Roasted Colorful Root Vegetables & Chicken with Sage, Thyme, Rosemary
One of my favorite things to do, even on these cold winter days, is to go to the farmers market nearby. The weather might be dreary and gloomy, the cold wind blowing hard, but I bundle up in my thick coat and my favorite new wool scarf and wander around the stalls. I look at the fresh baked artisanal bread, the farm-fresh eggs, resist the temptation to get some of the small batch cheeses, stop to warm myself up with a cup of hot cider… What brings me the greatest joy are the fresh produce stands that are stocked with beautiful root vegetables at this time of year; these humble root vegetables are in a riot of colors now. There are so many varieties of carrots, turnips, radishes, potatoes, beets… The range of colors is astonishing – not just the usual deep red beets, but yellow and orange ones too that when cut open reveal concentric circles of alternating colors and intensity. Stunning watermelon radishes that are like beautiful flowers inside. White and purple turnips, and carrots that come in orange, yellow and maroon. I’m so excited that I get some of each.
Often I don’t plan meals. I’ll be inspired by whatever catches my eye at the farmers market and try to think of what I might make. I decide to roast these vegetables and have it with chicken. So I also pick up shallots and a beautiful cipollini onion that I’ve spotted, some herbs – sage, thyme, rosemary, and good quality butter, as well as chicken breasts. I already have olive oil and white cooking wine at home, which I’d like to add. This is a very simple meal – the ingredients are so beautiful, you don’t need to do much other than play up their flavors a bit. I don’t have a strict recipe for it, I’ve been making variations of this for years now – the actual combination of vegetables and herbs vary depending on what I find. I’m writing it down here and sharing because it’s such an easy, flavorful seasonal dish that feels fancy on a weeknight or a “date night” at home – and brings joy with all the beautiful colorful root vegetables.
You don’t need all the different vegetables and herbs I’ve used here to make this dish. Use whatever you can find easily, but if you can get a mix of colors the dish will look beautiful too in addition to tasting good. The beets and carrots make this dish somewhat sweet; to balance out the sweetness, I usually add fingerling or baby potatoes. I love the flavor of sage with the simple chicken, so I use a lot of it. Use less of the rosemary since it can be overpowering, a little adds a nice aroma. Ultimately this dish is all about simplicity, so just throw it all together in the oven and enjoy!
Roasted Colorful Root Vegetables & Chicken with Sage, Thyme, Rosemary
SERVES: 4
INGREDIENTS
Roasted Root Vegetables
- 2 small beets (red & yellow), peeled & quartered
- 4 carrots (orange, yellow, maroon)
- 2-3 small turnips, peeled & quartered
- 3 watermelon radishes, peeled & halved
- 6 fingerling or baby potatoes, halved
- 1 cipollini onion, whole with ends cut off & peeled (optional)
- 3 shallots, each sliced into 4 thick pieces lengthwise
- 4-5 whole cloves of garlic, washed but not peeled
- 10 fresh sage leaves
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- Fresh thyme sprigs, about 1.5 tablespoons
- 2-3 tablespoons olive oil, enough to coat the vegetables
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 3/4 teaspoons salt, or to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
Chicken
- 1.5 pounds chicken breasts (I used bone-in here; boneless cooks faster and doesn’t change the flavor of this dish)
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 20 sage leaves
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves
- 1/3 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
METHOD
Roasted Vegetables
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Wash, peel and cut vegetables, as noted in the ingredients.
- In a wide shallow roasting pan or baking dish (I use a ceramic baking dish which can be transferred to the table), arrange the vegetables, shallot slices, garlic cloves in a single later. Tuck in the sage leaves, rosemary and thyme sprigs. Add olive oil and mix together like a salad, to coat the vegetables in the oil. Splash wine over and around the vegetables, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes covered, and the last 10 minutes uncovered.
Chicken
- In the meantime, while the vegetables are roasting, rinse the chicken pieces under cold water and pat dry. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Heat a wide pan over medium high heat, add butter. When bubbling, add chicken pieces and cook for about 1 minute on each side.
- Add the sage leaves, rosemary and thyme to the pan, place the chicken pieces on the herbs. Cook over medium low heat for about 10 minutes turning from time to time; make sure the sage doesn’t burn.
- Add 1/4 cup white wine to pan.
- Increase heat to medium, cook for another 5-10 minutes, turning over from time to time, till chicken is cooked through. (Note: If you use thin pieces of boneless chicken breasts, you’ll need less time to cook.) Remove chicken and sage leaves from the pan to serving plates. Leave the pan as is.
- Take the roasted vegetables out from the oven when done, add to the same pan. Cook over high heat for about 3 mins, stirring to make sure they don’t burn, till the juice dries up a little. Remove from heat. (Note: step 6 is not necessary. The roasted vegetables look translucent and have a lot of juice when they come out of the oven. Pan cooking them at the end caramelizes the vegetables in the juices and creates an even nicer color.)
- Taste for salt and add if necessary. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and serve with the chicken.
