A giant platter of colorful roasted vegetables is a perfect party side that you can make in advance. The vegetables can be cut up the day before and stored in the fridge. You can roast them a few hours before serving, and reheat them for 7 to 15 minutes at 350 to 400 degrees (they are very forgiving) or serve them at room temperature. Then garnish to your heart’s content — a mix of jewel-like pomegranate seeds, cumin or sesame seeds, herbs, swirls of garlicky yogurt and dashes of hot honey will make everything pop. To make a vegan version of this dish, you can substitute tahini sauce for the yogurt sauce and skip the hot honey.

Giant Roasted Vegetable Platter
Ingredients:
• 1 (1 1/2-pound) head purple, white or orange cauliflower, cut into bite-size florets
• 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds winter squash (such as kabocha, delicata, butternut or honey nut) halved, seeded, and cut into 1-inch-thick crescents or rounds
• 1 pound Broccolini or sprouting broccoli, trimmed
• 1 pound carrots, trimmed, peeled, halved lengthwise
• 1 fennel bulb, trimmed but core left intact, cut lengthwise into 8 wedges
• 1 large red onion, peeled but root left intact, cut lengthwise into 8 wedges
• Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, more for sprinkling
• 1/2 cup whole-milk yogurt
• 1 garlic clove, finely grated
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, more to taste
• Apple cider vinegar, for drizzling
• Hot honey, for drizzling
• Cumin seeds or white sesame seeds, for sprinkling
• Pomegranate seeds, for sprinkling (optional)
• 1 cup chopped cilantro, mint or parsley

Directions:
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line 3 large rimmed sheet pans with parchment paper. Lay vegetables out on the pans, keeping the same kinds together. Drizzle vegetables with olive oil, and sprinkle generously with salt. Roast vegetables until tender and golden, flipping them halfway, and using a wide spatula or tongs to remove them from the pans as they are done. The timing will look like this: Broccolini, 10 to 15 minutes; red onions, 15 to 20; fennel, 20 to 25; cauliflower, 25 to 35; squash, 30 to 35; carrots, 30 to 40.

While the vegetables are roasting, put yogurt in a small bowl. Whisk in grated garlic, lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Taste for seasoning, and add more lemon juice and salt as needed.

Arrange the roasted vegetables artfully on a platter. Top with dollops of garlicky yogurt. Drizzle with more olive oil, apple cider vinegar and hot honey. Sprinkle with cumin seeds or sesame seeds, pomegranate seeds and chopped cilantro. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Total time: 1 hour, serves 8-12.

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