bok choy

10 garlic cloves

1 red and 1 green bell pepper

1 yellow summer squash

1 zucchini

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

Chop all vegetables into chunks about one inch square. Peel the sweet potato, but the red potatoes can be left with their skins on. Toss the chopped vegetables until all are coated with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, 1-2 teaspoons of salt and 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary.

Place in a large baking dish so that the vegetables form a single layer. Bake for about 30 minutes, then stir or flip the vegetables. Add any faster cooking vegetable, like peppers or zucchini, and return to the oven. At 45 minutes total baking time, stir the vegetables again. The dish is complete when the vegetables are done to your desired tenderness, they have a bit of caramelization on the surface, and the aroma fills the house. The vegetables can be served hot, or at room temperature as part of a holiday buffet.

Be aware that vegetables in the cabbage family, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussel sprouts, don't do well with roasting. They become bitter instead of sweet. Also be aware that the quality of balsamic vinegar makes a huge difference in the final flavors of this dish. I'd suggest a 7-year-aged product, or older if you have it.

I hope you have an opportunity to try roasted vegetables this holiday season or later this winter. I also hope that you and your loved ones have a delightful Yuletide filled with good food, good friends, and abounding love.

Family Medicine® is a weekly column. To submit questions, write to John C. Wolf, D.O., Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Grosvenor Hall, Athens, Ohio 45701.