Our recipe this week, is a very simple, vegetarian dish that makes use of whatever seasonal vegetables that you can get your hands on (although most are now available all year round in the supermarket). We chose to use beetroot, parsnips, carrot and sweet potato, but you could equally use potatoes, celeriac, butternut squash or any other root vegetables or tubers for that matter. The key is to cut the vegetables into similar-sized pieces so they all take the same time to cook.

We have also very loosely used the word ‘salad’, which is usually associated with some light green leaves. We do however use a dressing, so it just about justifies this title. In any case, regardless of what this meal is called, we at Season’s Eatings think it’s a delicious and reasonably healthy mid-week supper for one.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 beetroot
• 1 parsnip
• 1 carrot
• 1 small (or ½ a large) sweet potato
• Olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Juice of half a lemon
• English mustard
• 75g feta cheese
• handful chopped walnuts
• Salt
• Pepper

Recipe:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC.
2. Peel all the vegetables and cut into large batons all approximately the same size.
3. Transfer the veg into a large baking tray and give a good drizzle of olive oil (the regular stuff, no extra virgins here), a good sprinkling of salt and a few turns of freshly ground pepper. We had a loose pepper lying around so thew this in for good measure too. Leave to cook for approximately 40 minutes. 
4. In the meantime prepare the dressing, which really couldn’t be simpler. Mix together thoroughly 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, the juice of half a lemon, a small pinch of salt and half a teaspoon a English mustard. Taste and adjust more oil or balsamic vinegar as required for your personal taste.
5. When the roasted vegetables are becoming golden and have had at least 30 minutes in the oven, you can start to get everything together. Toss the walnuts in a frying pan (without any oil) and heat for a few minutes until their aroma just starts to fill the room, then take off the heat before they burn.
6. Once the vegetables are roasted to your desired goldenness, carefully transfer the batons to your plate. Crumble over the feta, toss over the walnuts and drizzle everything with the dressing before enjoying warm.