Roast those roots

We bought beautiful native green beans and hearty greens at Wilson Farms in Lexington this weekend. There are also plenty of root vegetables just coming into season.

I packed a baking dish with butternut squash, turnips, red potatoes, carrots, red onion, radishes, and mushrooms and roasted them for 1 1/2 hours. This isn't a dish that caramelizes the veggies (you need to cover the pan so the roots cook through), but the results are homey and satisfying.

Roasted fall vegetables
Serves 6

1 bunch radishes, trimmed
5 carrots, thickly sliced on the diagonal
1/2 large butternut squash, peeled and thickly sliced
1 red onion, cut into 8 wedges
3 purple-topped turnips, each cut into 6 wedges
1/2 pound button or other small mushrooms, trimmed
4 small red potatoes, halved
Olive oil (for sprinkling)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Handful fresh thyme sprigs
1/2 cup chicken stock or water

1. Set the oven at 400 degrees. Have on hand a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
2. In the baking dish, arrange the radishes, carrots, squash, red onion, turnips, mushrooms, and potatoes in clusters, packing them into the dish as tightly as possible. It's OK to make two layers of the smaller vegetables.
3. Sprinkle the vegetables with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Lay the thyme on the vegetables. Pour the stock or water in at the edges.
4. Cover the dish with heavy duty foil or 2 sheets of regular foil. Roast the vegetables for 1 1/2 hours or until they are tender. Halfway through roasting, baste the vegetables with the juices in the dish. Sheryl Julian