3 Simple Sous Vide Vegetable Side Dishes

These 3 Simple Sous Vide Vegetable Side Dishes, featuring beets, carrots and potatoes, add a touch of fall flavour and colour to your Thanksgiving dinner table.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian readers and friends who celebrate! Even if you don't, these 3 Simple Sous Vide Vegetable Side Dishes make a colourful and flavourful addition to any meal.

My most recent episode of my #sousvidesista on Instagram featured this trio of sides dishes. They were to accompany a sous vide turkey for a pre-Thanksgiving gathering with friends. We decided to abandon the turkey and opted for a sous vide chicken, which turned out so good, I may have to share it with ya'll.

Not to worry, I always have something sweet waiting in the wings - just check my blog name. 🙂

Sous Vide Browned Butter Glazed Carrots

The first of these 3 Simple Sous Vide Vegetable Side Dishes, is this attractive bunch of organic, heirloom carrots I picked up at the Farmers' market on Tuesday. We added browned butter, brown sugar, sage and seasoning, but instead of throwing them in the oven, or on the grill, we sealed them in a plastic pouch and gave them a bath.

Once in the heated water bath, the butter and sugar will melt into a liquid that will later become the glaze that makes this side popular among my peeps. I prefer the raw crunch of carrots, so the cooked version needs to have a fair bit of that crunch for me to enjoy it. These had a little crunch and a whole lot of flavour.

Sous Vide Duck Fat Roasted Baby Potatoes

If you're thinking sous vide and crispy don't belong in the same sentence, you're right. It's why searing, grilling and broiling play such big roles in the sous vide process. Although, you could skip the browning, cook for an additional half hour and you've got yourself the creamiest mash EVAH!

I love my potatoes oven-roasted or grilled, so back when we first made these I had serious doubts. Not only were they surprisingly good, they have become serious rivals for my baked version. The dude makes a sweet potato version that is killer.

To the pouch we added baby potatoes, halved, with fresh thyme (rosemary works deliciously well), rendered duck fat and seasoning. Once cooked, all the contents of the pouch are added to the skillet for roasting, stovetop. The result is a soft, creamy interior wrapped in a delicately crispy exterior.

Sous Vide Maple Orange Beets

At the last minute, I added fresh orange slices and pure maple syrup to the beets before sealing the pouch. The Dude isn't a big fan of beets, so I was hoping to sway him a little with this combination, which was also topped with generous crumbles of goat cheese. It went over well with everyone, but him.

When added to the skillet, the juices quickly thickened to a gorgeous glistening, jewel-tone glaze. If only it looked as pretty on my shirt. 🙁

Sweet Tips for Success:

• We cooked all three dishes at the same temperature at the same time, which cut our time in the kitchen down significantly the day of.
• We left the skins on my potatoes, mostly because someone was too lazy to peel little potatoes, but also, we think roasted potatoes taste better in their skin. We scrubbed the potatoes, but the beets and carrots we peeled.
• We packaged the veggies with their flavourings the night prior to minimize prep, because the holidays can get s little stressful.
• If you don't have a vacuum sealer, use freezer bags that are safe for use with sous vide and remove the air using the water displacement method.
• Check out my sous vide videos here and here for a quick glimpse at the basics.