Roasted Fall Mix

"For me, it's the unexpected and surprising combinations of produce that are the most exciting and lure me into the kitchen for a little bit of experimenting. Apples and sweet potatoes together? Who knew? Carrots with grapes? Okay. I may not be Julia Child, but I can do pretty well with a simple recipe and a lot of enthusiasm."

- Marlo Thomas

A few weeks back, I posted a recipe for one of the best pork chop recipes that gets considerable rotation in my kitchen. These killer pork chops match so well with this side. Though I almost called this "fall roasted vegetables", or something like it, it occurred me that some sanctimonious denizen of the internet would alert me to the fact that the apple is, in fact, not a vegetable. Though I may win no awards for intelligence, I do know that the apple is a fruit. Thus, "Roasted Fall Mix".

On Thanksgiving, I made sure I posted a photo of my turkey, and wished everyone a happy Thanksgiving. I hope everyone's meals went well, and everyone enjoyed eating themselves into a disheveled, semi-comatose state only rivaled by death itself. Also, I hope your gravy was thinner than mine. It was not a proud moment. But otherwise, our Thanksgiving was great. Thanks for asking.

But what I also told everyone was that I'd be back a week later.

Whoops. Can you forgive me? I hope. I hope you also send this site and the Facebook page to all of your families and friends and grandmas who aren't going to inevitably be offended by jokes about being in a food coma. Or do. I could use the views! Shameless plug over. If it's any consolation, during my brief absence, I did post a photo of some Thanksgiving croquettes I made with leftovers. They were tasty, and didn't look half bad.

Anyway, let's talk sides. This is a great little mix of a few roots/bulbs/fruits that together are a sweet and savory addition to any Fall-themed dish. Frankly, I'll probably eat this outside of Fall, too, but I think this does a really good job of having those "fall flavors". This doesn't take too many ingredients, so stay with me, here. You're going to need the following:

"Wait a minute, you just reposted that photo from your other recipe!" Yes, Nancy Drew, I did. Ignore some of these ingredients.

Okay, so I obviously made this side at the same time as my pork chops, so ignore the left half of the picture. Just have the following:

• 3 apples that will withstand baking (I used Honeycrisp! DON'T.)
• Two medium-sized sweet potatoes (yams)
• 1 bulb of fennel ("furry celery onion", as I refer to it)
• Olive oil
• 1 branch fresh rosemary, or 1.5 teaspoon of dried rosemary
• Salt/pepper to taste

Let's start by getting your oven nice and toasty. Set that bad boy to 450F. The reason we're doing this is because normally, veggies aren't going to crisp up and roast and caramelize until you're going past 400 degrees. 450 is going to give us that lovely brown outside that we want, while still cooking the inside, but not to mush. When we're done, it should be cooked on the inside, but not miserable. But hey, it'll taste good either way. Throw your cookie sheet / roasting pan in there to heat, too.

So, chop all of your items into similar sizes. I would recommend keeping the apples a little larger, since they're soft and will roast fast. The sweet potatoes should probably be the smallest. But what the hell is a fennel?

Hay gurl haaaaay.

That's a fennel. A furry celery onion. They're a weird root thing that, when raw, tastes like anise. Which is black licorice. But when we roast it, it because super sweet, with a faint taste of anise that is lovely. But then the mewling begins. "Mew mew mew, but Average Cook, I hate black licorice, mew pew pew." You're being dumb. And wrong. This is going to taste great, so grab one of those, and quit your bitchin'. Oh, also sample the different parts. This is a weird vegetable that can be used through and through. We're going to roast the bulb (onion-looking mofo) part, but the stalks (celery-looking mofo) have the same flavor, and could probably go in, too. Some use the furry stuff (fur-looking mofo...?) for garnish, or in soups. Go crazy. I just used the bulb. Cut the bottom off of that thing, and chop it up.

Bulb.

Throw everything into a bowl, and coat with olive oil. I'm not going to tell you how much. Just make sure everything's all stirred together and coated. There's going to be a day when I am not writing internet blogs, thinking I'm funny, and I won't be able to hold your hand, reader. You need to learn to coat your own vegetables in oil.

WOW. THINGS.

Once coated, generously salt and pepper the mix, and put the rosemary in. If you're using fresh rosemary, you can probably just put hunks of the branch in the mix. If you're using dried, chuck it in while salting/peppering, and you'll do just fine. Now, we throw that on our preheated cookie sheet. PRO-TIP: use some foil, and this isn't going to be awful to clean up.

One day, I will follow my own advice. I hope.

So, a few things to consider with the above photo. 1) I didn't use foil. Stupid. 2) My apples aren't cut very large. In fact, they're pretty small. Stupid. 3) I didn't preheat my pan in the oven. So stupid. Please do not do the same thing. Except the foil; totally optional. I'm just trying to save you some time, so you can marathon stream Game of Thrones or My Little Pony or whatever thing you should probably be ashamed of. Also note that I don't cram everything into the same square six inches. The further these are apart from each other, the more surface area there is to cook and caramelize and turn into delicious. We should maximize the delicious. So don't let them touch too much.

This step should take 15-20 minutes. You're going to look for browning on everything, and your sweet potatoes to be cooked through. Flipping and mixing midway wouldn't be a bad idea, either, so it's a little more even.

Put dat in mah mouff.

This whole thing is going to stink up your house something pretty. It'll be lovely. Notice how my apples shrank a lot, and are less than ideal; if you used a better apple than I, with a larger cut, you shouldn't run into this issue. See, I'm not immune to stupid moments, either. I'm just too frustrated or stubborn to make a second batch to properly photograph and impress you. #longhairdontcare

I served this with that delicious pork chop that I like to mention. Seriously, they're a fantastic mix. Look. LOOK:

I took this photo 2 weeks ago. I am saddened by how far away this is from me, now.

Crap photography aside, this tastes amazing. The mix of a savory seasoning with the sweet potatoes, apples, and roasted fennel make a great Fall/Autumn side that is sure to turn some heads and impress. Though it's extremely simple, it still looks and tastes delicious; people will chime for it every Fall!

Enjoy! -AC

Roasted Fall Mix

Recipe from Scott McDonald (Average Cook)

Recipe makes enough for 4 people, or ~144 people who will only eat one cube of side dish.

• 3 Apples, Granny Smith or Jonagold recommended
• Two medium-sized sweet potatoes 
• 1 bulb of fennel
• Olive oil
• 1 branch fresh rosemary, or 1.5 teaspoon of dried rosemary
• Salt/pepper to taste

Preheat oven and lined roasting pan to 450F. Cut apples, potatoes, and fennel into similar sizes, with yams being the smallest, and apples the largest. Stalks and bulb of fennel can be used, but bulb recommended. Toss with olive oil to coat in bowl, and salt/pepper to taste. Add fresh sprigs of rosemary, or dried rosemary. Toss. Put mix onto hot pan, with some space between pieces. Roast for 15-20 minutes, turning halfway through. When the mix is caramelized and the yams are cooked through, pull out. Serve immediately.