Never sure what to do with familiar sounding root vegetables that I didn’t grow up eating (turnips, rutabagas, parsnips) I came up with this technique after seeing something similar on Emeril Green.  The variety of color, flavor and texture helps me appreciate the unique vegetables available during the winter, and makes me less skeptical of cooking seasonally when my garden has finally succumbed to

endless frost.

I dug up these parsnips just before the temperatures really took a dive.   The core was a bit woody, but once quartered and cored, they were deliciously sweet and complex.  I planted them in just one square foot of the garden, and they were growing side by side, almost touching.  A very productive square foot of dirt.

honey-glazed root vegetables

If you want, you can do the broiling ahead of time, toss with the honey butter and rosemary and finish the cooking just before mealtime, that way you can turn your attention to preparing another dish.

The one vegetable I always make sure I include is sweet potatoes.  Although the recipe would be fine without them, I like a few extra sweet bites every now and then, as well as their familiar taste.

5 lbs. mixed root vegetables and/or winter squash (whatever is available, such as sweet potatoes, celery root, parsnips, carrots, potatoes, turnips, rutabaga, pumpkin, butternut squash)
olive oil, just enough to coat
salt and fresh ground pepper
6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons honey (eyeball it -same volume as the butter)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

Scrub the vegetables and chop into 1 inch pieces.  Preheat the broiler.  Thinly coat the vegetables with olive oil, and toss with salt and pepper.  Place in a broiler-safe dish lined with parchment and set on the second shelf of the oven.  Broil, turning the vegetables as they pick up nice coloring.  In the meantime, whip the honey and butter together.  When all the vegetables are browned, remove from the oven, turn down the heat to 450, and toss with the honey butter and sprinkle the rosemary.  Taste for seasoning.  Return to the oven and let the vegetables continue to cook until tender, or if already tender after broiling, cook just 5 minutes more until the flavors meld.

It’s a great time to invest in a bottle of roasted nut oil to use through the fall and winter.  Just a drizzle transforms simple baked acorn squash, but it’s also good with sweet potatoes, in a creamy cauliflower-apple soup and in vinaigrettes.  Just make sure you add after cooking to preserve the full nutty flavor,  Hazelnut and walnut are two of my favorites.

walnut maple acorn squash: Cut acorn squash in half through the stem.  Scrape out seeds and stringy bits.  Fill each cavity with 1/2 tablespoon of butter, a tablespoon of maple syrup and a tiny pinch of cinnamon (I know you’ll want to add more cinnamon, but let the other flavors shine through this time.) Place face up on a jelly roll pan.  Pour water in the bottom of the pan for steam- as much as you can reasonably transport to the oven.  Bake at 400 for an 1 hour 15 minutes, checking after 1 hour.  You want the entire squash soft and creamy and some caramelization around the rim.  Remove from the oven, and drizzle 1/2 teaspoon of walnut oil into each maple-butter pool.  Brush the liquid all over the flesh of the squash until it is completely absorbed.

Sometime I can’t resist buying produce because of it’s color: neon-green cauliflower, fire-red carrots or golden beets.  This time it was an old friend, purple cabbage.  I knew I shouldn’t have bought it for the meal I was making because I’ve only used it with German or Eastern-European meals in the form of sweet and sour cabbage with apples.  I was making pasta.  But after thinking it through I came up with a stunningly easy and versatile dish that was the star of the meal.  I’ll be making it over and over again this winter, either with red or green cabbage.  For the sweet component that purple cabbage harmonizes so well with, I used balsamic vinegar.  Although I got a little tired of balsamic vinegar for a while, I realized I was getting what I paid for, which was not much.  These days I’m still not buying aceto balsamico tradizionale, but I’m splurging for a better bottle, and using it thoughtfully.

singe-broiled cabbage

Core cabbage and cut into thin ribbons.  Toss in a bowl with just enough oil to lightly coat.  Scatter  on a foil-lined broiler pan and/or an old sheet pan in one layer -cook the cabbage in batches if necessary. Place under the broiler for a few minutes, stirring once, remove when just the edges have turned dark brown, a few caramelized pieces are nice. (If cooking in batches transfer the cabbage to a non-plastic bowl, cover with foil and set aside until all the cabbage is cooked.)
Toss the cabbage with sea salt or fleur de sel, freshly ground pepper, and some syrupy balsamic vinegar, all to taste.