The Roasted Dinner

It's looking like the farm has arrived at peak leaves this week, so we went ahead and treated ourselves to the first roasted dinner of autumn. The secret ingredient of this meal is probably bacon fat. (With apologies to all six vegetables!)

You do save bacon fat and cook with it, right? Too many people throw it away, but why should you? The same je ne sais quoi that makes bacon so delicious can also be put to service enlivening roasted and sauteed foods. Substitute another type of fat if you prefer—I give you permission!

At our house, this meal requires two extra-large sheet pans. If you have normal size cookie sheets, you’ll want to roast everything in batches. I’m a fan of silicone pan liners. Sometimes I use baking parchment. They both help with cleanup, plus it’s nice to be able to pick them up and funnel the vegetables into a serving dish or storage container.

INGREDIENTS

a stalk of Brussels sprouts

a quart of potatoes

1 yellow onion

3-4 sweet peppers

1 bunch rainbow carrots

1 bunch Italian parsley

3 cloves garlic, or more

3-4 tablespoons bacon fat

3.5-4 teaspoons salt, divided

Process

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Parboil the potatoes + carrots.

Boil 3 quarts water in a stock pot. Add 3 teaspoons of the salt to the water—you’ll scatter the rest on the tray with the Brussels sprouts. Seems like a lot of salt, you say? If you were putting it straight onto the food, it would be. Cooking vegetables in salty water seasons them thorougly. You can skip this part if you want, but your potatoes and carrots will taste meh.

Cube the potatoes and carrots (we never peel anything) and add them to the boiling water. Cover the pot with a lid. When the water returns to a boil, drain the vegetables, add several gobs of rendered bacon fat, and stir. Pour the carrots and potatoes onto a baking sheet and roast. It’s good to let those guys get a head start on the more tender vegetables.

Roast everything.

Remove the Brussels sprouts from the stalk. Halve the sprouts. Sliver the peppers and onions. Mince the parsley and garlic, but reserve those until the end. They’ll scorch if you add them too quickly. Scatter some salt over the second tray of vegetables, and roast.

Everything is done when it’s easily pierced with a knife. And smells wonderful.

Serve with a good salad.