Sticky Roast Vegetables

This works well with just about any root veg or squash. The ingredients listed are my personal favourites to give you an idea.

I have used this as a meal in itself; as an aside with roast or grilled meat or mixed with tinned tomatoes as a pasta sauce. It's nearly as good cold as it is hot.

• The veg
• 1 butternut squash
• 4 parsnips
• 4 carrots
• 4 courgettes
• 1 aubeurgine
• new potatoes (not jerseys)
• 4 small red onions
• 2 whole heads of garlic
• For the vinigrette
• Olive oil (cheap stuff is fine)
• Balsamic vinegar (cheap stuff is fine here too)
• Runny honey
• Salt and pepper
• Optional
• Garlic salt or garlic powder
• Any dried herbs you like
• Cherry tomatoes on the vine

Peel and roughly chop the squash and aubergine, about a 1" dice is good.
Cut the parsnips and carrots along their length and then into halves or thirds.
Top, tail and peel the onions, leave whole.
Pierce the pototaes with a fork in a couple of places (same as for a baked potato).
Slice the garlic head in half and trip the stalk from the top so it will sit flat with the sliced side up
Cut the courgette in about 12 slices.
Remember, no matter what veg you use, you want all the peices to cook in the same amount of time.

Preheat the oven to about 200c. Have a large roasting tin with a small amount of oil in the bottom heating in the oven while you do the next step.

Take the biggest mixing bowl you can find and add 50ml olive oil and 50ml balsamic vinegar and a couple of teaspoons of honey. Add salt, pepper and any other seasoning you like and mix it up. Bit by bit throw the diced veg (except the garlic) in to the bowl and toss in the mixture until it's well covered, set aside. You may need to top up the oil and vinegar as you go along depending on how much veg you have.

When all the veg are tossed in the honey vinaigrette throw them in to the hot pan. Set the garlic heads in the pan open side up and drizzle or brush with olive oil. Put the tin back in the oven and roast for 60-90 minutes turning or basting every 30 minutes. The veg should end up soft through but crispy on the edges.

The cherry tomatoes added on top of the veg add some colour and a bit of juice as they burst in cooking but are not essential. Soft brown sugar can be substituted for the honey for a vegan dish.

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