Roasted Vegetables & Grits

I promise, this vegetarian meal tastes far better than it looks....my photography is  a work in progress, but this dinner is not.  You can make your grits ahead of time and reheat on the stove before serving.  The vegetables can be chopped and tossed in oil ahead of time too, but I would not roast them until you are ready to eat.

Roasted Vegetables & Grits

Ingredients

Grits

• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup stone ground grits
• 1/4 cup cream
• 1/2 cup white cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 Tbsp. mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• salt & pepper, to taste

• Roasted Vegetables

• 4 Tbsp. avocado oil, divided
• 4 fennel bulbs, cored and quartered
• 6 parsnips, chunked
• 10 radishes, chunked
• 16 oz. mixed mushrooms (such as shitake and cremini), quartered or sliced
• 4 sprigs thyme, leaves removed
• 4 Tbsp. butter
• 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts
• salt & pepper to taste

Serves 6
Cook time: 45 minutes

Combine stock, milk, and about 1/2 tsp. salt in a large sauce pan over medium heat; bring to a boil (watch carefully, milk boils over in the blink of an eye).  When it reaches a gentle boil whisk in grits and lower heat to simmer (keep an eye on grits if they are bubbling later on you will want to lower below simmer).  Continue cooking grits, whisking often, for about 40 minutes until they have fully absorbed the liquid and no longer have a metallic taste (undercooked grits will have the faintest of metallic tastes).  Now is a good time to get started on the vegetables.
Once grits are cooked add in cream, cheese, mayonnaise and butter; whisk everything in and allow to cook for about 5 more minutes, salt and pepper to taste.
Serve immediately, or cover and keep them on low for a little while if need be.

Preheat oven to 450.  Mix fennel, parsnips, and radishes with 2 Tbsp. avocado oil and half the thyme, salt and pepper to taste; mix together and spread, in a single layer, onto a baking sheet.  Go ahead and put in preheated oven on top rack; set timer to 40 minutes.  Meanwhile, mix mushrooms with remaining thyme leaves and avocado oil, salt and pepper to taste; mix together and spread onto another baking sheet.  Put into oven on rack underneath vegetable mixture.
Check vegetables and flip throughout cooking.  Mushrooms may need to come out before timer goes off, so just keep and eye on them (because of the amount of water in mushrooms their cook time is not always definite).
Meanwhile, heat butter over medium heat in a medium skillet.  Cook hazelnuts in butter until butter is browned.  Add vinegar and swirl to combine.  Combine vegetables on one tray and toss is butter-vinegar sauce.
Top grits with vegetables and serve immediately.