Winter Veggies

This afternoon my Mom gave me some awesome garden-fresh beets, orange carrots, parsnips, garlic and these really cool carrots called (honestly)Cosmic Purple Carrots.

Check them out! Well, the picture isn't all that great, but trust me, they're bright purple with an orange center.

I'm lucky. My mom has root veggies all winter long in her garden and she's always experimenting with unusual varities - (summer and winter). These purple carrots were definitely different but they taste pretty much like any other sweet carrot.

And no, lest anyone worry, these aren't some genetically-engineered weirdness. They're actually an heirloom variety. With a little (highly scientific) 'Google' research I discovered that carrots used to come in many colors, mostly reds and purples, until the Dutch in the 17th century bred the carrot orange to honor their national colors.

Interesting.

So what to do with all this colorful, garden goodness?

Again, no specific recipe - I just scrubbed the veggies, cut them up, (about 4 cups total) and tossed in a baking dish with some halved garlic cloves, olive oil and kosher salt.

Then I roasted 'em at 400 degrees for about an hour until tender.

They turned out great!

<<-- Finished result. The veggies were soooooooo sweet and intense, the garlic mellow and 'roasted'. Drool.

Some orange juice would have been yummy I think? I may add some cracked pepper, rosemary and/or thyme another time too.