Roasted Winter Vegetables with Creamy Polenta

It’s pouring rain. I’ve been stuck in the house for three days with a sick kid. The saving grace is that our CSA started up the season this week and I was able to leave the house long enough to pick up our first box less than a mile away. So, glory be, we have farm fresh vegetables in the house.

Looking through the cupboards and the nearly empty shelves in the refrigerator, I find some polenta-grind cornmeal, some low-fat cream cheese, a few cups of homemade vegetable broth begging to be used, and an ounce or so of parmesan. So right away, I know creamy polenta is happening for dinner.

The baby carrots, turnips, and delicata squash from the CSA can be chopped up and roasted with the lonely broccoli head leftover from another meal. I’ll throw in a cut-up onion or two, and a few shallots that have been sitting in the onion basket.

I’m less cranky already. The aroma of the roasting vegetables begins to fill the house. The heat radiating from the oven kicks the dreariness right out of the kitchen. Forty-five minutes later, we’re all making happy sounds as we eat comfort food around the cozy table in our pajamas. Seriously, is there a better way to deal with winter?

Roasted Winter Vegetables with Creamy Polenta
(Creamy polenta recipe adapted from our dearest Elise at Simply Recipes)

Roasted Vegetables
This is more of a guideline than a recipe. Basically, chop up a bunch of winter vegetables, toss them in olive oil, salt and pepper, and stick in the oven until browned and softened. Substitute cauliflower for the broccoli, peeled butternut squash for the delicata. Or just go crazy and tell me what you roasted in the comments. Serves 4, more or less, depending upon your appetite for roasted vegetables. We seem to be able to consume bucket loads of them.

2 small unpeeled delicata squash, sliced into ¼ inch thick slices, seeds and strings discarded
4 large or 6 small turnips, peeled and cut into ½ inch wedges
6 carrots, peeled, cut into 3-inch chunks, then halved lengthwise
2 small onions, peeled, halved lengthwise, and cut into ½ inch wedges
1 head of broccoli, stems peeled and cut into ½ inch chunks, florets cut into large bite-sized pieces
4 shallots, peeled and cut in half (optional)
3 tablespoons Olive oil (approximately)
Salt (coarse salt works well, if you have it handy)
Pepper (freshly ground, if possible)
Parmesan cheese, grated, to taste (used as the final dish is assembled)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees while you cut up the vegetables. Spread the prepared vegetables onto two baking sheets. You want them to have room to roast and brown. If they are too crowded, the result will be more like steamed vegetables.

Drizzle a tablespoon or so of olive oil over each baking sheet of vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. (Not too much, as you can season again when they are cooked. It’s much harder to get rid of excess salt than it is to add salt at the end of the roasting time.) Toss the vegetables in the olive oil, salt, and pepper. (I use my hands. It’s much easier to get each piece coated lightly with the oil that way.) Roast for approximately 40 to 45 minutes, stirring the vegetables once or twice while they are roasting. Vegetables are done when they are lightly browned and can be pierced easily with a fork. We prefer our vegetables darkly browned and slightly caramelized, so I leave them in until they look like the ones in the picture.

While the vegetables are roasting, prepare the polenta.

Creamy Polenta
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup polenta-grind cornmeal
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 ounces low-fat cream cheese (Non-fat is not good in this recipe. Full-fat is wonderful, but very rich.)
Salt, to taste

Bring vegetable broth to a boil over high heat. Quickly whisk in the cornmeal. Lowering the heat to a simmer, add the butter and allow the polenta to cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes. Stir in the cream cheese and salt, stirring until the cream cheese is completely melted.

Serve the roasted vegetables over the polenta, and top with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Tagged as: creamy polenta, CSA, empty cupboards, roasted vegetables, winter