Winter 2025 | Tips & Tricks

Rooted in Flavor

Humble winter vegetables bring depth and unexpected versatility to the holiday table.

Parsnips, potatoes, rutabagas, turnips, celery root, beets, carrots, and sunchokes are cozy winter favorites that bring earthy flavor and can shine on the holiday table.

Known for their hearty, naturally sweet profiles, most root vegetables reach their peak in late fall and early winter, since cold weather concentrates their sugars. Chop up and toss any of them in olive oil and roast to caramelize them, making an easy, lusciously sweet and pleasantly soft side dish.

Stephen Zipkin, field trip coordinator with Urban Roots in Reno, encourages readers to make sure any root vegetables still feel crisp and tough to the touch before putting them in your basket.

“Most root vegetables keep just as well on the counter as in the fridge,” Zipkin says. “Like any fresh ingredient, there’s only so long you can use them.”

Delectable Dishes
From vegetable gratin and latkes to creamy soups, root vegetables are incredibly versatile and make for delicious, flavor-forward side dishes. One of Zipkin’s favorites is honey-glazed carrots. He spreads two to four sliced carrots evenly on a baking tray, drizzles them with two tablespoons of olive oil and two tablespoons of honey, then seasons them with salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. He tosses to coat and arranges the carrots in an even layer on the tray before roasting at 425 degrees F for 25 minutes, until the carrots turn tender and caramelized.

“They get soft, and their orange color gets noticeably prettier and richer while they also start to darken around the edges,” Zipkin says. “It’s really delicious.”

Parsnips, carrots’ larger, cream-colored cousin, make a good substitute for carrots in many recipes, while varying the colors on the plate.

With his Jewish heritage, Zipkin also leans on potatoes, making latkes and other tasty potato-forward plates.

“The potato is really a love letter from our planet — all of the wonderful things you can do with the potato. Every culture has a beloved potato dish,” he says. “One of my favorites is carne asada fries, which is so different from potato gratin, gnocchi, or shepherd’s pie. Potato dishes may be wildly different, but potatoes rule!”

Lara Ritchie serves as the culinary director of Nothing To It! Culinary Center in Reno, and she also has fond memories of the potato.

“My mom would make these baby potatoes braised with butter, Chardonnay, and garlic, finished with either green onion or chives,” she says. “It’s one of my favorite dishes.”

Ritchie also incorporates celery root or celeriac in foods in different ways.

“It’s a dirty little root vegetable,” she says. “I’ve used it as a binder in a crab cake because I love that celery taste, and when you shred it, it has a silkier texture to it. It adds flavor without overshadowing the crab.”

She suggests roasting celery root alongside other hearty roots, but with a clever trick: Pair vegetables of similar density on the same pan so they cook evenly. For example, beets, which are much denser than celeriac, need more time in the oven, so it’s best to separate them. Finish with an unexpected flourish, such as tahini or chimichurri, and these humble roots turn into a dish worth going back to for seconds.

This winter, reach for the freshest, in-season root veggies you can find and give this recipe a try for a spin on the same old sides.

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ROASTED ROOT VEGETABLES WITH CHIMICHURRI SAUCE

Servings: 6 servings

Author: Lara Ritchie, culinary director, Nothing To It! Culinary Center in Reno

Ingredients

• 6 large carrots about 1½ pounds
• 2 medium rutabagas
• ¾ pounds purple potatoes
• 3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ teaspoon salt or more, to taste
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or more, to taste

For chimichurri sauce

• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon table salt
• ¼ teaspoon Aleppo pepper
• ½ cup flat-leaf parsley leaves packed, finely chopped
• 2 medium cloves garlic peeled and finely minced
• 2 tablespoons minced red onion

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line large baking sheet with foil. Peel carrots and rutabagas, scrub potatoes, and cut all into bite-sized chunks, then place in a medium bowl. Add oil, salt, and pepper over the vegetables and toss to coat. Place vegetables in a single layer on baking sheet. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring once, or until potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork.
• Transfer vegetables back to a serving bowl, toss with about ¾ of the chimichurri. Taste and add salt and pepper, if needed. Allow mixture to cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Drizzle with remaining chimichurri. Serve warm.

For chimichurri sauce

• In a small bowl, whisk olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and Aleppo pepper. Add remaining ingredients to the bowl and whisk well. Allow to rest at room temperature for at least 20 minutes to let flavors meld.