Recipe: Skillet Roasted Vegetables

Oven-roasted vegetables are a favorite side dish with roasted chicken, pork, and even fish. The chopping goes quickly, the cooking part is easy, and the dish can tolerate sitting around or being re-heated.

Feel free to choose your own selection of vegetables and tubers according to what's in the fridge, cupboard, or garden.

Ingredients
3-4 russet potatoes
2 sweet potatoes
1 bunch of celery
4 large carrots
3 medium onions
Salt
Pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Procedure
Roughly chop all vegetables and tubers into 1-inch (give or take) pieces. Place them in a large cast iron skillet (or two medium ones if you need the space). Don't pile them too high or it will take too long to roast the veggies, and the ones in the middle will steam instead of roasting. Caramelization of the onions and sweet potatoes is essential, as the sweetness produced offsets the salt you'll add, which results in a delectably potent flavor.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Put the vegetables in the skillet(s), oil liberally with extra virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper liberally as well. 1-2 teaspoons of kosher salt (or 1/2 to 1 teaspoons table salt) per medium cast iron skillet of veggies is a reasonable guide.

Place the veggies in the oven. Roast for about 1 hour, stirring the vegetables every 15 minutes or so until done. The veggies are done when the larger hunks of carrots and potato are soft enough that you'd want to keep eating when you bite them.Pay attention to taste when checking doneness. You may need to add salt or other seasonings to achieve "outstanding side dish" status.