I learned to love brussels sprouts at an early age, but they’re another one of those cold-weather veggies I tend to prepare the same way over and over. I wanted to give them a starring role in a main dish, but I also wanted to avoid anything heavy or overly rich. I decided to pair them with mushrooms for meatiness, and a little of our stripped-off-the-cob-and-frozen “Butter & Sugar” corn for sweetness. Nutty farro provided a vehicle for the roasted and toasted veggies, which were all dressed in a light bath of sage brown butter. This was fast, simple, and really easy to put together – here’s what I did:

I halved my cleaned brussels sprouts and quartered the mushrooms, placing each of them on foil-lined baking sheets, giving them a light toss with kosher salt and a drizzle of olive oil, and then I roasted them in a 425 degree oven for about 20 minutes. About halfway through, I shook them around on their pans and tossed them with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. While the veggies cooked, I had a pan of farro going on the stove – one cup farro, two cups water, and a healthy pinch of kosher salt. I melted a couple of ounces of butter in another pan, adding a handful of whole fresh sage leaves, which I removed to drain on a paper towel when they were crisp.

When the butter was nutty smelling and browned, I added the corn, letting it cook just briefly. When the farro was tender, I drained it and gave it a very brief rinse in hot water. The farro went into a large bowl, the roasted mushrooms and brussels went in as well, and the corn and brown butter went on top. I gave it a gentle toss to coat and combine everything, tossed in all but a few of the fried sage leaves, tossed again and plated, finishing with shards of Parmagiano Reggiano and the remaining sage leaves for garnish.

A little brown, but surprisingly good.

It occurred to me as I started to put this post together that the very first time I prepared this dish was for the first Thanksgiving Mike and I ever spent together. I was still living in Boston at the time, and we had planned to spend the long holiday weekend together in New York as well as to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for ourselves and a couple of friends. One of those friends was a vegetarian, so I wanted to prepare something that would serve as both a veggie side for us and a substantial main course for her, and thus my roasted vegetable and gruyere tart was born.

This is almost embarrassingly simple to put together – just cut up a variety of autumn vegetables (I used a mixture of tiny Brussels sprouts, parsnips, multicolored carrots, butternut squash, and crimini and chanterelle mushrooms) into roughly the same size, toss them with salt and a bit of olive oil, and roast them in a 375 degree oven until tender, about 40 minutes. Sprinkle a generous amount of fresh thyme and chopped fresh sage over the veggies and gently toss. Roll out your crust and place into a lightly oiled pie plate, leaving a bit of overlap around the edges (I generally use good quality prepared pie crust or, as I did last night, all butter puff pastry. Feel free to use homemade crust if that’s your thing). Spread about half a cup of grated gruyere cheese on the crust, add your veggies, sprinkle a bit more cheese on top and fold over the loose edges of the crust. Place back into the oven (at 400 degrees) for about 20 minutes, until the crust is golden, then slice into wedges and serve. As a side dish or main course, it’s simple enough for a weeknight dinner, but nice enough for company – a real double-duty gem.