Best.Side.Dish.Ever.

I love veggies. I adore them. Turnips, yes please. Carrots, of course. Even some of the weird ones. Kholrabi? raw and salted, please. Cabbage? I'll take it braised, slaw-ed, boiled. I eat 'em all. Especially Brussels sprouts.

I kind of feel bad for Brussels sprouts. They've gotten a pretty bad rap, and let's be honest. They can be pretty bad when boiled beyond recognition. But most of the time? Absolutely delicious. They're sweet little bites of baby cabbage goodness, with those tiny leaves that soak up bits of butter and salt.

It was the lowly Brussels sprout that inspired tonight's side dish. We both had a pretty long day at work, and cooking was the last thing on my mind when we finally got home. But I had some produce that needed to get used up, and we used up our one "out to eat" night last night.

So, what did I do when I really didn't want to do anything at all? Roasted veggies! This is dead simple, and I'm pretty sure there are a thousand and one variations of this floating around the Internet. I usually roast cauliflower or winter squash. Tonight's peek at the crisper showed me a few carrots getting close to their prime, and a beautiful bag of Brussels sprouts.

I trimmed up the sprouts, peeled and chunked up the sprouts, and threw in a couple peeled garlic cloves for good measure. A healthy drizzle of olive oil, a little kosher salt, and a good grind of black pepper, and we were in business. I tossed everything together on a baking sheet and, at the last minute, threw in a couple thyme sprigs for good measure. After 30 minutes in the oven, we had the best roasted veggies I have ever made. Folks, they were incredible. The carrots were earthy and just a tiny bit sweet, with a nice bite (no mushy carrots here), and the garlic was intense and chewy and just plain delicious. And the Brussels sprouts? Oh! The Brussels sprouts. In-freaking-credible. Those little leaves I love so much got nice and brown and crispy, almost like salty little cabbage chips. The sprouts were nice and tender, with this incredible smoky, roasted flavor. Needless to say, we devoured the entire pan and almost forgot about the rest of dinner.

Try them, I hope you like them as much as we did.

Roasted Carrots and Brussels Sprouts

4 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1-inch pieces
1 lb Brussels sprouts, trimmed
8 cloves garlic, peeled
fresh thyme
olive oil
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Add veggies, garlic, and thyme to a large rimmed baking sheet and drizzle over the whole thing with a good glug of olive oil. Season liberally with salt and freshly ground pepper and toss everything together, so the oil and seasoning nicely coat each piece of vegetable. Roast for 30 minutes, stirring everthing up halfway through.